‘Thank you,’ said Izzy, deadpan.
‘And you ought to make a bit more effort. You’re not getting any younger, you know.’
‘I’ve got other things on my mind at the moment. What with Christmas and a houseful of people expecting to be fed and watered over the next few days.’
‘But the Carter-Joneses aren’t coming, darling. You can relax now.’
Izzy raised a single eyebrow and refrained from mentioning the financial repercussions of their guests not turning up. She couldn’t bear to think of it any more. Ross was right, she was going to enjoy Christmas and worry about it next week. ‘Have you forgotten the small matter of twelve people to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for, over the next couple of days?’
Xanthe shrugged her shoulders. ‘You’ll manage, you always do. I thought we’d have a little drinky before dinner tonight in the drawing room. Six o’clock sharp. Don’t be late and do put a dress on, darling.’ With that she swanned out.
Izzy shook her head and studied herself in the mirror. Maybe putting on a dress for a change wouldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have quite a few. She did love a dress, they just hadn’t been the most practical thing of late.
‘Darling, don’t you look gorgeous. I’ve made, or rather I got Graham to make, them – he’s a marvel with a cocktail shaker – we’re having porn star martinis. I got those lovely boys at the farm shop to drop in some passion fruit. John was very disappointed he didn’t see you, wasn’t he, Alicia?’
‘Yes,’ replied Alicia in that overly sparkly fashion that suggested she was playing a part. She was no actress. ‘You look lovely, Izzy, doesn’t she, Ross?’ Alicia nudged her son, none too gently.
‘She looks verynice,’ said Ross, with a quirk to his lips.
‘Nice? Darling, that’s no sort of compliment.’ Alicia shook her head.
Izzy and Ross exchanged a private smile.
‘Here you go,’ said Graham, presenting Izzy with a beautiful coupe glass full of sparkling liquid and half a passion fruit floating in it.
‘Thank you.’
‘Aren’t these glasses just darling?’ said Xanthe, holding them up to the light.
‘They are. Do you know, I’ve been thinking about creating a glassware line. These are lovely, are they vintage?’
‘Yes. There are lots of glasses dating back from goodness knows when in the cupboards. I’ve had a fabulous time finding them all, it’s like discovering treasure every day. Although we haven’t found the real treasure – we’ve looked everywhere for it.’
‘Real treasure?’ Alicia was almost quivering with obvious excitement.
‘Yes,’ squealed Xanthe. ‘There’s a fortune hidden in sapphires somewhere in the castle. We’ve been looking for it everywhere but we haven’t found it yet.’
‘Did you hear that, Graham?’ Alicia prodded her husband with a hard finger before turning back to Xanthe. ‘He’s got a metal detector. We could help you look.’
‘The metal detector is at home,’ he replied.
‘Yes, but you use one. You know how to look for things.’
‘Of course I do, dear.’ His mild voice made Izzy laugh to herself as she and Ross caught each other’s eyes once more.
Not this again. Izzy had been hoping that her mother had given up the search and finally accepted that the sapphires were long gone.
‘That would be marvellous. Some fresh eyes might spot something we haven’t. We’ve searched the house from top to bottom. I even had an expert in and he couldn’t find them. But they must be somewhere.’
Alicia rubbed her hands. ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we found them? Graham, we’ll start looking tomorrow. In the meantime. I would love to see the glasses. Can you show me?’
‘Yes, of course,’ said Xanthe. The two women were halfway to the door when Xanthe turned around. ‘Graham, you should come too.’
‘Yes, you should,’ said Alicia, going back and hooking an arm through his. ‘Ross and Izzy can keep each other company.’ There was a coy lift to her lips. ‘Don’t do anything we wouldn’t.’
She and Xanthe giggled like a pair of schoolgirls on a sugar high.
A few seconds later, Ross and Izzy were left alone and both of them burst out laughing.
