“No…” He adored them so much he didn’t want to believe it.
“Yes! They tried the same shallow tactics on me after you left for Portsmouth, which obviously did not wash at all, and that’s how I prized the truth out of them. Why else do you think I interceded when Grace twisted your arm back there? Why I suggested, in the strongest possible terms, that they have a talk with you as soon as was possible and why all three of them are presently so determined to make this visit to the beach last as long as it possibly can? They are all in cahoots and have all been blackmailing you into rewarding them for misbehaving!”
He shook his head, chuckling. “They are just being children and I am a much too worldly wise adult to be daft enough to fall for…” She knew the precise moment he realized she was telling the truth because his mouth went from open and stunned to shut and flattened in an instant. “Why, the little—”
“But please do not tell them that I told you, as the little devils deserve all the pain of confessing it cold. They all swore a solemn pledge to me over a week ago that they would come clean, and they didn’t.”
“Theyhavebeen fleecing me. Why didn’t I see it sooner? I’ve only known the little Machiavellis all their lives.” He seemed both stunned and impressed by their industry.
“You’re their uncle and not a parent or a teacher. It’s a very different role. It is also lovely that you want to spoil them, but now that they are in your care, you really do need to learn how to control them without paying them, or you will turn them into monsters. That willtake a bit of groundwork on your part, but as Nelson rightly said, first gain the victory, then make the best use of it that you can.”
“Youare quoting Nelson atmenow?” He seemed more amused by that than the children’s skulduggery.
“My labored point is, the time has come for a line to be drawn in the sand and, I am afraid, it is yours to draw.”
“Well… I…” He blinked at her, looking far more handsome than a befuddled man had a right to. “Do you suggest that I punish them when they tell me?”
That he had asked her expert opinion warmed her. That he seemed horrified at the prospect of punishing the three shameless blackmailers warmed her more. Without thinking, she reached out and squeezed his hand, and then regretted it instantly when just that touch sent a ricochet of awareness everywhere and had him staring so longingly at her in return, Georgie wanted to grab him and kiss him. “You are well within your rights to.”
Georgie withdrew her hand and clamped it in the other in case it went wandering again. “But, irrespective of the folly of allowing them to exploit your good nature in the first place, they still adore you. Therefore, I think your heartfelt and wounded disappointment in them would be a much better form of punishment than any punitive sort ever could. That will really bother them.” Like a moth to a flame, Georgie reached for his hand again and allowed herself just the briefest touch, which had as potent an effect. “As much as it pains me to admit it, you are an excellent uncle.”
“Oh, it pains you, does it?” To his credit, he seemed more amused by her candor than incensed by it.
She smiled and meant it. “But, with my schoolmistress’s hat on, I would advise that a punishment is also due. As, I must remind you, is an additional one for Felix, who still has not had any sort of admonishment from you for wandering off and getting himself lost two nights ago.” Was it really only two nights ago? It beggared belief that so much had changed in so short a time. “And by a punishment, I obviously do not expect you to exact any physical one. As I can assure you that those never work.” Every time the colonel hadn’t spared the rod with her, it stoked St. Joan’s rebellious fire further.
He was visibly relieved by that. “All right, Madam Schoolmistress, I bow to your superior knowledge. What do you suggest is fitting punishment for those three scoundrels?” He glanced toward them with love. Disappointed and peeved love, but it was the correct sentiment under the circumstances.
“Hit them where it hurts.”
“I thought we weren’t doing violence?”
She nudged him with her elbow because his chuckle told her he was simply being pedantic. “Earlier bedtimes for all three of them for a month and some unpleasant chores around the house for the girls should do the trick. The more disgusting the better, as neither like to get their hands dirty.”
“Noted. And for Felix?”
“Something mathematical. He loathes it with a burning passion and will do anything to get out of learning it, and he is so far behind his sisters in the subject he needs the extra lessons. Except don’t make them look like lessons, as…” He placed a finger on her lips, then sighed as he pulled it away.
“I might have been an idiot—but I am not always.” He gestured to the winding lane above with the tilt of his head. “Do you know your way back to the house?”
“Of course I do. Because I am not an idiot either.”
“Good.” He buttoned the sleeping Cuthbert into his smart uniform coat and then gingerly stood as if he was in some physical painbefore he helped her up. “Leave me with them. As Drake said, I cannot command the winds and the weather—but I can at least try and wrestle back my command of my blasted sister’s manipulative offspring. They will come back repentant and I will have reclaimed my dignity, or we’ll all die trying.”
“I’m pretty sure that was Nelson too—Harry.”
ChapterTWENTY-FIVE
“They have used twelve thousand yards of rope so far, Uncle Harry.” Beside him on the Plymouth dockside, Felix consulted his list and, anticipating Harry’s next question, poked the corner of his tongue out as he did a quick calculation. “There is another forty thousand and eight hundred yards of rigging left in the store, so there should be plenty.”
“Excellent.” He patted his nephew on the head, oddly enjoying having an apprentice, albeit a press-ganged one. “We should probably order ten thousand yards more, just to be safe. This is a bigger ship than theVictory, after all.” Felix was still in a state of shock that Nelson’s ship had needed thirty miles of rope. Georgie had been right. Felix loathed mathematics, so commandeering him to spend a month as his assistant had been a stroke of genius he was smugly proud of. It might have started as a punishment, but Felix was thoroughly enjoying following him around, and they were both learning from the experience. “Make a note of that, then I think we are done for the day.”
Once the shipwrights left at five, hanging around theBoadiceawas pretty pointless, and Harry was enjoying his new routine of finishing work at a regular time and eating hot meals around a table. That he always sailed back to Cawsand to find Georgie on the beach with the girls and the dogs at the end of their day, too, was another bonus. Those lazy, conversation-filled strolls back to the house had quickly become the highlight of his day and everything seemed well in the world from the moment his gaze picked up her vibrant hair and cheery wave from halfway across the Sound. Even Plymouth had some charm with her in it, and he found himself not minding some of the things which had always jarred, like being in his childhood home, which wasn’t anywhere near as chaotic as he remembered it.
He said his goodbyes to Simpkins, who had now permanently moved into his cabin so he could sniff his beloved salty sea breeze with impunity, and then made his way behind the ship where he had moored the sloop. He was about to set off when he was flagged down by a young cadet.
“Here is the final guest list for Admiral Nugent’s reception tomorrow.” The lad handed over the sealed missive. “I need to ask if you wish for anyone else to be added before I pass it over to the chief petty officer of the mess.”
Harry scanned the list, annoyed that he had completely forgotten about the formal dinner that heralded Nugent’s first inspection of his flagship, and more annoyed that it necessitated him being here in Plymouth, back in his too-tight formal dress breeches which he had come to loathe, rather than spending an evening at home with Georgie in a pair that fit.
