“You must never call her that,” Murdoch informed her with a laugh.
“Oh,” Luz said, confused, and looked to Evan, who was smiling in that fond way he did when his family—other than his father—was the topic of conversation.
“She is Aunt Odessa to all of us,” he told her.
“She becomes very peevish if we call her anything else,” Beatrice’s daughter Katherine piped up from her examination of a frightening sea creature with horns and a forked tongue.
“I shall abide by that rule, then,” Luz assured the group, a warmth spreading inside her. Maybe she and Clarita could make a home in Edinburgh.
“Luz Alana, we must think about setting up an office. Perhaps even one that could have a small storefront.”
“She will have an office in my building, Adalyn,” Evan decreed in that high-handed way he had sometimes.
“I most certainly will not,” cried Luz stubbornly, nipping that idea in the bud. As much as the thought of having him close appealed to her, it would be torture to see him daily once things between them were done. She didn’t think she could bear it.
“I own half a city block in Leith. You can have an entire floor where I keep my offices,” he retorted with equal bullheadedness.
“I saw a smaller building for sale on Princes Street, not too far from Jenners.” Adalyn looked between the two of them with amusement.
“Oh?” Luz had heard of Jenners, the famous Edinburgh department store. “It’s but a five-minute walk from your town house, brother.” Addy’s tone was conciliatory, but Luz appreciated that she was not letting Evan dictate what they would do.
The Earl of Darnick was not pleased at having his wishes contradicted. He’d have to live with it.
“The bonded warehouses are in Leith,” he grumbled. “You will have to inconvenience yourself with seeing me every now and then.” He didn’t seem angry exactly, more like a boy who’d had his dreams of cake for supper dashed.
Luz had to bite her lip to keep from grinning.
“Pouting won’t work on me, Evan Sinclair.”
“Men are tedious,” Clarita said with a shake of her head, eliciting a laugh from everyone.
“Your great-grandmother created all of these?” Adalyn asked as she carefully flipped through the delicate pages of the journal. She ran her fingers gently over the notes scribbled on the margins, and the hand-drawn illustrations that usually accompanied the name of a fruit or herb and its use.
“She did. She learned to make the liquors and tinctures from her mother as a young girl and became known for it. The master of her plantation asked that she make them for his family, but she would never write down the recipes for them. She told them she could only do them from memory, but in truth she had a very meticulous process. She just didn’t want them to have her secrets. When she got her freedom, she began to sell them in the market. When he heard, her old master came to her and offered to buy them, but she refused.” When she finished talking, she could feel every eye in the room on her.
“What was her name?” Evan asked. He was sitting up and looking at her very intently.
“Aida.” Luz smiled when Amaranta responded pronouncing the name as it was spoken in Spanish.
“Aida’s Cordials,” Adalyn mused. “I think that sounds perfect. Oh,” she said, eyes widening as if remembering something significant, while Luz caught her breath at the idea of a business that carried her great-grandmother’s name. “Evan, you must convince the rear admiral to attend Father’s birthday. This is just the kind of thing he would be interested in.” Evan stiffened at her sister’s request. For a moment he seemed almost scared. Adalyn didn’t seem to notice. “The rear admiral is an old friend of the family’s, more of our mother’s, but he’s in charge of acquiring all provisions for the Royal Navy, and I think he’d place an order of Caña Brava and your Dama Juana without much convincing, and the fruit syrups too.” That did sound promising, but Evan’s reaction to the mention of the man was definitely off.
“He hasn’t attended since mother passed,” Evan said, in the tone of someone who had already said this very thing multiple times and had been ignored. “Besides, I don’t know if Luz Alana will want to attend the ball.” His tone was amiable enough, but his eyes still had that alarmed look to them. Adalyn eyes widened at the way her brother said the last word.
“What ball?” Luz pressed.
“My father throws himself a lavish party every year, which we are all forced to attend,” Evan explained, without meeting her gaze. Was he embarrassed to take her to the ball? Did he intend to leave her at home for the three months they were to live together?
“And I could meet the rear admiral there?” she asked, to which Adalyn nodded very reluctantly.
“He used to attend annually, but thanks to Charlotte he’s snubbed it for years.”
Luz, who’d had one eye on Evan, saw the change in his demeanor the instant Adalyn mentioned this Charlotte. Where he’d seemed forbidding at the mention of the rear admiral and the ball, he was absolutely panicked now.
“Who is Charlotte?” she asked cautiously, her gaze roundly on Evan. He seemed genuinely dismayed at the question.
“Oh no.” Adalyn’s face fell as if she’d just realized she’d committed an unforgivable mistake.
“She’s our father’s second wife, the duchess. The rear admiral is her uncle,” Evan informed Luz in an overly calm voice. That was clearly not all she was, given the sudden tension in the room. Murdoch looked ready to bolt out of his chair, and Adalyn was holding back tears. Then there was Evan: his face was stony, icily staring at something in the distance.
