Page 38 of Saving a Scoundrel
“Lucius, what are you doing here?” Ellie asked.
“I came to see how you were faring. Any ill-effects from the champagne?”
Ellie shook her head. “No, not a bit. Should I?”
“Well, you had four glasses, and I worried it might give you a headache, or perhaps you wouldn’t remember the evening, and I would have to take you all over again.” He watched her carefully.
Ellie frowned, how odd, she felt right as rain this morning. “No, I remember everything perfectly.”
“Oh, well then.” He twisted his hat round and round in his hands. “Good.”
Susanna gestured to the settee. “Won’t you join us? We were just discussing the mysterious love letters.”
Lucius took a seat. “What about them?”
Ellie caught Susanna’s eye.We were?
Susanna motioned with her eyes toward the empty space next to him on the settee.
“Yes, well, we spent more than an hour looking through the shelves at the London Book Emporium and found no other letters. I believe it’s because we were looking in the wrong kind of books.”
Ellie took a seat next to Lucius. “What do you mean?”
“I have been thinking about it, and the other letters we found were all hidden in novels. Perhaps she hid them among her favorite books. Not just any.”
“The one Daniel discovered was hidden in a book of flora and fauna,” Ellie replied.
“Perhaps that is a subject she enjoyed.”
“Perhaps she hid them in books she didn’t think any other family members would choose to read,” Lucius said.
Ellie turned to him. “Yes, that makes sense. Maybe the other members of her family would never pick up a Gothic novel or a book on horticulture. But without knowing her or her family, we can’t know which books she would choose.”
“I think we should start with what we know. She enjoyed a good novel and had an interest in flowers. Forget ancient history, or where were you looking, Ellie?”
“Architecture.”
Lucius wrinkled his nose. “Not my favorite subject either. I’ll take a good novel over that any day.”
“I didn’t know you like to read,” Ellie said.
“You mean you assumed I didn’t.” He gave a wry smile. “I prefer a rollicking sea faring adventure over the love stories you and Charlotte were always mooning over.”
Interesting, something she didn’t know about him. Ellie studied him from under her lashes. He’d relaxed into his usual good humor after looking so uneasy when he first arrived. He crossed one ankle over his knee and leaned back. She wanted to ask him when they would do another item for her list. But she didn’t want to seem too eager. If she wanted to entice him, she needed to be sophisticated and nonchalant.
Susanna coughed delicately into her sleeve. “As much as I’d love to go and do more investigating, I simply don’t feel well enough.”
“Still sick from your dunk in the Thames?” Lucius asked.
“Yes, and jealous I didn’t get to go to Vauxhall with you two. You must include me in the next adventure. Ellie, what else is on your list?”
“Well, I wanted to go see a play. My father says the themes of plays at the theater are not appropriate for young ladies.”
“God forbid.” Lucius gave an exaggerated sign of the cross.
Susanna leaned forward. “We should go see a show at Astley’s Amphitheatre. I do so love a show that involves horses.”
“Horses?” Ellie asked.
