"What's wrong?" she asked the instant Lucifer stepped down from his curricle.
His gaze went past her to the groom hurrying up to take charge of his horses, then shifted to the portico where Cottsloe waited, a footman hovering, about to come for their luggage. Turning to her with his customary rakish smile, he enveloped her in a hug, planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'll tell all later, when it's just you and Luc and me."
"And me." Phyllida prodded his back.
Lucifer turned and lifted her down. "And you, of course. That goes without saying."
Phyllida threw him a look, then embraced Amelia. "Don't worry," Phyllida whispered. "No one's in any danger."
Lucifer was scanning the surrounding fields. "Superb country."
Phyllida and Amelia exchanged glances, then linked arms and headed for the house. "Now, quite aside from that," Phyllida said, "you must tell me everything. I'm here in lieu of everyone still in the south. How are you getting on?" Glancing ahead, Phyllida saw Luc step onto the portico. "Ah, here's your handsome husband. He's almost as hideously handsome as mine."
"Almost?" Amelia laughed. "Each to our own taste, I suppose."
"Indubitably," Phyllida replied.
Luc lifted a brow as they neared, his gaze alert, serious; Amelia signaled with her eyes, murmured "Later" as she slipped past to give her orders to Higgs.
There was plenty to talk about, laugh about; a late-afternoon tea and subsequently dinner sped by. Luc and Lucifer denied any interest in port, so the family settled comfortably in the drawing room.
Eventually, the girls and Miss Pink retired; after a few minutes, Minerva followed them upstairs. Luc rose as the door closed behind her. Crossing to the sideboard, he poured brandy into two glasses, handed one to Lucifer, then sank onto the arm of Amelia's armchair.
He sipped, then asked, "What's the problem?"
Lucifer circled the room with his gaze, then looked at Luc.
"No one can hear us. All their rooms are sufficiently distant."
Lucifer nodded. "Right then. Our problem isn't clear. The facts, however, are these. After your wedding, Phyllida and I returned to London, intending to spend a week or so there, in my case, touching base with my various contacts."
Luc nodded; he knew of Lucifer's interest in silver and jewelry.
"One afternoon, while looking over an old acquaintance's stock, I came upon an ancient silver saltcellar. When I asked where the dealer had got it, he admitted it had been brought to his back door by one of the'scavengers,' his term for those who receive goods with no declarable provenance."
"Stolen goods?"
"Usually. Generally the better dealers avoid such goods, but in the case of the saltcellar, the dealer hadn't been able to resist." Lucifer's brows rose. "Luckily for us. The last time I saw that saltcellar it was at the Place. It was presented to one of my great-something-grandfathers for services to the Crown."
Amelia sat forward. "It'd been stolen from Somersham?"
Lucifer nodded. "And that wasn't all that was taken. I retrieved the saltcellar, and we took it back to the Place. We arrived there to find Honoria seriously vexed. That morning she'd received three letters from various family members who'd stayed overnight. They were all missing small items — a Sevres snuffbox, a gold bracelet, an amethyst brooch."
"That sounds like the same thief who's been filching items from all over London." Luc frowned. "There's some reason you've come all this way to tell us."
"Indeed, but let's not jump to any conclusions, because, frankly, we don't have sufficient facts. However, the reasons I've come to you are twofold. First, the losses at Somersham were already public knowledge before Devil and Honoria heard of them, so they haven't been able to keep things within the family, as they would have preferred."
Lucifer held up his hand to stop Amelia when she would have asked why. "The bald facts of the scattered thefts are that, if you chalk the losses at the Place up to the same account, then there appears to be only one common factor, only one group who attended all the affected events."
Silence gripped the room. For long moments, no one broke it. Lucifer looked steadily at Luc, who returned his regard.
"The Ashfords," Luc finally said, his voice even, uninflected.
Lucifer grimaced. "On the face of it, yes. Devil and Honoria have returned to London — they'll do what they can to dampen speculation there. Luckily, with the Season virtually at an end, if we can deal with it — whatever it is — swiftly, there won't be much damage."
To Amelia, Luc seemed preternaturally still.
"We can't afford another scandal — not after Edward."