A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets by Kate Khavari

Author:Kate Khavari
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

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“You were no help with Colin at all,” Saffron hissed at Alexander, adding a playful elbow jab to his stomach for good measure. They’d been left alone in the parlor when Elizabeth walked Colin to the door and Nick excused himself for a moment.

He caught her elbow and pulled her down so they sat hip to hip on the couch. “If you were in the jungle and saw a hapless deer about to be eaten by a jaguar, would you try to help the deer, or let nature run its course?”

Shocked by the macabre joke, and perhaps a bit giddy at his closeness, she burst into a nervous laugh. “I suppose not, but goodness, why on earth would you call Nick a jaguar?”

“Alexander obviously finds me a mysterious, dangerous creature,” Nick drawled, entering the room with a cigarette between his lips.

“Do not light that,” Saffron warned. “Elizabeth will flay you alive. She doesn’t permit smoking in the house, it causes an awful mess.”

Nick’s brows lifted, but he replaced the cigarette in a slender gold case he returned to his jacket pocket. He sat on the armchair opposite them and grinned. “I think that went perfectly, don’t you?”

“I think Elizabeth might flay you even if you don’t smoke,” Saffron said crossly. “You were perfectly awful to Colin.”

Nick settled more comfortably in the chair. “He is perfectly awful. Did you see his face when you toasted Eliza? He had no idea we were celebrating her birthday.”

She agreed, but she’d never betray Elizabeth by saying so. She’d act as if she liked Colin well enough until Elizabeth saw what a dreadfully dull, pompous fellow he was. “They’ve only been stepping out a few weeks.”

Nick tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Well, on with the show, eh? I’ve had word about Wells.”

The warm ease she’d felt from sitting so close to Alexander evaporated. “What did they say?”

“And from whom?” Alexander asked.

Nick flicked him a glance, a smile curling one side of his mouth. “I see this is now a team effort instead of a partnership. Very well. Wells died of respiratory and heart failure. His liver was enlarged, to boot. Perhaps most significantly, that nasty cut on his hand was infected with fungus.”

Saffron stared at him. “But what killed him?”

“The report didn’t say. They need more time to do the full workup.”

“But?”

Nick tilted his head thoughtfully. “But I suspect the fungus will have something to do with his death. It looked god-awful. Something funny is going on at the Harpenden lab.”

“So you’ll return there to investigate?” Saffron asked.

“I will,” he said. “But I’m not trained for lab work. Couldn’t muddle my way through pretending, even if I hadn’t already been in the lab in my current capacity.”

“As an agent of the Agricultural Ministry?” Alexander asked dryly.

“Just so.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw, frowning. “It’ll take ages to find someone to be a mole in the lab. They’re a tight-knit group, with only a handful of scientists working there.

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