Seeing Danger (Sinclair and Raven #2)(14)

“Are you lonely without Eden?”

She thought about that one for a while. He watched as she lifted her cup and drank slowly. She was so slight he could wrap his fingers around her wrist and they would overlap.

“Sometimes, and yet I visit with Emily often.”

“Really, do you not find that hard?”

It was James's half brother Tolly who’d broken Essie's heart. As James was married to their sister Eden, it tended to complicate matters, or so he had thought. Tolly had wooed Essie but his intent had been to get at his half brother, a feat he had nearly accomplished. After Tolly died, James and Eden had taken his sister, Emily, in to live with them.

“I like Emily, and am glad she has a family now. She loves Samantha dearly, too.”

Dev smiled as he thought about Lady Samantha Raven. Although their mothers were different, the Duke and his sister were raised by their father. He had mistreated them both terribly. She had been timid, but now, he was pleased to say, she was anything but.

“It is hard for Emily, as not only is she illegitimate but also born into poverty, and explaining this to Samantha is not easy.”

“James is convinced that he wants Emily to enter society, yet I wonder how hard that will be for her.”

“The bastard child of a duke,” Essie said. “Very hard, I should think, even with all of us and James's title behind her.”

“Greetings, fellow Sinclairs,” Cam said, entering the room. “Is it not a day of incredible beauty? Let me at the food!”

“Why, suddenly, do I have indigestion?”

“Harsh, brother, and unnecessary,” Cam said, giving his sister a kiss before walking to the sideboard and sniffing loudly.

While to most this would be bad manners, the Sinclairs were used to it from their brother, as his heightened sense was smell.

“You do realize that your shirt points will blind you should you impale yourself upon them.”

“I'll have you know,” Cam said around a mouth full of ham, “that I am considered quite an arbiter of fashion.”

“By who?” Dev said as Essie giggled.

“Many. In fact, Lord Cooper asked if he could have the name of my tailor just last night.”

“No doubt so he could avoid him at all costs.”

“Jealousy is an ugly trait.” Cam sat with a plate overflowing with food. “What are you two discussing?”

“This and that,” Dev said.

“My favorite topic of conversation.”

“We were discussing what I am doing today and then moved on to Emily,” Essie added.

“Now there's a thought to spoil a perfectly good day,” Cam groused.

“She is a lovely young lady, Cam, and it wouldn't hurt you to be nicer to her.”

“She is about as interesting as a dishrag, Ess, and looks little better. The woman looks at me as if I am about to ravish her whenever I draw near. Seriously, you can tell her that her virtue is safe with me.”

“That is nasty, Cambridge, and not worthy of you!” Essie snapped.

Dev kept out of the discussion brewing. Essie was more than capable of handling Cam, and in fact it was nice to see her spirit.

“I don't like her. How she can be James's sister is beyond me.”

“What's not to like?” Dev had to ask. “Emily is polite and well-spoken; in fact there are few women who are easier to converse with.”

Color filled Cam's cheeks as he shifted in his seat. Dev and Essie kept their eyes trained on him, enjoying his obvious discomfort.

“She called me a man of little sense and no morals.”

“And the problem with that statement is?” Dev drawled.

“Go to hell.”

“What did you do to her, Cam?” Essie asked, ignoring her brother’s blasphemy.

He looked at his food then at his cup of tea then back down at his food before answering. “Why do I have to have done anything? The woman's a termagant.”

If you wanted to survive as a Sinclair, you learned your siblings’ weaknesses and exploited them when the moment presented itself. Cam's biggest weakness was that he hated silence. Therefore, Essie and Dev stayed silent and continued eating.

“I won't tell you.”

Dev swallowed his smile and winked at his sister. They would not have to wait long.

“I told her that she would never find herself a husband looking the way she does!”

Now that, Dev hadn't expected. “Cam, you are an idiot!”

“It came out wrong,” he said, looking sheepish.

“One wonders how that could come out right,” Dev said, lowering his fork. “Remember, brother, make sure your brain is engaged before your mouth.”

“It was early,” Cam said, waving around his fork. “I hadn't eaten anything for hours.”

“Now that I seriously doubt,” Essie said, getting to her feet.

“The woman has a way of getting under my skin. It's all that meek-mannered stuff; it grates on me.”

Dev, who had also risen, looked down at his brother long enough that the younger Sinclair lowered his eyes.

“Miss Tolly has had a life even you could never understand, Cambridge. She has been subjected to poverty and starvation and most probably ridicule. Her nature is, I am sure, a direct result of that.”