The Incident at Fives Castle (An Angela Marchmont Mystery #5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

but somehow I can’t stop myself from doing it when the opportunity presents itself. Lady Priscilla,’ he said with a formal bow to Priss, ‘please accept my humble apologies. I won’t do it again. Now I dare say you’d like to have me soundly thrashed.’
    ‘Idiot,’ said Priss, who was eyeing him with some interest. Angela noticed that Selma Nash was also giving the young man covert glances from under her lashes. She sensed trouble—never too far away when Freddy was about—and resolved to keep well out of it.
    ‘Where are Gus and Bobby?’ said Lady Strathmerrick when Freddy had greeted everybody and given Angela a particularly significant leer. ‘Clemmie, dear, would you mind going to fetch them? They were supposed to be here by now.’
    Clemmie sighed and went out.
    Freddy said, ‘I say, I hope you’ve got plenty to eat and drink here. The snow was coming down so thick and fast that I had to abandon my car halfway up the drive when it got stuck in a dip. I don’t think anybody else will manage to get here tonight—or tomorrow either, if it keeps coming down like this.’
    ‘Do you mean we’re trapped here?’ said Eleanor Buchanan, and there was a strange note in her voice that might have been fear or something else entirely.
    Gertie looked up in surprise at her tone.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘We’ve been snowed in before, and it’s rather good fun. Why, we were stuck here for two weeks once—do you remember, Priss? We did run rather low on food then. I half-thought we should have to start eating each other.’
    ‘I wouldn’t bother eating you,’ said Freddy. ‘You’ve no meat on you at all. Hardly worth it. Priss, on the other hand, looks far more appetizing. Quite deliciously succulent, in fact.’
    Fortunately, Lady Strathmerrick was talking to Claude and neither of them heard. Priss heard perfectly but affected not to. Sandy Buchanan looked amused but his wife did not.
    ‘I do hope it stops snowing soon,’ she said. ‘I should hate to think we couldn’t get away.’
    ‘My dear girl,’ said her husband. ‘Why, we’ve only just arrived and the fun has yet to begin. There are plenty of ladies here for you to talk to while we men get on with business, and there’s plenty for you to do. To listen to you anyone would think you expected to be dreadfully bored by the whole thing, if you’re that desperate to get away.’
    ‘Oh, I didn’t mean that at all,’ she said, flushing. ‘I’m terribly sorry if that’s how it sounded. I just meant—well, you have to get back to London in a day or two, don’t you? You have lots of important meetings.’
    ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ said Buchanan soothingly. ‘Now, I think we had all better go and get dressed for dinner, or we shall be late.’
     

FIVE
     
    Angela completed her toilette with Marthe’s expert assistance, took one last critical glance at herself in the glass and left her room. She was rather pleased with her new evening-gown, which was of dark-blue silk and hugged her figure in all the right places, while cunningly-placed beading and embroidery contrived to disguise any minor imperfections in her form. She enjoyed listening to it rustle as she drifted along the passage to the head of the stairs, where she stopped for a second to make a slight adjustment to one of her gloves.
    ‘Hallo, Angela,’ said a voice, and she looked up to see Aubrey Nash standing at her shoulder. He offered her his arm. ‘It always takes Selma an age to decide what to wear,’ he said by way of explanation, ‘so I never wait.’
    His glance showed that she had made the right choice of dress. Angela smiled and took his arm, and they walked down the stairs together and into the drawing-room. They were not quite the first ones there, for two of the guests had arrived before them. Aubrey introduced her to his secretary, Gabe Bradley, a pleasant-faced young man who had spent the afternoon discussing business with the Earl. Then the other