“The headmaster is a bit of an idiot,” Jordan said. “And I was only asked to leave twice.”
“You’ve always made a great show of knowing better how to run an estate than me.” A short laugh burst from between Bentley’s lips. “Well, now you’ll have a chance to prove what a good, responsible steward you can be. Dunnings is in dire need of management and repair.”
Mother shut her eyes as if trying to blot out Bentley’s words.
A collective gasp ran through Jordan and his siblings.
“Dunnings is nearly in Scotland,” Jordan reminded his brother, trying to stem the blossoming panic filling his chest. “It hasn’t been inhabited for years. You can’t be serious.” Father had spoken years ago of selling the rundown manor house, but never got around to it. Jordan wasn’t even sure if there was still a caretaker in residence.
“Entirely serious,” Lady Longwood uttered in a cool tone. “Dunnings is far enough from London that Lord Emerson won’t need to fear an unexpected visit from theSins.” She glared at Tamsin, who usually drew most of Lady Longwood’s ire. “Sins. What an apt title for a group of urchins who are a stain on the Earl of Emerson.” One gloved hand caressed Bentley’s arm. “Deadly Sins,” she trilled. “You’ve certainly made good on the name, haven’t you, Tamsin?”
“I am not a sin,” Aurora lisped, clutching her doll, regarding Lady Longwood with wide eyes.
Bentley’s aunt smiled down at Jordan’s little sister, eyes glinting with satisfaction. “Yes, you are,darling.”
Tamsin’s lips tightened, features awash with guilt. “I was only defending myself.” Her bottom lip jutted out stubbornly. “What would you have had me do? Allow myself to be compromised? Have liberties taken with my person?”
“Youpunchedthe son of a duke. Ware’s eldest. The Marquess of Sokesby. Hisheir,” Bentley roared back at her, startling the entire room. “Brokehis nose. What were you evendoingat Gunter’s alone?”
Tamsin looked down at her hands. “I merely wanted an ice. There was no one available to escort me.”
Another snicker from the other side of the room. Percival stuck his tongue out at Tamsin.
“A young lady of good breedingdoes notwander about unescorted. You aren’t even out yet, though I suppose given recent events, you won’t be. Dear God, who would have you anyway?”
“Bent—” Jordan growled in warning. There was no need to insult Tamsin on top of everything else, but he wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t afford to antagonize or threaten Bentley, not if Jordan was to have any hope of not being cut off by his older brother. Especially if he was serious about Dunnings.
Bentley’s gaze swerved to the refreshment table. Drew and Malcolm were slinking about, stuffing their pockets and mouths with biscuits as if they hadn’t eaten in days instead of mere hours ago. It was the most animation the pair had shown since hearing of Father’s death.
“Look at them,” Lady Longwood drawled. “No better than thieves picking pockets. Perhaps instead of Dunnings, you might send them to Cheapside. They’ll fit right in, my lord.”
Malcolm halted, crumbs falling from his lips. A calculated look came over his face and he took a step closer to Percival, who was too busy making faces at Tamsin to notice who hovered behind him.
Behave,Jordan mouthed to his brother.Please.
Mother put her head in her hands, sobbing at the knowledge Bentley would evict them from River Crest and banish them all to Northumberland. Aurora was curled into her side. Even the normally stalwart Tamsin had a look of despair about her.
The responsibility forallof them, what remained of the Sinclairs, would fall to Jordan. He was barely more than a lad, but there wasn’t anyone else. His mother might never recover from the dual blows of Father’s death and being banished to Dunnings. Jordan was all that stood between his family and the rest of the world.
I won’t fail you, Father.
He straightened, squaring his shoulders to look Lady Longwood in the eye, gratified when her smug smile faltered.
“Isufferedyou all while our father was alive,” Bentley sneered, not ready to stop debasing them, though Mother looked as if she might faint at any moment. “Tolerated the sneers behind my back at Eton, the insults that my father had wed—” The color of his cheeks turned crimson. “Anactresswith whom he had an amorous relationship.”
Bentley had stopped short of calling Mother a whore.
“I understand your dislike of me, Bentley. But I beg you to reconsider your decision for their sakes,” Jordan’s mother whispered. “They,” she pointed to Jordan and his siblings, “areyour family.”
“No,madam. They are not.” Bentley brushed a wave of ginger hair back from his broad forehead. He looked nothing like the other Sinclairs, but instead favored his mother, Pauline. Slight of build with narrow shoulders, Bentley wore expensively-tailored clothing with dashing bits of color. A true dandy through and through.
“You are sending us to Dunnings,” Jordan said quietly. “A place none of us have ever seen, one that is in such a poor state of repair that Father couldn’t even manage to sell it. That is what you think we deserve. What about Cargave Manor?” Cargave had once been the residence of their paternal grandmother in Surrey. The house was small but well-maintained.
“Absolutely not. You’ll go to Dunnings.” He straightened his coat, the movement full of his own self-importance.
Jordan didn’t think he could loathe anyone more than Bentley.
“The staff at River Crest has already been informed. Your clothes and other effects have been packed and are already headed to Dunnings.”
