“Oh, she muttered something about changing her slippers and left shortly after you did,” Lisa said on a sigh.

“Oh.” Christiana glanced toward the door, wondering where the girl was . . . and where Daniel was as well. Lord Woodrow had left her and Richard upstairs some time ago and, she’d thought, joined everyone in the parlor, but it seemed not.

“We may as well drink the tea before it grows stone cold,” Lisa decided and began to pour.

Christiana murmured a thank-you as the younger girl handed her a cup.

“I knew he wasn’t you,” Langley muttered, peering over George’s face when Richard pulled back the blanket for him. “Not at first, or I would have warned Christiana away from him. But then I saw little of him at first. It wasn’t until they were married and living here in London that I began to suspect something was amiss. Christiana was so tense the first time I came to visit, her smile strained, her eyes constantly dancing to him as if afraid she may have said or done something to upset him. Then the next time he had the butler turn me away. The second time that happened I knew something was wrong and waited until I saw Grace come out. I made her tell me what was going on and when she told me how he was treating her . . .” Langley’s mouth tightened and then he sighed and said, “The bastard has treated Christiana like dirt this last year, and from what I recalled of you from school, you just didn’t seem the type. George, on the other hand . . .”

Richard pulled the blanket back up to again cover George’s face. His brother looked worse every time he looked at him and it was becoming obvious they couldn’t keep him around much longer. While the open window was keeping the room cool, he would soon start to smell. They had to resolve the matter of who had poisoned George swiftly so they could lay the man and the matter to rest and get on with life.

“Will you be moving him to the family vault on the way to Gretna Green then?” Langley asked, heading for the bedroom door, apparently eager to escape the room.

“Daniel seems to think we should keep the body here until the situation is resolved, just in case,” Richard admitted as they left the bedroom.

“Well you aren’t going to be able to keep him here much longer,” Langley said dryly as he watched Richard lock the door. “Surely he would be fine in the family vault? At least you needn’t worry a servant or someone else will come across him there.”

“True,” Richard murmured and liked the idea of moving his brother to the family vault. Really it was starting to get a bit disturbing having him here, and it was becoming obvious that their efforts to keep him chilled weren’t working all that well. “I think perhaps you’re right. I will talk to Daniel and see if he can come up with any faults in the plan.”