That, of course, lent credence to Amy’s feeling that The Present might be relevant to Anna Malory in some way. Yet no one could yet guess how, or what it was, and especially who had put it there. The shape of it could be a book, but why would someone lock up a book? It was more likely a book-shaped box with something smaller in it, something of great value, something, as far as Amy was concerned, that would point clearly to Anna Malory’s true ancestry. She tried to lift one of the flaps a bit to see if she could see under it, but the leather was just too stiff and tightly drawn to budge.

“An attached key would have been too simple, I suppose.” Reggie sighed.

“The leather was cut to shape around it. It can be cut to unwrap it,” Derek pointed out.

“So it can,” James agreed, and reached down to lift a very sharp-looking dagger out of his boot. That, of course, had Anthony raising a brow at him, to which he replied with a shrug, “Old habits are hard to break.”

“Quite so, and you did haunt some of the more disreputable waterfront establishments in your day, didn’t you?” Anthony remarked.

“Are we doing the laundry now, or getting inside that box?” James shot back.

Anthony chuckled. “The box, of course, old man. Do slice away.”

The leather was tougher to cut than they imagined it would be, particularly with so little room for a blade to slip under any of the flaps to do the job. In the end, it was more James’s strength than the dagger that snapped the leather away from the rings, so the padlock could be set aside and the flaps peeled back.

He handed it back to Amy to do the honors. She wasted not a moment pulling the flaps out of the way and lifting the gift out. It was a book after all, leather-bound and untitled. There was also a folded parchment in it that fell out and floated to the floor.

Though a half dozen hands reached for it, Derek picked it up first, unfolded it, and after a quick glance, said, “Good God, Amy, you really do know how to call ’em, don’t you? I hope you didn’t wager too much, Jeremy.”

Jeremy chuckled at that. “She wasn’t interested in winning anything, just in making the bet so she would win it. Works for her every bloody time, if you ain’t noticed. Ought to drag her to the races one of these days. She’d even put old Percy to shame in picking winners, and he’s been amazingly lucky himself in that regard.”

Percy was an old friend of the family, at least of the younger generation. He’d chummed about with Nicholas, Derek, and then Jeremy as well, when Derek took his newly found cousin under his wing years ago.

“If you don’t say what’s in that letter this instant, Derek Malory, I’m going to kick you, see if I don’t,” Reggie said impatiently.