The parade of guests had started after they’d returned from the village, and had not let up, keeping them busy for hours.Almost all the guest rooms were occupied, after a herculean effort by Mrs. Banting.
Lady Allen inclined her head, her lips twitching. “Do you intend to purchase anything?”
“I do not have the funds. And you, my lady?”
“I have set my eye on a few,” Lady Allen said, although her gaze passed over the paintings and settled on the guests. As her eyes came to rest on Leo, Saffron’s shoulders tensed. That would be just her luck if the lovely woman desired an arrangement with the man who had captured her heart.
“You feel something for him, don’t you?” Lady Allen asked.
Saffron startled. “You did that on purpose. You were trying to provoke a reaction out of me.”
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Lady Allen laughed, hiding her mouth behind an ornate, ivory fan inlaid with mother-of-pearl gems and fledged with chartreuse lace.
What would it be like to be a companion to such a lady?
“So, you aren’t interested in him?” Saffron asked, trying to sound as if she didn’t care.
“I do not steal what belongs to others,” Lady Allen replied. “I don’t need to. However, if he wishes to return to me, I might consider the idea.”
Saffron leaned closer, forcing Lady Allen to retreat. “That’s enough.”
Lady Allen’s eyes were wide above the curve of her fan. “Pardon?”
Saffron flicked her hand in a dismissing gesture. “I know what you’re doing. Trying to force me into action. It won’t work.”
She turned and strode away, leaving the older woman standing alone. It took three rotations of the room before she regained control of her emotions.
I can’t believe I just did that.
Lady Allen had deserved the rebuke, of course. The woman was an incessant meddler. Given free rein, her interference would only have worsened.
I stood up for myself, that’s what I did.
A curious lightness filled Saffron’s chest, chasing away the fear and anxiety she’d felt only moments before. She used the moment to peruse the paintings. In each of the smudged faces, she imagined her brother. A hand grazed her hip as Leo came to stand beside her.
“I see Sabrina’s face in all of them,” he said, in a disturbing echo of her own thoughts. He took her hand and escorted her around, earning gasps from several of the older ladies, who gathered and muttered behind their fans, shooting dark looks their way.
What did they think, seeing her on his arm?
Curiously, she didn’t care.
*
Leo struck thematch against the top of the small, wooden table set at the front of the ballroom. The room was silent, all eyes on him. Wind rattled the shutters and whooshed down the fireplaces to make the flames dance.
“Quit the dramatics,” Mr. Morgan called out before being shushed by his wife.
Leo lowered the match to the wick of a four-inch white candle set on a burnished silver stand. The wick flickered and caught flame. When the candle burned out, the auction would end.
As the guests dispersed, he wondered if the thief was present. Detective Jansen had reported nothing, and neither had his sources in the village. But he knew better than to let his guard down. He searched out Saffron, who had taken a position by theexit, artfully laughing with one of his guests. She caught his eyes and winked.
“Capital idea, this auction.”
He turned to find Simon standing with a cigar in one hand.
“Ravenmore is quite popular,” Leo said.
Each of the pieces of art was presented at a singular platform, with a special moderator to start the bidding on each purchase. With each sale, a footman ran into the room and took one painting and ferried it into the auction room. He stood and watched as painting after painting was removed and the crowd thinned. He was not interested in learning the prices each piece had fetched. He was only interested in the star piece.
