“‘There are only so many penniless poets one can stomach before one realizes they are more often after a hearty meal rather than one’s heart,’” Saffron recited, leaving off the dramatic phrasing Elizabeth had used when Saffron had asked her the very same thing. “And Colin is nice.” That was the highest praise she could give him, unfortunately.
“He doesn’t seem the sort to take a shine to naughty poetry, eh?” He took on a serious air and straightened his cuffs unnecessarily. “I had a thought about Ashton and his little Greek adventure.”
Saffron paused in her preparation of the teapot. With a heavy sigh, she said, “I think it’s best if we leave that in the past.”
Lee leaned forward to peer out the small window at the black night beyond. “I believe that was a piece of the sky that just fell.”
“Do shut up, Lee.”
“Leave it in the past? Do you know the favors I promised Uncle Matt to get that information?”
“Oh, woe is you. You likely have to attend one of his hunting weekends at his manor. How very dreadful.”
Lee grimaced at her sarcastic platitudes. “I am required to go up for the entirety of the Christmas holiday. I’ll miss the bloody Chelsea Ball!”
Of course, Lee had planned to attend the notorious New Year’s party. “However will you survive?” she said dryly.
“I’ll not be wasting my favor,” he said with a stubborn moue. “I believe I know what Ashton was doing in that ridiculously hard-to-pronounce place in Greece with Nick.”
“Any Greek city would be nothing to the mouthfuls of syllables that you regularly pronounce in your work,” a tart voice said.
Saffron and Lee turned as one to the kitchen door, where Elizabeth stood with hands on hips. “What on earth are you talking about? And where is the tea?”
“I’ve dug up information about your brother and Ashton that might explain how they know one another,” Lee said.
“They know each other from the army,” Elizabeth said dismissively, nudging Saffron away from the stove.
“Yes, but they served on opposite fronts. Your brother was an officer fighting the Ottomans, and Ashton was in France. My uncle said Ashton went to Greece during the war, and it was in his military service record, so I doubt it was for a friendly family visit.” He pointed to Saffron. “Did you ask him why he enlisted in Warwickshire?”
“No.” Saffron suppressed a groan at Elizabeth’s arched-brow look. “Drop it, Lee. I don’t want to know anything more.”
“Why the devil not?”
“Because he does not wish me to know,” Saffron said. “And he … he is not some puzzle I must assemble.”
Lee and Elizabeth turned on her with appallingly similar narrowed eyes. They glanced at each other, and Elizabeth said, “An argument.”
“Tonight, I’d wager,” Lee said. Elizabeth hummed in agreement and crunched into a ginger biscuit.
“Pardon me!” Saffron waved a hand. “I am not suddenly gone from the room, you know.”
“Well, sounds like Ashton doesn’t want you poking around in his secrets after all,” Lee said. “I do wonder why. Perhaps it is because he doesn’t want you to know he was on adiplomaticmission to Greece.”
Saffron’s mouth fell open, but she quickly caught herself. “I do not want to hear about it.”
Lee tutted. “Whatever Ashton said is all smoke, Everleigh. He’s trying to cover it up.”
Elizabeth nodded avidly, the teapot abandoned. “Of course he is! And it makes so much sense, too, that Nick knows Alexander if they were both in Greece together during the war. Nick is not just a drone for the Agricultural Ministry. He’s very obviously a spy of some sort.”
Saffron rounded on her. “What?”
Elizabeth wiped ginger biscuit crumbs from her fingers into the sink. “Of course, darling. Why else would my brother just happen to be in town the moment one of his supposed employees—a Russian, no less—drops dead suddenly and suspiciously? Colin quite agrees with me.”
“A spy, eh?” Lee stroked his jaw. “His records were rather sparse, according to my uncle. That’d explain it.”
“Have you all been eating nightshade berries?” Saffron looked between her friends, incredulity raising her voice. “You cannot actually believe that Nick is a spy and Alexander knows him from some—some mission during the war! What would that make Alexander?”
“My guess is that his role was dreadfully boring,” Elizabeth said. “For all his mystery, he’s chosen to study bacteria, which is the dullest thing I’ve ever heard of.”
