Prince of Dreams (Stokehurst #2)(95)

Her father couldn't answer, only pressed his chin deeper in her hair and swallowed hard, while his arms threatened to crush her. Emma brushed away her own tears of happiness. She was with her family, and everything was finally all right.

Emma sat and talked eagerly with her parents, telling them a carefully edited version of her life at the Angelovsky estate. She took pleasure in the way her father reached over to squeeze her hand. Tasia beamed at them both, delighted by their renewed closeness. After a while the boys came to the parlor to have tea and cakes. William and Jake were becoming fast friends. Zachary, still drowsy from his nap, sat on Tasia's lap.

“I want to visit Jake and see the menagerie,” William announced, his fingers and cheeks sticky from the iced cakes he and Jake were devouring. “When can I go? Will you take me there, Emma?”

“You must come soon,” Emma replied, smiling. “The animals would love to see you, William.” She hesitated before suggesting to her parents, “Now that the holidays are here, perhaps you might come to our Christmas Day party, and share supper with us afterward.”

Tasia agreed immediately, smacking her lips at the thought of the Russian delicacies the Angelovskys' cook would undoubtedly prepare. While they were in the midst of making plans, the butler arrived with the announcement that a police inspector was waiting at the front entrance. “I've been expecting him,” Luke said. “Excuse me. I must talk with him privately for a while.”

William and Jake suddenly found an excuse to leave the room. Emma was certain they were going to get a look at the visitor.

As the parlor emptied rapidly, Emma stared at Tasia with wide-eyed surprise. “Why in heaven's name is a police inspector here?”

Tasia grimaced. “The house was robbed the night before last, while we were sleeping! It has unnerved me and the children terribly. Your father's been in a fury.” She lowered her voice confidentially. “It hurts a man's pride to have his property stolen from right under his nose. Luke has set Scotland Yard on its ear—they sent two sergeants and an inspector yesterday—and he won't let anyone rest until the culprit is caught.”

“I pity the poor thief when Papa finds him,” Emma said dryly. “What was taken?”

“Some jewelry, a cashbox, a case of pistols.” Tasia frowned and shook her head. “The ease with which it was accomplished suggests that the thief was familiar with the house plan and the location of our valuables.”

“Then it's likely we know the person who did it?”

Tasia nodded, kissing the top of Zachary's head and holding him protectively. “Our servants are all old and trusted ones, so we believe the culprit has probably been a guest of ours in the past. We might even have entertained him at supper or a party.”

Emma shivered slightly. “I don't like that at all.”

Tasia shrugged, turning pragmatic as usual. “Life is always full of surprises, praise be to God.”

When Emma and Jake returned to the Angelovsky estate, Nikolas was in the process of ushering out a small group of estate agents, accountants, and lawyers, all of whom had delivered semiannual reports on his holdings. The last of the visitors departed, and Nikolas took his son on his knee, asking how the day had gone. Patiently he listened to Jake's excited account of his newfound cousins and grandparents. “Then you like the Stokehursts?” Nikolas asked quietly.

“Oh, yes,” Jake assured him. “I never met anyone like them before.”

“That I'm sure of,” Nikolas replied dryly, with a sideways glance at Emma. He grinned at her faint scowl and turned back to his son. “Why don't you go up to the nursery, Jake? There might be a new toy waiting for you.”

Jake ran upstairs to investigate, leaving with such unseemly haste that Nikolas and Emma laughed.

Nikolas stood and arched a tawny brow quizzically. “How was it?”

Impulsively Emma went over to him and slipped her arms around his lean waist. “Tasia was as sweet and kind as always, and Papa and I managed to iron out all our differences. Before I left, he even admitted that you couldn't be such a bad husband if I looked so well. I think Papa would like to make peace with you, Nikki. Don't be surprised if he wants to talk to you privately someday soon—I think he might be ready to accept you as his son-in-law.”

Nikolas smiled sardonically. “Why does that thought give me cold chills?”

She bit his ear lightly. “If Papa decides to be nice to you, I expect you to do your utmost to charm him. For my sake.”

Nikolas removed Emma's hat and smoothed his hands over her head. “I don't like it when you braid and pin your hair so tightly.”

“I'm trying to look respectable.”

“You weren't meant to be respectable. You were meant to be unbound and natural, like your animals. No, don't bite me again…I have a present for you.”

“What kind of present? Where is it?”

“You'll have to find it,” he said, smiling as she began to search his pockets. “Not so roughly, ruyshka…you may damage something of value.”

Triumphantly Emma located a heavy velvet pouch and pulled it out. Loosening the drawstring, she shook the object into her palm. “Oh,” she said softly, her breath catching. It was a ring, a single sapphire mounted in gold. The rich, glittering stone was the size of a robin's egg, seeming to contain every shade of blue in its glowing depths. Emma turned her stunned gaze to her husband's face.