“Well, well, well, a bit of a bootleg economy, I may have underestimated your network of back channels.” Sophia winked at Vic, then turned to Brogan. “I may actually be in the market for similar skills throughout the rest of this shoot. I have a good line on the duke’s finest gin. Do you have any other siblings?”

The other three people at the table all burst out laughing, while Sophia seemed to realise she’d stepped into something. “What?”

“There are a few more of us to choose from.” Brogan’s tone made Sophia suspect she had a gift for understatement. “But you’ll be hard pressed to find many of them who aren’t already in her employ, at least tangentially.”

“I’m starting to see a trend here.” Sophia sipped her cider and regarded Vic over the rim of her glass. “She’s not been overplaying this communal responsibility business, has she?”

“Not particularly,” Brogan said.

Emma leaned in conspiratorially. “They’ve both got this British modesty and stiff-upper-lip thing, but most families the size of Brogan’s have people working for the duke or his estate in one way or another.”

“And they’ve all got very mixed feelings about that,” Vic cautioned. “Don’t paint an overly idyllic picture for her. My lineage hasn’t always been benevolent landowners, and a great many people would much rather we not own the land at all.”

“What would they rather see instead?” Sophia asked.

“I suspect most of them haven’t thought that far, but those who have may envision the land going to the National Trust or other conservation groups.”

“Is that a likely outcome if you get overthrown?” Sophia asked, seeming less irritated and more curious than she had when the topic had previously arisen.

“It’s not impossible.” Vic sipped her drink.

Emma shook her head. “She didn’t ask about impossibility. She asked about likelihood.”

Vic shifted in her seat. “It’s unlikely a majority of the land or its contracts would be protected long-term. Mind you, this is all wildly speculative, as there’s little modern precedent for trying to separate a title from an estate, but if we failed to do so, the land would likely go first to some sort of governmental entity. Then some of it could be set aside as publicly owned parks or historic sites, but we’re talking about thousands of acres of farms, pastures, and forest in addition to the land already leased to corporations, schools, and public ventures. Most legal experts assume the majority of it would be auctioned off to the highest bidder.”

“They’d log much of the forests.” Brogan sat down beside Emma. The few locals left in the pub seemed content to nurse their drinks. “Charlie said some of those forests you own contain old growth trees that would go for a king’s ransom.”