Taken by Desire by Lavinia Kent

Author:Lavinia Kent
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

“We have come to ask that you desist in your efforts to sell your share of the shipping company,” Nathanial began.

Anna stared across the table at her cousins, aghast. What made them think they could disturb her breakfast? They had never been so bold before, and if anything they had less power now. “I believe that it is common knowledge that I cannot sell except to one of you—or perhaps your sister, Claire. And we all know that none of you have the monies for such a purchase.”

Nathanial squared his jaw and glared at her. Ernest remained outwardly calm, but she knew him too well to believe in appearances.

“Will you not invite us to sit, cousin?” Ernest spoke, his gaze cold upon her.

She wanted to say no. It was what she should do, but the manners her mother had taught her won out. She nodded toward the chairs across from her. “Would you like plates also?”

“No, we do not have time for that,” Ernest added before she could call for a footman. He leaned back in his chair and surveyed the room as if he owned it. “Yes, cousin. I am very aware of the details of our uncle’s will. I am also aware that you have hired a solicitor to try and find a loophole to get around that. It is not wise.”

How did he know that? “You know why I don’t wish to be involved in the business, why I sold everything else that I could.”

“Yes.” He said the word as if it were a curse. “And I am very aware that our uncle would never have left you all of his estate if he had known.”

“Are you sure? I always thought that might be why he did.” Anna met his gaze full-on.

“Yes, I am sure. He may have had an argument with our father”—Ernest glanced at his brother—“about changing the cargo we carried, some silly notion of following the changing laws instead of the profits, but he would never have countenanced selling off the business altogether.”

“Changing cargoes. You do not speak of cargoes, you speak of people.” Anna could hear her voice rising. “The laws have changed for a reason. Slavery is not only wrong, it is immoral. And the way you treat your ‘cargo’ is even worse than that.”

Ernest placed his hands on the table and pushed himself up so that he was high over her. “You seem happy to enjoy the profits of such immorality.” He waved his hand about the well-appointed room. “It was not your father’s family that paid for all of this.”

Anna’s glance dropped to the hands curled in her lap. He spoke nothing but the truth. She loved nice things, adored them even. The joy in a new dress or suite of jewels was intense. Reasoning that not all of her uncle’s money had come from the slave trade, that some of his profits were honest, only justified so much. She was not as good a person as she wished. Still—she raised her face and stared straight up at Ernest.

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