He rearranged his long legs with a sigh. “One of us had to, or everything would have gone to complete rack and ruin. Thankfully, the admiral—”
“The admiral?”
“My grandfather—Admiral Gaunt—plucked me from all the chaos early on and gifted me with the unforgiving structure of the navy, which much better suited my character. The salary also gave me the ability to repair some of the holes in the family finances, which helped me sleep better at night.”
Even more fascinating! “Why did you call him the admiral and not Grandfather?” Georgie had a funny feeling they suddenly had something fundamental in common.
“Good question.” He shook his head, flummoxed, as if he had never considered the reasons before. “Everyone called him the admiral, but bizarrely, that title suited him. He was…”
“A rigid, strict, unyielding and unsentimental militarian?”
He chuckled. “I suppose so. How did you know?”
“Because my stepfather—the colonel—was exactly the same.”
“Ah—you had a stepfather. That explains the mystery of why you moved from barracks to—”
“Uncle Harry!” Grace flew across the sand like a gale. Hot on her heels was Marianne and bringing up the rear at a much slower and uneven pace, thanks to his recent gamble with death, came Felix. All three were grinning.
“When can we go to the tea shop in Plymouth again?” Grace hung off his sleeve like a limpet. “You always take us there whenever you are home and you haven’t been home in such a long time, we’ve all forgotten the last time!”
The other two nodded.
“It has been forever,” said Felix.
“Longer than that,” added Marianne.
“And you haven’t taken us anywhere or bought us anything since the last time we went to Gunther’s and that wasagesago. And don’tsay that you have to work.” The youngest Pendleton pouted. “Because you always have to work and we are your own flesh and blood and we adore you.”
“Well… I am sure we can squeeze a trip in.” The captain—Harry—was instantly all guilt. “I have a meeting at the Barbican on Monday, so I suppose…”
That was when Georgie realized the children had lied to her. They hadn’t confessed to their uncle about all their blackmail as they had promised faithfully to do almost two whole weeks ago. They had instead taken advantage of the time he had spent at the Admiralty and the suddenness of this trip to Devon to quietly forget about it.
As Grace was currently twisting their obviously guilt-ridden uncle around her manipulative little finger, she directed her focus toward the elder two, who were egging the youngest on with excited claps.
She folded her arms and quirked one unimpressed brow and waited for them to feel the weight of her glare. It was the more intuitive Marianne who noticed first and, with a nudge, brought her brother up short. At least they had the good sense to look contrite and both ceased clapping to stare at their feet. “I believe the children would prefer to have a private but urgent word with you before you make any hard-and-fast plans about a trip to the tea shop on Monday. Isn’t that right, children?”
She took a moment to pin each with her most fearsome schoolmistress’s stare, enjoying how each child withered beneath it. Even Grace, who had initiated this latest blackmail attempt as naturally as she took in air, shriveled with chagrin.
“Yes, Miss Rowe,” muttered three bowed heads in unison.
“Words probably best had this evening, I’ll wager.” After all, there was no time like the present and she did not trust them to doit now unless they were forced into it. “But first, go collect all your things from the beach.”
“No!” Felix’s eyes widened in panic. “You promised us we could play here until six and it’s…” He helped himself to one of Harry’s pocket watches to stare at the dial. “… only a quarter to.” He turned the watch to face her. “Pleasecan’t we have the last fifteen minutes of fun? We have been cooped up in a carriage all week!” And now he was trying to manipulate her!
Before she could give him a stern piece of her mind, his frankly clueless but well-intentioned uncle answered. “Go—enjoy the sea some more.” That was all the reprieve the little rascals needed, and they dashed off, eager to avoid telling him the truth for just a little bit longer.
He waited until they were out of earshot before he turned to her, quizzical. “Firstly, how do you get them to behave with just a raised eyebrow? And secondly, what do they need an urgent word with me about?”
“Well firstly, it comes with practice and a lot of essential groundwork, and secondly…” Georgie folded her arms with a huff. She did not want to break her promise to the children, but as they had broken their promise to her and he had asked, she felt she had no choice. “I know all about the unlimited ice cream at Gunther’s the other week to get them to behave for me. Just as I know about all the shillings and tuppences and toys you shower them with as bribes to do what they should. I also know that, as a result, those little rascals have been fleecing you for years.”
“They have?”
“Of course they have! They know precisely how to make you twitchy—”
“That is the second time you have called me twitchy in as many minutes!” His face was half amusement, half astonishment.
“Perhaps Marianne’s adjective isn’t the correct one to properly describe how uncomfortable and irritable you become when things are a little less than calm. But you should know that they often purposefully misbehave or do whatever they can to make you feel guilty, and then they continue to do it until you surrender to their will.”
