A Lily Among Thorns(79)

“Your husband asked me first,” Sacreval told her. “But after our game, I am yours to command until I am needed for the laying out of the supper.”

Lady Pursleigh’s pout deepened. Her pretty blue eyes fixed appealingly on her husband. “Pursleigh, I only want him for half an hour and then you can talk boring old politics as much as you like. I want to hear what they’re wearing in Paris!”

“If you insist,” Lord Pursleigh said with ill grace.

The marquis gave him an apologetic shrug. “Half an hour, then,” he said, and turned to kiss Lady Pursleigh’s hand.

She slipped him a little pink note in a manner she evidently thought inconspicuous.

The marquis palmed it with a deal more grace, but his gaze shot apprehensively to Lord Pursleigh. The viscount, to Solomon’s surprise, smiled maliciously. “All grown up, ain’t she?”

When the pair was ensconced at a table at the far end of the room (playing with a fresh deck brought by a servant who carried a great stack of them), to all appearances flirting outrageously, Solomon made his way around the buffet table to Elijah. “Did you see that? She passed him a love note not two feet from her own husband! I thought I’d sink from embarrassment and I wasn’t even involved.”

Elijah was watching them with narrowed eyes. “I did see it. I can’t help wondering if we’ve made the same mistake here we made with Brendan, only the other way round.”

Solomon blinked. “Surely if she were passing state secrets, she wouldn’t do it right under our noses.”

“She doesn’t know we’re watching,” Elijah pointed out. “And if she does, she may expect us to think exactly that. Dalliance is a splendid cover. If she’s really bedding him, so much the better.”

If Elijah was right, Solomon could only imagine what schoolgirl feuds must have been like at Serena’s school, with Serena on one side and Jenny Pursleigh on the other. He sighed. “What did Ravi have to say?”

“Lord Pursleigh put nothing on his person but a small snuffbox, which Spratt vowed contained only snuff.”

“So what do we do next?”

“Ravi is trailing Pursleigh to see if he picks anything up. Lady Serena said she’d be watching Sacreval. All we can do is wait.” Elijah watched Sacreval and the viscountess. “I’m going to have to lift that note.”

He tugged at his livery coat with suppressed irritation. “Where the devil is Lady Serena?”

Was that what was causing Elijah’s fidgets? He was watching for Serena? “I haven’t seen her,” Solomon said shortly. He’d been looking. Whatever disguise she was affecting must be more effective than he’d thought possible. That was good, because she had no plausible reason to be here besides the real one of helping them keep watch on Sacreval. If the Frenchman spotted her, he’d know at once something was up.

“Oh, Lord,” Elijah muttered. “Ravi is taking drinks to someone on the balcony. What does he think he’s about?”

Solomon sighed. “Would you like me to go and follow Pursleigh myself?”

Elijah shook his head. “No, Sacreval would notice. Just go and fetch Ravi back, would you?”

Solomon made his way around the edge of the room to where French doors let in the summer evening. As he reached the doorway, he heard a drawling, well-bred voice say with some amusement, “Does the Siren know what sort of adder she’s nursing in her bosom, Ravi? I swear, that inn gets more scandalous every year.” Solomon peered out and saw that the voice belonged to a middle-aged Apollo whose toga looked more Roman than Greek.

Ravi raised his chin defiantly. “No, my lord, of course she does not.”

But the boy took a step back when the Apollo said, “Bring me another glass of champagne, Ravi. Bring one for yourself, too.”

“I can’t. I am working, my lord.”

Solomon had no idea what was going on, but it was clear in every line of Ravi’s body that the boy was scared. Only Serena could turn half the work of innkeeping into preventing people from bullying her staff. Solomon obviously had to do something, but intimidating lords was exactly what he had always been worst at. He tried to think what Serena would do in this situation.

“I used to find you worked better after a glass or two,” Apollo said slyly.

The look on Ravi’s face galvanized Solomon into action. He stepped out onto the balcony so that his shoes rang on the stone. “Oh, there you are, Ravi. You’re needed inside.”