“Yes, and your answer has been to bark orders at him like an ill-tempered general.”

“Bribery, cajolery, starvation,” he said, approaching the chair she hid behind. He set his knee in the seat and leaned closer. She smelled of the fresh breeze of the garden with just a hint of the cinnamon from the rice pudding. “Which of your methods do you suggest I use?”

She met his gaze evenly, her fingers turning white where they clutched the chair back. “How about respect, concern, and consideration? Any of those should do, I would think.”

Anthony thought he’d never seen such tantalizing lips. They were perfectly sloped, drawn by a master hand. “I respect Desford. He’s had a difficult time, losing his parents in such a way. I admire the way he’s tried to protect himself and the others.”

Anna placed a hand in the center of Anthony’s chest and pushed him away in a none-too-gentle manner. “Have you ever told him that?”

“Well…no. Not yet.” Damn it, he thought, disgruntled that she’d distanced herself from him. Did she think chatting with children came easily for him? He hadn’t been around children, except Sara’s baby who was too young to talk back.

“Perhaps if Desford understood why you act as you do, then he would be more accepting when you express your opinions.”

More than likely, Desford would laugh to hear any such thing coming from someone he disliked so. For all her grasp of the rudiments of childhood behavior, Anna Thraxton didn’t understand the first thing about men. Males didn’t just walk up to one another and spout such mealymouthed platitudes.

Still…Anthony supposed it wouldn’t hurt to tell Desford something. Perhaps compliment the boy. Or maybe they could just go fishing. Desford would understand the meaning of that gesture. “I’ll try to speak with less—”

“Of a bark.”

“I don’t bark,” he said, then ground his teeth at how harsh his voice sounded.

Anna tilted her head to one side, a thoughtful look in her gray eyes. “How old were you when you came into your title?”

“Three months. But I didn’t assume responsibility for the family until I was seventeen.”

Her brows rose. “You assumed responsibility for the entire family?”

“Every last one,” he said grimly. He didn’t like to remember those early months. They had been hellish. He’d been a stubborn young man, determined to bend a family of shysters to his will. The effort had almost killed him, but it had been worth it. The Elliot name, while not as pure as some, was no longer so reviled. It would take years to completely undo the damage the lower portions of the family had inflicted. Still, they were on their way. He caught Anna’s disbelieving gaze and said tersely, “You would have done the same.”

“I would never have used your methods—bullying and shouting and ordering people about.”

He smiled, slow and sweet. “Oh, I’ve used one or two of your methods, too, my love. There is very little that money will not accomplish, if wielded in a judicious manner. I lured them to me, offering to pay their bills, to set their accounts to order. A little like you and Desford with the rice pudding.”