“You cannot think to ignore my word,” Amanda said, standing.
“Amanda.” Her mother’s admonitory tone was almost lost in her daughter’s incipient hysteria.
“I’ve never been treated so abysmally in all my life,” Amanda said. She looked to her father for assistance, but the earl, otherthan a rising color, didn’t indicate he was aware of his daughter’s discomfiture.
Montgomery turned and held out his hand for Veronica. Fingers entwined, they left the dining room, followed by the Earl of Conley, his countess, and Amanda, who was beginning to cry. Behind her trailed the other four cousins, two maids, and Mrs. Brody.
All they needed was a piper to make it a grand procession.
At the door to the Green Room, Montgomery halted, turned, and looked at Amanda. “One last time. Did you take the mirror?”
“I wish we’d never come here,” Amanda said, tearfully.
“I agree,” Veronica said.
Montgomery squeezed her hand and released it, turned the handle of the door, and pushed it open. He glanced at Mrs. Brody and summoned her forward with a gesture of his hand.
“Mrs. Brody, if you would, please.”
“The mirror is gold and about this large,” Veronica said, spreading her hands a foot wide. “The outside of it has a ring of diamonds.”
Mrs. Brody nodded and entered the room.
“I must insist,” Amanda said. “This is the most horrendous and vile intrusion, Father. You can’t think to allow him to behave in such a manner. Not only is it uncouth, but ...” Her voice trailed off.
“No doubt an American trait,” Montgomery said. “Is that what you were about to say?”
She glanced away rather than answer him.
His gaze turned to the earl. “In Virginia, a gentleman would not inquire as to another man’s business. Not unless, of course, he had reason to believe the man was a thief or a bounder. Do you think those things of me?”
Uncle Bertrand looked as if he had swallowed something the wrong way. He coughed a few times, his color still florid, his gaze lighting on anything but Montgomery.
“I refuse to stand here and allow my family to be so dishonored,” Aunt Lilly said.
“Then I suggest you begin to pack,” Montgomery said. “I don’t like guests, or relatives, who steal from me.”
He held out his hand, and Mrs. Brody walked to stand in front of him, extending the mirror.
“I’ll expect your departure within the hour,” Montgomery said.
“We have just now arrived,” Aunt Lilly said. “A journey, I might add, of more than two days. You cannot expect us to turn around and leave.”
“Not only do I expect it,” he said, in the coldest voice Veronica had ever heard, “but if you’ve not gathered your things in the time I’ve given you, you’ll find yourself in the carriage without your possessions. A fact, I can promise you.”
She truly expected him to turn around and simply walk away. Instead, he reached out, grabbed her hand again, pulling her with him. She had to race to keep up with him, and as she did so, realized he was heading, not back to the distillery, but to his chamber.
Once inside, he closed the doors so forcefully it sounded like a gunshot.
He handed her the mirror he’d taken from Mrs. Brody.
“There is one thing worse than having no family,” he said. “That’s having too much of one.”
“I honestly don’t think of them as my family,” Veronica admitted. “We’re simply related.”
“What did you mean earlier? Has Amanda stolen from you before?”
She looked down at the carpet. How odd she’d never noted it was blue and white, woven in an elaborate pattern that looked faintly Grecian in design.
