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"So, to today's amusement. As I said, this will be a treasure hunt in the gardens and the near grounds around the house. No clue will take you further than half a mile from this very door, so please do not trouble yourselves by walking to Lambton in search of glory. You will get nothing for your trouble but ruined boots."

A ripple of laughter passed through the assembled company.

"I shall hand out the first clue to each team in a sealed envelope. Each team has three unique clues to solve, and the answers may be objects to retrieve or simply the answer to a specific question. You must return to me with your answer, or the object in question, to receive your next clue. The fourth and final clue is the same for all teams and will lead you to a hidden object. The first team to return to me with that object will be declared the winners and receive all appropriate laurels for their efforts."

She beamed down at the assembled company and waved her bundle of envelopes in the air. "Now, let the games begin!"

Chapter Five

Kate watched her father and Mina stroll off purposefully, arm in arm.

"So much for a family affair," she muttered.

They had received their first clue from her mother, whose eyes had sparkled with mischief as she assured the group that they would receive no special consideration for being her dearest kin. The clue had read:

I have no hands, yet mark the hours,

I stand amongst the summer flowers.

Beside the magic place, where waters flow,

Seek your prize in the shade below.

Both Kate and her papa had declared the answer at once. The old sundial beside the grotto. Now all that remained was to make their way there, discover what her mother had hidden beneath it and return for their second riddle. Unfortunately, the speed at which they had unravelled this particular puzzle had led to her walking side by side with the man who most unsettled her, Mr Nathaniel Briar.

He had said nothing so far, merely smiled his dizzying smile and walked along with his cane swinging merrily, as though they were the oldest and dearest friends and could pass a comfortable stroll with no words between them. For Kate, it was a decidedly uncomfortable stroll. She was too conscious of him, too conscious of every step that took her a little too near to him and too conscious of her own arms and legs, which seemed to behave sluggishly under her command this morning.

There was his scent as well. Sandalwood and lemons, and it was most distracting. Not unpleasant at all, but so consuming that it seemed to fill her nose and mind until she could not think clearly. She settled on the safest course of action, gazing down at the ground and walking with a quick step that did not invite conversation.

"We must have a little discourse, Miss Darcy," said Mr Briar with a grin. "I am enjoying the grounds of Pemberley very much, but the experience would be greatly improved if I could hear a little of your thoughts."

"I am not the sort to chatter mindlessly, sir," Kate said, her voice coming out more clipped and timid than she would have liked.

"I do not doubt it. A woman of learning such as yourself has no time for frivolity or idle chitchat, but there must be some subject upon which we can converse. Silence brings me out in hives, don't you know?"

"I am sure that cannot possibly be the case, sir," she said, trying very hard not to smile and allowing herself a small glance in his direction.

"Oh, I assure you. Great red, ugly things. I was once at a very dull dinner held by the Countess of Malham, and the company was so intolerably silent that by the second course I was more welt than man."

That did it. She let out a small laugh before she could contain it, and his grin widened further. He looked quite triumphant.

"There now! The serious Catherine Darcy can laugh after all."

"I laugh only at your ridiculousness, sir. I wonder how you conduct such a serious-minded career when you speak such..." She searched for the right word. "Such flummery."

"I suppose I deserve that," he said, but his voice was still full of laughter and good humour. "I do have a serious-minded career, Miss Darcy, and it is one I enjoy very much, but I do not see why serious pursuits should prevent a man from taking enjoyment in the people and places he encounters. Why, in Cairo, I made what I consider to be the most important discovery of my career to date, and upon entering the tomb I promptly slipped on a patch of loose sand and landed heavily on my rump. I assure you, all my Egyptian guides and workmen laughed themselves half to death. I took it as a sign from the gods that one ought not to take oneself too seriously."

"Was that an insult, sir?"

"No, not at all! I was speaking only of my own experience."

Kate tried to imagine him there, standing beneath the hot sun of Egypt, his chestnut curls disordered by the wind as he examined objects that had lain untouched for thousands of years. She pictured the entrance to an ancient tomb, the workmen gathered around and Mr Briar directing proceedings with cheerful enthusiasm. What must it be like to live such a life? To travel to distant lands and uncover things that had been lost to the world for centuries? For a moment she was so taken with the idea that she forgot to be prickly.

"The amber on the head of your cane," she said suddenly. "I am most intrigued by it. Can you tell me from where it came?"

He held it up so that she could study it more closely.

"Of course, Miss Darcy. This is another of my treasures. I acquired it from a dealer in Rome, although the amber itself came from the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Romans were quite mad for the stuff, you know. Pliny wrote of its extraordinary value, and vast quantities were carried south along the trade routes to be fashioned into jewellery and ornaments. I was fortunate enough to find a particularly fine piece and had it set into the head of this cane. And if you look very closely here, you will see something quite wonderful."