Rules of Surrender by Christina Dodd

father. But they died when I was eleven, so I was lucky. I had them longer than you had your mother.“
    ”Lucky,“ Leila echoed.
    Charlotte pressed her hand on the clean white page with the crisp black print. ”Now, shall we read?“
    ”I’m really not good at mathematics.“ Wynter stared blankly at the thick ledger his cousin Stewart had spread before him, then looked up at the group of black-suited gentlemen sitting on either side of the long table in the London offices of Ruskin Shipping. ”Won’t you explain it to me?“
    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stewart’s fingers clench the edge of the leather bindings. Mr. Hodges turned so red Wynter suspected apoplexy. Mr. Read made a roll of the papers before him. Sir Drakely stroked his mustache to cover his smirk. And Mr. Shilbottle suffered a fit of coughing.
    Wynter widened his eyes and raised his gaze to Stewart. ”Is there a problem?“
    In only a week Stewart would be fifty-seven, and he showed every day of his age. His thin, tall frame was stooped, his brown hair was thinning, and the tip of his nose drooped over his thin lips. Yet Wynter’s earliest memory of his cousin was not really much different. Stewart had been born old. Still his eyes were kind, if exasperated, as he answered, ”Not at all, cousin. Only that… it’s difficult to give an arithmetic lesson right now. If you’d told me sooner…“
    Wynter beamed at his board of directors and deliberately played the fool. ”But you can tell me about the profits. That’s all that really needs to concern me. And you can advise me on what is happening in the company. After all, isn’t that what you’re here for?“
    Drakely glanced at Stewart’s white knuckles and apparently decided someone needed to take action. ”Yes, yes, of course that’s what we’re here for. It’s just that your mother took a little more active interest in the workings of the company and we thought that you… And of course your father!“
    Wynter asked, ”Oh. Was he good at mathematics?“
    Now Drakely was reduced to shock. ”He was… Lord Ruskin was…“
    Shilbottle, a gentleman of about sixty with a face that looked like wadded cotton wool, decided to step in. ”It was well-known Lord Ruskin could glance at a row of figures and cipher them immediately. Why, his lordship ran this company single-handedly. When I first signed on as a coal carrier fifty-two years ago, he knew everyone’s name and function, and he was the first man to recognize my potential and give me a chance. Your father was a saint, boy.“
    ”A saint.“ Wynter possessed very clear memories of visiting the office with his wise and wicked father, and he knew that it had taken death to elevate his father to sainthood, and then only among those given to delusion. ”I never heard my father called that before. But while he might have closely supervised the company, things have changed since his day.“
    ”I’ll say.“ Hodges patted the belly that protruded below his silk waistcoat. ”I signed on not long after Lady Ruskin took up the reins. What a time that was. She so lovely and grieving the loss of her husband and son—you weren’t dead, of course, but she was suffering anyway.“
    Everyone around the table took a moment to glare at Wynter.
    He stared back blandly and wondered which of his mother’s ardent proponents had taken advantage and embezzled from her.
    Taking up the tale, Hodges continued, ”There were a couple of rotters in the organization then, men who would have willingly taken advantage of such a beautiful lady, but your mother fooled them.“ He waggled his finger. ”She’s not as fluff-brain… er… she’s not the fragile flower of womanhood she appears. Those cads never suspected a thing until they were dragged before the magistrate!“
    The man was clearly in love with Adorna, and from the fond smiles all around, Wynter knew his mother held the others in thrall, too. Thank God for Adorna’s ability to cloud