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that took her breath away. At others, his efforts looked like something Leo or Art might have produced.
    Nia stared at the wild jungle of a garden, the sweet fragrance of wild honeysuckle competing with the heady perfume of early-blooming rambling roses and rhododendrons. She tried not to think about the tall, compelling gentleman who had stood in that very spot less than an hour previously. A gentleman whose image she had not been able to dispel from her brain, in spite of the fact that she had no time for daydreaming. Ruff and the boys spilled from the dining room and tumbled onto the long grass—boys and dog tangled together as they tussled with one another. Nia was about to warn them not to tear their clothes or reopen the cut on Leo’s leg, but closed her mouth again, knowing better than to waste her breath. She watched them with a combination of anxiety and envy, trying to remember when her life had last been so carefree.
    Hannah, faithful, loyal Hannah, stepped quietly onto the terrace and sat on Nia’s opposite side.
    “Don’t let it upset you, lamb,” she said, nodding towards her grandfather, now dozing upright in the sunshine. “He’s had a long, successful life, and wherever his mind takes him off to nowadays, it’s a damned sight better for him than reality, that’s for sure.”
    “I know.” Nia sighed. “But that doesn’t help us much, does it?”
    “Perhaps your brother will return with good news.”
    “Perhaps,” Nia replied, with more hope than conviction in her tone.
    “We need to start making changes,” Hannah said, as though Nia didn’t already know that perfectly well. “Issuing Drake and Miss Tilling with their marching orders would be a good place to start.”
    “Don’t you think I would, if I could? They have nowhere else to go, and no means of supporting themselves. If they tell what they know about Grandpapa, out of spite, necessity, or for whatever reason, we really will be finished.”
    “And they know it, the ungrateful wretches. That’s why they continue to live off us like the parasites they are.” Hannah pursed her lips. “Well, if they are to stay, they must start pulling their weight.”
    Nia stifled a giggle. “I find it hard to imagine Miss Tilling scrubbing floors or peeling vegetables.”
    “ You do all of those things. Why should not she?” Hannah scowled. “Anyway, I am sure I can find her other occupations that will not be beneath her dignity.”
    “If you suggest it, you can be sure the muse will come upon her and she will be filled with an urgent desire to finish her dreadful paintings.”
    Hannah sniffed. “At least that will keep her from under my feet. She is deliberately dragging out their completion because she will have no excuse to remain with us when they are done.”
    Nia smiled. “What about her grand exhibition we hear endless talk about?”
    “Bah, you know as well as I do that even if she manages to make the arrangements, no one will attend it. And if they do, who in their right minds will purchase her canvases?”
    “Which is why she wants her paintings added to Grandpapa’s exhibition of landscapes.” Nia pulled a face. “She is depending upon Grandpapa’s patronage to make a name for herself. As his protégé, people might buy anyway because they will assume Grandpapa has recognised a budding talent.”
    Hannah blew air through her lips. “Dicked in the nob, they would be, to think that.”
    “People, especially those with money to burn, are terrified of not seeing the latest fashion so can be easily led.”
    “Not that easily.”
    Nia shrugged. “Don’t be downhearted, Hannah. I know I take the most dreadful advantage of you, but you must know how much I appreciate your loyalty. Not many people would be good natured enough to endure my family, but you have stuck by us through thick and thin and I don’t know how I would manage without you.”
    “Go on with you, lamb.” Hannah wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.