scented pomade or hair oil. That sobered me up more quickly than any black coffee would have done.
“Go away or I’ll scream,” I said.
This made him laugh even more. “My dear, bed hopping is a time-honored country sport. Everyone does it. It’s only a bit of fun, what?”
“Not for me,” I said. “And certainly not with you. Now get out of my room.”
“You ’eard the lady. Get out while the going’s good,” said a threatening voice behind us, and Queenie loomed up like an avenging angel. She had a water jug in her hand. “Now, do you want this broken over yer ’ead or what?”
“Well, I can tell when I’m not wanted,” Johnnie said and made a hasty exit.
“Queenie,” I said, sitting up again and brushing myself off, “sometimes you are worth your wages after all.”
“Who was that man? Bloody cheek, coming into your room like that,” she said. “Nasty slimy type. I’m going to bring my mattress and sleep on your floor in the future. And you tell your Mr. Darcy and he’ll punch the daylights out of him.”
“I don’t think we’d better do that,” I said.
“He was worried about you, you know. He says to me, ‘Queenie, go and sit with her. See if you can get her to eat something.’ So I brought you the tray. There’s a lovely soup and some game pie and black coffee.”
“I’ll try the black coffee anyway,” I said and then fell asleep with Queenie sitting on the end of my bed.
Chapter 16
GORZLEY HALL
DECEMBER 24, CHRISTMAS EVE
Awoke feeling rather confused and not too well. Reminder to self: Never touch alcohol again, especially not elderberry wine.
I opened my eyes and wondered why the daylight hurt me so much. Then vague recollections of the night before crept back. Not only of my drunkenness but of the danger I had felt. And I had been too drunk to be vigilant. I opened my bedroom door. The house was suspiciously quiet. I should have stayed awake and alert last night. I should have told Darcy my suspicions instead of . . . My cheeks turned flaming hot as I remembered some of the things I said to him. If someone had died during the night, it would be my fault.
Even the Wexlers had not leaped up at the crack of dawn after the previous night’s festivities. I suspected I wasn’t the only one taken by surprise at the strength and amount of the alcohol consumed. I washed, dressed and came downstairs to find the Rathbones breakfasting quietly on toast and black coffee. I decided that was all I could manage too and was just trying to swallow a morsel with marmalade on it when the door opened and Monty, Badger and Darcy came in, laughing as if they were in the middle of a good joke.
“So the bishop said, ‘Not during Lent,’” Monty finished and the other two laughed even louder. They went over to the sideboard and started helping themselves generously to everything that was there while I looked around to see if there was another way out of the room or I could disguise myself as a standard lamp. Before I could attempt either, Darcy came and sat beside me.
“Good morning, my lady,” he said. “I trust you slept well?”
I flushed bright red as I saw his eyes laughing at me. “Remind me never to drink elderberry wine again,” I said.
“Good God, you didn’t actually drink any of those old biddies’ wine, did you?” Monty said in a horrified voice. “They are notorious for it around here. Lethal. Positively lethal. And the elderberry is worse than the dandelion. Of course, the parsnip is the real killer.”
At the mention of the word “killer” I found that I was no longer laughing. I remembered the sense of danger I had felt as we walked from my mother’s cottage.
“Is everybody all right this morning?” I asked.
Monty was still grinning. “I suspect the other guests feel rather the way you do,” he said. “If they all knocked back that wine they’ll have glorious headaches.”
Monty and Badger devoured their food as only young college men can and excused themselves to go outside and hurl around a rugby ball. I went to go too, but Darcy grabbed my wrist. “What did you mean by asking if everyone was all right?” he said softly. “Did you suspect that might not be the case?”
“It’s these unexplained deaths,” I said. “One each day since I arrived. The man shot in the orchard, the garage owner who fell off a bridge, the old lady found gassed—and yesterday there was also a horrible incident in Newton Abbott. A telephone operator was electrocuted when she tried to plug in her headphones.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Darcy said. “There would be no way that electric wires would be anywhere near telephone wires.”
“That makes it four deaths in four days,” I said. “So I couldn’t help worrying that someone might have died this morning.”
“As far as I know we’re all hale and hearty here,” he said. “No corpses lying in the hallways.”
“It’s not funny, Darcy,” I snapped. “It’s horrible.”
He reached across and stroked my cheek. “Yes, I suppose it is. Especially when you’ve actually seen one of those corpses. But there’s nothing we can do about it, Georgie, and it doesn’t concern us. Maybe your telephone operator was deliberately killed because she eavesdropped on a conversation, but the others—well, as far as I can see they can’t be connected or even be murders. A cluster of sad accidents, that’s all.”
His hand slid from my cheek down to my chin and he pulled me toward him to give me a kiss.
“Darcy, not in public,” I said.
He grinned. “You weren’t so modest about it last night, I seem to remember. Inviting me into your bedchamber, suggesting that we run off to a desert island together in full hearing of everyone else. In fact, I had no idea that you were such a hot little piece.”
“Oh, dear.” I put my hands to my face. “Don’t remind me. I feel absolutely awful.”
“Don’t apologize. I rather liked it. In fact, I’m looking for a time when you can show me more.”
“Stop it.” I slapped his hand and he laughed. “Maybe it’s your true nature coming out. Maybe you take after your mother after all.”
“God, I hope not,” I said.
“By the way, was that your grandfather we saw last night? Looked exactly like him.”
“Yes, it was. My mother’s here too. She and Noel Coward are working on a play together and Granddad came down to help look after them.”
“Your mother and Noel Coward—what an unlikely pair.” Darcy chuckled. “So she’s going back to the theater, is she? The big blond German man is
“He’s gone to stay with his family for Christmas,” I said. “And between ourselves I see the beginning of the end. I think she’s only toying with the idea of acting again. She does so love being adored.”
“Don’t we all?” Darcy gave me the most wonderful smile that melted me all the way to my toes.
“Oh, Darcy, you’re up. Jolly good.” Bunty stopped short when she saw us together. “I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a shoot. Oodles of pheasants around here just waiting to be bagged.”
“I think we’d better see what your mother has planned for us,” Darcy said. “She seems to have the whole thing organized.”
“There’s no need for family to have to take part in all her silly fun and games,” Bunty said, latching on to his arm. “You and I could slip away and not be noticed.”
“Another time, Bunty,” he said. He gave me a swift glance, saw me trying to look indifferent, then cleared his throat. “Bunty, I think you should know that Georgie and I . . . well . . .”
There was a dreadfully long silence in which I shifted uneasily on my seat.
“I knew it,” she said at last. “I saw the way you look at her. Oh, bugger. Well. I suppose I’d better be charitable and say ‘Bless you, my children.’ I probably wouldn’t have been able to marry my cousin anyway. Blast and damnation. How am I ever going to meet anyone decent stuck down here?”
And she stomped out. Darcy and I exchanged a long look. “I had to tell her,” he said. “She’s been pestering me every second since I got here.”
“I hope her mother won’t mind,” I said, trying to look blase while all the time a voice was yelling through my head that Darcy had acknowledged me as his sweetheart. “Perhaps she had her heart set on a match too.”
