“She’s…?” Donovan asked.

“My sister,” Liam replied. He gestured toward where the other woman had stood. “And she’s…?”

“My wife.”

The door opened again, and two junior footmen came out with buckets of water.

“Mistress Breanna said we should douse the fire,” one of them said.

“Unless you want the ladies to summon a bit of a cloud to rain on it,” the other added.

They looked so disappointed when he sighed and told them to just douse the damn fire. They all watched the water quench the fire—except for one chunk of wood at the top, which stubbornly kept burning despite being watersoaked.

“She’s right, you know,” Donovan said blandly.

“About what?” Liam asked.

“You are still learning.”

Liam just shook his head. “Gentlemen, why don’t we join the ladies for some refreshments? Then you can tell me why you’re here.”

Donovan looked back at the guard captain. The man said, “We’d prefer to stay out here, if it’s all the same to you.”

Liam nodded. “Go on to the stables. You can feed and water the horses if you like.” He led the barons into the house while some of the guards took up a position in front of the house to watch the drive and the others took the horses and coaches to the stables.

The refreshments were being set on a low table when the men entered the room. Now that the immediate crisis had passed, he realized he was still scared to the bone—and he knew why. So after inviting his guests to help themselves, he hustled Breanna out of the room, closing the door behind them.

“Could you do that?” Liam asked urgently.

“Leave guests to serve themselves?” Breanna replied. “Apparently, I can.”

“No. Not that. Could you really summon a wind that could reach the sea?”

She stared at him as if he’d just stripped off his clothes and started dancing on top of the refreshments. “Are you daft? Do you know how far that is?”

Of course he did. That’s why it had scared him. “So what was that? A witch’s version of a pissing contest?”

She pondered that before nodding. “Yes.”

He closed his eyes.

“Did you get the fire put out?” Breanna asked.

“Most of it.”

“That’s fine then. Come and have some tea. You look like you could use it.”

Personally, he thought the men, at least, could all use a healthy dose of whiskey. Ah, well. He could serve that kind of refreshment later.