Page 79 of Marry in Secret
“Mm.” Thomas grimaced. He wasn’t looking forward to the ball. Large noisy gatherings never used to bother him, but these days he found them rather... unsettling.
A little clock on the mantel chimed the hour and Thomas gave a start. “Blast! Rose will be here any minute and I forgot to explain about the color of her dress. If she mentions it to you, just tell her I forgot to tell you.”
Ollie frowned. “Forgot to tell me what?”
“The color of her ball dress.”
“Why the devil should you have told me that?”
“Because I told her you wanted to know.”
Ollie’s eyes almost popped. “You told your wife that I wanted to know what color her ball dress was going to be? Have you got rats in your attic? Why the devil would I want to know that?”
“I don’t know. I just told her you did.”
“Why?”
“It was all I could think of at the time.”
“You know what?” Ollie said after a solemn consideration of the facts. “Either you really have got rats in the attic, or you’ve been hitting too much of this very fine brandy.”
Before Thomas could explain this aberration, the front door opened and a carnival arrived—at least that was what it sounded like. The entire Rutherford family, including aunts, husbands and dog—as well as a handful of footmen and maids from Ashendon House—swept in like a flood, bearing flowers, food, more champagne and gifts.
And just like that, it turned into a party. Thomas could see his afternoon in bed with his wife slipping away. Then he realized he would have the whole night with her, their first ever, and cheered up.
Once the initial excitement had calmed and while the women were off examining every nook and cranny, Ashendon drew Thomas aside. “That marzipan was poisoned, all right.”
The doctor had said the same when Thomas spoke to him. “What kind of poison?”
Ashendon’s lips tightened. “It’s not clear. But that lad islucky to be alive. If he’d only eaten a few pieces, he wouldn’t have thrown up and the poison would have entered his system. As it is, he must have vomited most of it out.”
“So his greed saved him,” Thomas said. “And not just him—if he’d taken the box home to share, his whole family could be dead.” It was a sobering thought. “Any luck tracing the box and the card?”
Ashendon shook his head. “The marzipan is from a known confectioner—there is a small symbol imprinted on the underside of the box that we were able to identify and trace—but the shopkeeper has no recollection of who bought it, and the card is not one of theirs.”
“So we still have no idea, then.”
“No.”
***
“Our first party. Wasn’t it charming?”
“Very.” Their last guest had just left. It was Ollie; Thomas practically had to push him out the door.
“All these flowers, and the baskets of fruit. Don’t you love fresh fruit?”
“I do indeed.” The day was over, the house smelled of fresh flowers and Thomas was finally alone with his wife. He reached for her. Smiling, she danced out of reach.
Rose in a happy mood was irresistible. He was feeling rather mellow himself after a brandy, a couple of glasses of wine and some delicious food. His digestion was returning to normal—huzzah!
“Would you wait down here for a while, please, Thomas?” Her smile was bewitching. She clearly had something planned. “Come up in fifteen minutes.”
Why not? They had the whole night ahead of them. He poured himself another brandy and settled down to watch the clock. Fifteen minutes later he climbed the stairs and knocked.
“Come in.”
Their bedroom was a bower of flowers and light—there were vases of flowers and glowing candles everywhere.
