Chapter 23

Dinner was off to an awkward start. Saffron was still shaken from her argument with her grandfather and hadn't much spirit for conversation. Elizabeth had the opposite reaction, raving about the absurdity of the patriarchal society in which it was acceptable for a woman to be yanked from her life like a puppet from the stage.

Colin and Nick arrived nearly at the same time, cutting off Elizabeth's rant. Saffron saw the moment when it occurred to Elizabeth what she'd put into motion: Nick, her estranged brother whom she couldn't help but want to impress, was going to meet her beau. Nervous energy drenched her the minute Colin strolled into the parlor.

And it was an uncomfortable introduction. Colin, looking cool and collected in his own expensive dinner jacket and perfectly starched white shirt, offered his hand to Nick. Nick straightened to his full, impressive height and took just a moment too long to accept his hand to shake.

"Smith, is it?" Nick drawled. "I feel I must have met you before somewhere."

Colin quirked a pale brow. "I don't recollect—"

"Ah!" Nick dropped his hand with a grin that was not entirely pleasant. "I've got it! I saw you at the racetrack, didn't I? Ascot, for the jumps a few weeks ago?" Nick squinted at Colin as if trying to remember. "No! It was cards at—" He broke off with a glance at Saffron and Elizabeth, then winked at Colin. "I'm sure we've met before."

Colin had slowly flushed to brick red. Through a tightly held jaw, he said, "Indeed. I might have seen you around town, but I should be surprised. Eliza tells me it's been years since you've been to London."

Nick's eyes gleamed. "Just so, I'm afraid. My work keeps me busy, usually with travel. I don't mind though—work is the god we must all kneel to, eh? A better master than Lady Fortune, though."

No doubt sensing the strange hostility between the two men, Elizabeth announced it was time for drinks. She supplied everyone but Alexander with sherry, provided Alexander with a glass of tonic mixed with some concoction of juices, then slipped out of the room to check on the roast.

That left Saffron with Alexander, Nick, and Colin. Alexander, who was angry at Nick for taking her to see a dead body. Colin, who was not pleased by Nick's obvious references to gambling. And Nick, who was cheerfully pretending to be unaware.

Nick leaned on the arm of the couch, putting him nearly on eye level with Saffron, and said, "How is your work faring, Saffron? Plucked anything interesting out of the ground lately?"

"No," she said, unsure if he was referencing dead Jeffery Wells or something else. "How was your trip up the northern line?"

Saffron wondered if Nick was aware that everyone in the room knew that he was no mere agent of the Agricultural Ministry. He shrugged, sipping his drink, and said, "It was highly productive, though examining decay is never pleasant."

Saffron darted a glance at Colin. Nick must have known Alexander knew it, but she doubted he was aware that Elizabeth had told Colin all her mad ideas about Nick's real job, including that Nick had found another dead member of a government lab. Colin showed no signs of anything more than vague interest.

It was then that Alexander decided that he would fill the conversational void with a tangentially related tale from one of his expeditions. Saffron was relieved he'd made the effort. It lasted until Elizabeth returned with hors d'oeuvres.

Elizabeth took up the mantle of conversation after that, playing perfect hostess, so that even Colin seemed relaxed by the time the main course was served.

In true Elizabeth fashion, the entire meal was flawless, though conversation continued to be somewhat lacking. Saffron had never thought that Colin's long, droning stories from his days at Eton might be considered pompous, since many of her and Elizabeth's friends from their youth had had a similar education. But when Colin asked Alexander about his own school days, and his reply made clear that his days had been spent in average London primary and secondary schools, Saffron realized that the conversation might embarrass either man. Colin did not seem daunted, though he was plainly taken aback.

"I see," he said leaning back in his chair and idly swirling his glass of wine. "I thought I'd understood from Eliza that you had some connections at that university."

"No, darling," Elizabeth said easily, "that's Saffron. Her father was a professor there."

"But I thought your father was your grandfather's heir," he said, frowning at Saffron. "Or did I misunderstand that too?"

Saffron shifted uncomfortably. "He was, but he had a passion for science, and so he taught at the university for a few years," she said, hoping that would put an end to the conversation. She didn't care to have all this family drama laid out on the dinner table.

"I see," Colin repeated. His tone suggested he didn't quite see.

"Tell us about your people, Smith," Nick said. He'd been quiet for most of the meal, responding with his jaunty amiability when addressed, but Saffron had caught him eyeing Colin on more than one occasion.

Colin shrugged. "Not much to tell, really. Pater works in investments."

"They live in town?" Nick asked.

"Gads, no," Colin said with a laugh. "No, they live over in Bath, of all places. My mother is convinced her health requires it, though everyone knows that nonsense about Bath water is drivel."

"The minerals found in spring waters can be very effective in treating a number of ailments," Alexander said. "Magnesium, for example, has been well documented in improving muscle and nerve function in mammals."

This sent Colin into another long tale involving his mother and his aunt and their quest for the most efficacious curatives that ended up being a costly waste of time. Saffron couldn't help but suspect that Alexander was rather enjoying Colin's blathering on, she guessed because it so clearly bothered Nick. He'd lost some of his blandly pleasant manner through the evening, as if even his brotherly mask couldn't stand up to his active dislike of Colin.

Saffron didn't know whether to be amused, impressed, or concerned. But at least she was no longer thinking of her grandfather and his demands.

Dessert arrived at last. When Elizabeth disappeared into the kitchen to bring the butterscotch cake, Saffron nipped out to the landing to retrieve the bottle of champagne she'd hidden out there to keep cool. Alexander had obliged her by taking the champagne glasses out of the cabinet in the corner of the parlor and had them ready for her.

"Oh!" Elizabeth said softly when she returned to the room, cake-laden tray in her hands, and saw her guests were all raising a glass to her.

Saffron beamed and took the tray from her to set on the table. "To the dearest friend anyone could ever ask for, happy birthday. I wish you health, happiness, and the very best of what life has to offer."

In a few weeks' time, when it was Elizabeth's turn to toast her on her own birthday, she'd no doubt come up with something more elaborate and polished to say, but Saffron received a watery kiss on the cheek from Elizabeth all the same.

Nick added his own well wishes. Everyone drank. Alexander's barely passed his lips, Saffron noted, and Colin was eying them all in a strange way as he finished off his glass. Saffron ignored his obvious lack of celebratory spirit. Elizabeth seemed happy, especially once Saffron had passed her a generous glass of champagne for herself, and that was enough for now.

"You were no help with Colin at all," Saffron hissed at Alexander, adding a playful elbow jab to his stomach for good measure. They'd been left alone in the parlor when Elizabeth walked Colin to the door and Nick excused himself for a moment.

He caught her elbow and pulled her down so they sat hip to hip on the couch. "If you were in the jungle and saw a hapless deer about to be eaten by a jaguar, would you try to help the deer, or let nature run its course?"

Shocked by the macabre joke, and perhaps a bit giddy at his closeness, she burst into a nervous laugh. "I suppose not, but goodness, why on earth would you call Nick a jaguar?"

"Alexander obviously finds me a mysterious, dangerous creature," Nick drawled, entering the room with a cigarette between his lips.

"Do not light that," Saffron warned. "Elizabeth will flay you alive. She doesn't permit smoking in the house, it causes an awful mess."

Nick's brows lifted, but he replaced the cigarette in a slender gold case he returned to his jacket pocket. He sat on the armchair opposite them and grinned. "I think that went perfectly, don't you?"

"I think Elizabeth might flay you even if you don't smoke," Saffron said crossly. "You were perfectly awful to Colin."

Nick settled more comfortably in the chair. "He is perfectly awful. Did you see his face when you toasted Eliza? He had no idea we were celebrating her birthday."

She agreed, but she'd never betray Elizabeth by saying so. She'd act as if she liked Colin well enough until Elizabeth saw what a dreadfully dull, pompous fellow he was. "They've only been stepping out a few weeks."

Nick tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. "Well, on with the show, eh? I've had word about Wells."

The warm ease she'd felt from sitting so close to Alexander evaporated. "What did they say?"

"And from whom?" Alexander asked.

Nick flicked him a glance, a smile curling one side of his mouth. "I see this is now a team effort instead of a partnership. Very well. Wells died of respiratory and heart failure. His liver was enlarged, to boot. Perhaps most significantly, that nasty cut on his hand was infected with fungus."

Saffron stared at him. "But what killed him?"

"The report didn't say. They need more time to do the full workup."

"But?"

Nick tilted his head thoughtfully. "But I suspect the fungus will have something to do with his death. It looked god-awful. Something funny is going on at the Harpenden lab."

"So you'll return there to investigate?" Saffron asked.

"I will," he said. "But I'm not trained for lab work. Couldn't muddle my way through pretending, even if I hadn't already been in the lab in my current capacity."

"As an agent of the Agricultural Ministry?" Alexander asked dryly.

"Just so." He rubbed a hand over his jaw, frowning. "It'll take ages to find someone to be a mole in the lab. They're a tight-knit group, with only a handful of scientists working there. They'd spot a true outsider in a moment."

"I'll do it."

Saffron spun in her seat to face Alexander. He was looking at Nick without expression.

"I appreciate the offer," Nick said, "but you're not subtle, Alexander. A great tall brute like you would only put them on their guard."

Saffron scoffed. "You're practically the same size, you know."

Nick gave her a wicked smile. "He's certainly not the type to strike up friendly conversations that lead to free-flowing information, is he?"

Saffron had known it would come to this the moment Alexander had spoken, knew why he'd offered. But she'd do it anyway. She wanted to know what was going on. "I'll go to the lab."

Nick studied her. "No, I don't think so."

"But why not?" she asked, surprised. She'd thought he'd been angling for her to volunteer.

"First of all, it is dangerous," Nick said. "Two men are dead. I know you know your way around a lab, especially one that deals with plants, but should something happen, I'd be responsible. You're a civilian."

"You are meant to be a civilian," Saffron muttered, a bit put out.

"Second, the value in sending you would be, in part, your name. Everleigh is a name known in botanical circles, and your father worked in plant pathology, which is what this lab deals with. I doubt you'd be willing to go as yourself."

"Why not?"

"Aster," Alexander said. "He'd hear about it before long."

Saffron finished his thought. "And sack me for working in another lab."

The room fell silent. She didn't want to dance along to Nick's tune and jump at the chance to go to the lab, but it did make sense for her to go. She knew lab work, and her name would give her clout that an assumed identity wouldn't have. And, truth be told, she wanted to see what she could learn about her father and what he might have done there.

She blew out a heavy breath. "Would your … office be willing to explain to Aster what I was doing in the lab when it is all over?"

Nick considered it. "If and when Petrov's and Wells's deaths are adequately dealt with, and if you provided assistance, I think that would be possible."

"Aster would have done the government a favor," Saffron said, "by allowing me to work in the lab temporarily."

"We could phrase it that way."

A slight shiver went through her at the way he said it, with the cool authority of the mysterious "we."

"And it would only be for a few weeks, at the most, wouldn't it?" Nick nodded. "Then I think it's a good idea."

A glance at Alexander told her that he did not think it was a good idea, but he said nothing.

"I'll just make a telephone call, then." Nick rose from his seat and left the room.

Saffron stood and began to collect the champagne glasses. Alexander silently assisted.

Elizabeth was in the kitchen, elbows-deep in soapy water. From the aggressive way she washed the dishes, Saffron guessed that she did not agree with Nick's positive assessment of the evening. She left her to her scrubbing.

Nick hung up the telephone when she emerged from the kitchen. "Looks like we're all set. I'll let you know the plan tomorrow, Saffron."

He left. Alexander departed soon after with a kiss and an enigmatic smile, and Saffron was left to wonder if she'd made a mistake in offering to go to the lab, while at once confident that she'd had no other choice.