easy. He turned to Francis. “I met Mr. Kelby this afternoon. He seemed to think I’d make off with the Kelby fortune. I confess, I was a little insulted. In my line of work, reputation is everything.” Hoping he sounded appropriately sniffy, he pushed the glasses back up on the bridge of his nose.
“Counting his chickens before they’re hatched, he is,” Bob volunteered. “Always coming around the house spying. The earl don’t see him anymore. Bad blood there.”
“Bob!”
“I’m just stating the facts, Frank.”
“You’ll be working for David Kelby soon enough if he’ll keep a lounger like you on. If I was you, I’d stubble it.” Francis Smith went back to the crowded table in front of the fire.
Reyn saw a few other familiar faces, more Johns if he was right.
“Won’t you join me, Mr. Hastings?” Reyn waved to the barmaid and pointed to Bob’s tankard.
“All right. That’s kind of you, sir.”
“I’m not being kind. I’m curious. I’ll be at Kelby Hall at least a month and I find the atmosphere there somewhat daunting. I’m used to working at big houses, though,” Reyn added quickly, “going through, uh, family treasures. Usually to value items for sale.” He thought that anyone in “his line of work” might in truth do that. “But I understand everything has to remain in at Kelby Hall.”
“I don’t know nothing about the house. I’ve never stepped inside it ’cepting for the kitchen,” Bob said. “Worked there all my life. Since I was a boy.”
That wasn’t so very long ago. Bob’s usefulness to David Kelby was considerably less if the young man didn’t have free access to the house, though Reyn didn’t rule him out as the traitor just yet. “Do you like your job?”
“It’s all right. No one rides much anymore, but there are still a lot of horses to take care of. I’ve got a way with horses, I do.”
“So do I. I find them so much more congenial than many people I’ve met.”
It took Bob a few long seconds to get the joke, but then he laughed.
“The staff seems very competent.”
“Comp—?”
“Skilled. Good at what they do.”
“Oh, aye. The earl wouldn’t have it any other way, though really it’s the old cove Amesbury what does it all. The butler, you know. Runs a strict household. I’m glad he’s not my boss.”
Amesbury was probably more terrifying than the earl. If anyone had his finger to the pulse of the household, it would be Amesbury. But Reyn could not see the disdainful butler approving of David Kelby and assisting him in any way.
Reyn spent the next half hour talking horses instead of possible conspirators. Sleuthing business was tricky, especially when one didn’t want to tip one’s hand. The young groom was nearly poetic in his appreciation of the animals, and Reyn discovered he had more in common with the boy than he expected. The conversation gave him a flickering spark of an idea, which he quickly blew out. He didn’t have time to worry about his future away from Kelby Hall, just the next few weeks while he was romancing the countess.
No. Romancing was not accurate. Servicing was more like it. Reyn would have to keep his growing feelings in check, for what was the point of yearning for what he could never have?
He’d had too much to drink, but not so much as he could miss the invitation in the pretty barmaid’s eyes as he rose to leave. Before he’d come to Surrey, he would not have turned her down, but he was tired, and left the pub. He’d had enough birthday presents for one day.
The moon had risen over the treetops, bathing the road in silvery light. The stars had dimmed a bit by comparison, and the temperature had dropped enough for him to long for his army-issued greatcoat.
He stopped before a curve on the road, alert to a noise ahead. Footsteps, not horse hooves, yet he pressed himself to the hedgerow anyhow, debating the wisdom of calling out. In the end, he decided to whistle a drinking song off-key but stay in place. If his fellow nocturnal traveler had less than honorable intentions, he might underestimate Reyn’s ability to defend himself.
The crunch of boot steps stopped. “Who goes there?”
Reyn aborted a high note.
“Come out and show yourself!”
The man sounded imperious, yet Reyn heard the slightest quake in his voice. He decided to round the corner, pulling the knife from his boot first.
Would an antiquities expert carry a knife? Any sensible man would, Reyn decided, expecting