His grin was a sheepish acknowledgment. “I’ll need to review and determine exactly which properties are entailed to see what will need to be done.”
“Very good. Can you look into dowering Celine as well? Obviously we could not guarantee it if the title changes hands. Still, while I’m able, I would like to offer her that option. She has her own funds, but I do not want her limited in her choices. Also, can you determine what authority she could be granted to manage things?”
He glanced away, his gaze flicking out the window to where Cee once hid. How much did he know, anyway?
“The dowry should not be an issue. Authority may be. I also hate to be the person to bring this up, but… Davina? I cannot imagine she will stop her adventures when you are away.”
“Mr. Summers will be given carte blanche to use whatever funds necessary to get her out of whatever scrape she has gotten herself into. As he has done today. Though that is one of the things I am hopeful Celine may be able to manage in my absence. And, if my sister is still getting into mischief after my untimely demise, she will have to find her own way out of it.”
“Well, you’ve given me a great deal to consider. To be quite honest, I thought the trip was a ploy to get into the office, so I haven’t been as thorough as I ought.” His boyish expression should have been ridiculous on a man of his age, who wore his years of struggle in the lines of his face—it wasn’t.
Nor was it his fault. I wouldn’t have taken my request seriously either. “Ah yes, I owe you an apology for that.”
“Unnecessary. It was certainly amusing.”
“Well, apology issued, nonetheless. My departure does not need to be immediate, but I should like to be settled in Scotland before the weather starts to turn.”
“I will have answers to your questions by next week and contracts drawn up just as soon as we discuss my findings. Would that suffice?”
“Perfect. Thank you, Will. I could not trust just anyone with this. I appreciate that I can trust you. Now, do you suppose I should head down to the docks and retrieve my recalcitrant sister?”
“I’m certain Kit will need an extra set of hands. Good luck!” he offered as I stood to leave.
The irritated crunchof every pebble in the roadway echoed in the furious silence of the carriage.
Poor Mr. Summers seemed to very much regret accepting the ride from the docks. He ran a hand through increasingly disheveled hair as he stared out the open window with panted breaths. The desperation in his expression was reminiscent of a jailed man watching the freedom of the horizon.
Davina, on the other hand, sat across from me, lips curled into a pout and arms crossed over her chest. Every half minute or so, she would let out an annoyed huff and give me a glare. A glare that I matched at every turn.
One shoulder spilled out of her navy coat and she crossed her ankles primly in her boots and breeches. Her dark curls had been tied back, but they had escaped the ribbon’s confines and now spilled across the velvet. Still, her absurd tri-corner hat tipped jauntily to one side, swaying with every rut in the road. Who on God’s earth could have mistaken her for a man?
No sooner had we jolted to a stop outside the offices than Mr. Summers tumbled out of the carriage, tossing his thanks behind him as he lurched toward the door.
I snapped the window shut as we set off before rounding on my sister. “What in the hell were you thinking?”
“I explained that quite well in my note, thank you very much,” she replied with a note of false piety.
“Mother is beside herself. Did you even consider that?”
She rolled her eyes. “Mother is always beside herself.”
“Because you’re always running off on whatever dangerous whim has caught your eye in the moment.”
“Mother has been beside herself for longer than I’ve been alive. If it wasn’t this, it would be something else.”
“Which is why you should strive to keep her calm,” I insisted.
“I should, should I? And you? Have you succeeded in keeping her calm by following every single rule—including the ones you’ve fabricated for yourself?”
A sharp jolt hit my chest at the slight. Christ, it was unfair, the way I carefully cultivated my life, the way I had to stuff myself into a mold of what society wanted—and fail at every turn. But my sister could flout every expectation with impunity and leave me to clean up her mess—untouched by the hateful words of theton.
“Damn it all, Dav, think of the future for just once in your life! What if your plan had worked?”
“My reputation would have been ruined? I would never marry? Oh, no.” Her expression was one of careful, sarcastic vacancy.
“It would serve you right, to face ruin for once in your life.”
“That is the point!” she shouted.
