Ives’s patience thinned by the moment. “You grab him,” he muttered to Gareth. “I’ll duck his head in a bucket of water to clear his thinking.”
Gareth chuckled. “Do not blame him that you are out of temper. He has been behaving fairly decently since he came up yesterday. He is only half-foxed, and you have to admit that Lance happy is far preferable to Lance miserable, since he insists on infecting everyone with his humor good or bad.”
“I’ll blame him if I want. I did not plan on spending days on end with him as my shadow, nor I as his.”
“Ah, I have it.” Lance stuck a finger into the air. “I remember his exact words.”
“Are you going to share them?” Ives asked. “Or am I supposed to shake them out of you?”
Lance’s expression fell. He looked at Gareth. “He is talking like a vicar again.”
“Vicars do not thrash people,” Ives said.
“I trust you will remember that,Vicar,” Lance shot back.
“Ives has important matters on his mind,” Gareth said.
Lance’s eyebrows rose a fraction. “That woman? Of course it is. She is still a ticklish subject, I see.”
Ives prayed for forbearance. “Could you please turnyour half-addled mind back to the exact words that Radley said to you, to imply he would call off the hounds?”
“Ah. Yes. He said, and I think you will agree his meaning was unmistakable—I certainly comprehended him immediately—”
“What. Did. He. Say?” Ives said.
“He said,County neighbors should look out for each other, and friends even more so. I always honor my debts when I am beholden to a man, especially if I have the means to resolve his greatest concern.”
“It certainly sounds like an overture to me,” Gareth said.
“I am more interested in what means he thinks he has,” Ives said. “Radley cannot end that investigation on his own. He is not the only authority involved.”
“What do I care how he will do it?” Lance said. “I allow an introduction to these women, I nod to them at an assembly, I receive them and Radley when they come to call once or twice, andit is over.”
“I don’t like it,” Ives said. “Don’t agree to anything until I have a chance to speak with him. If it is as simple as that, he will not mind some frank negotiations on the matter.”
Lance threw up his hands. “He isn’t one of your mistresses, Ives. A little subtlety is in order at times.”
“What would you know about subtlety? Just do not agree to anything.”
One of the servants at the fencing studio approached them. “Milords, there is a man outside. He asked to speak with you, sir.” He addressed the last to Ives.
“What man?”
“A big one. Black. He did not give his name.”
Rather suddenly, his brothers lost interest in Radley. Lance eyed him. “Didn’t Mrs. Lavender have a big black man at her door? An ex-slave from the islands. What was his name? Achilles or something.”
Ignoring him, Ives walked to the door and stepped outside. Hector waited there. “Mrs. Lavender said you are to come. Very angry, she is.”
“Tell her I will come tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “She said you are to come at once.”
“Fine, go and tell her I will be there soon.”
He strode back to his brothers, unfastening his padded vest as he went. “I must do something.”
“Are we going to Mrs. Lavender’s?” Lance asked.
