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Sighing, Josie linked her arm through Mary’s on the other side.
“I think Rex is learning bad habits from your husbands,” Mary complained, frowning. “I never woke up without him in bed beside me until now.”
“What do you think they could be up to?” Josie asked.
Lily shook her head. The door to the dining room was closed, but she could hear people talking within. Had they misjudged their husbands?
The thought was immediately negated when the footman opened the door, and she saw Evie seated at the end of the table with Robert Jones. His wife was not present, and it appeared Robert was flirting with Evie—and she was letting him. More intriguing, when Lily walked through the door, she could see Captain Browne at the end of the table, glaring as if he could burn a hole through Nathan’s cousin with the force of his eyeballs.
Which begged the question—if Captain Browne was here, where were the other gentlemen, and why had he not joined them?
* * *
Nathan
Yawning, Nathan grumbled under his breath as he crossed another name off his list. He’d chosen to requestion the men his brother had spoken to, while Elijah and Rex went with Harker and Moore to question the rest. Anthony had volunteered to stay behind and watch over the ladies, to everyone’s surprise.
Personally, Nathan had thought Rex would be the one to take that position, but Anthony had jumped at the opportunity.
It did give him some relief. While Rex was a proper Corinthian, a good shot, and adept with the sword, he was not as good as Anthony. Could not be. Anthony’s skills had been honed while in enemy territory, not at Gentlemen Jim’s or the dueling clubs.
Unfortunately, Nathan’s morning had been a colossal waste so far. Not one of the men he’d questioned had known anything about smuggling spies, nor had his brother given them any hint why he’d been questioning them. Sebastian had been incredibly tight-lipped, even with the leaders of the gangs. Not surprising, but very frustrating.
“Dammit, Seb, you could have left me a few more clues.”
He had not found the notes Harker claimed his brother had taken about the interviews despite a thorough search. He’d even thought to flip through his brother’s folio this morning but had not seen anything pertinent to the investigation, so he had put it back down. Looking through Seb’s folio had hurt with the reminder that his brother was gone and had ultimately yielded him nothing.
It had been averyearly morning. Time that may have been better spent with his wife in his bed. Leaving her there had been difficult. She’d been warm, soft, and snuggly, and Nathan had fought the urge to remain there, lolling in her warmth and in sleep. Nathan yawned again as he rode Merlin back into the stable yard.
Elijah and Harker were back, getting down from the gig they’d taken to go about. Harker was still recovering from his rushed ride to London, so Nathan had not wanted to make him get on a horse again so soon unless it was necessary.
“Did you find out anything of importance?” Nathan asked, riding up and swinging down from Merlin’s back. If they had, they would need to decamp to somewhere more private, but right now, Nathan felt that was an unlikely ‘if.’ The most likely sources of information had been onhislist, which was why he’d taken the first names Sebastian had put on it. He had a feeling his brother had also felt those names were the most likely to know anything.
There was always the possibility someone had engaged in their own activities outside of the gangs, though.
“No.” Elijah shook his head, appearing frustrated, as did Harker. “They were all happy enough to talk to me once Harker gave them the nod, but none of them knew anything. Either they were all involved and re all covering for each other, which I think highly unlikely, or whoever was involved kept things quiet enough that no one else knew.”
“Damn.” Nathan sighed. “Let’s go to my study. We can wait for Rex and Moore and regroup.”
“You are also going to need to eat something before the viewing. Once your neighbors start showing up, there will not be time,” Elijah reminded him, eyeing him up and down with concern.
Nathan grimaced but knew Elijah was right. Besides, right now, he did not know what their next move should be.
“I will have Cook send up a luncheon for you and your guests in your study, my lord,” Harker said, turning to trot off to the back door of the manor. Only a little stiff, he was moving much better than he had been yesterday, and Nathan was glad he’d insisted on the gig rather than putting Harker back on a horse.
“We should also see how Browne is faring,” Nathan said, falling into step beside Elijah. They moved slowly to give Harker some time. “I’ll send a footman for him to join us.”
“It should have been a quiet morning for him.” Elijah chuckled. “I cannot imagine why he was so intent on staying behind.”
Nathan shrugged. Browne always had his reasons and rarely deigned to explain them.
* * *
Lily
Breakfast was an uncomfortable though amusing affair that mostly consisted of watching Evie flirt with Robert while Captain Browne glared at both of them. With Robert at the table, their topics of conversation were limited, but at least they did not have to deal with Letitia.
According to Robert, she kept London hours even when they were not in town and would be unlikely to rise until noon. He seemed to enjoy her absence.
