Lady Osbaldestone’s Plum Puddings by Stephanie Laurens

Author:Stephanie Laurens
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Back at Dutton Grange, Henry reminded Callum that Mrs. Woolsey had invited him to dine that evening, and after taking their leave of the Longfellows, in triumph, Henry and his friends bore Callum off to Fulsom Hall.

Callum duly presented himself at Dutton Grange the following morning and, by midmorning, was seated at the library table surrounded by several small mountains of tomes, in one of which he hoped to find the crucial information he sought.

Honor wasn’t there when he arrived, and as the clock ticked away the hours, she didn’t appear.

Callum reminded himself that he wasn’t there to meet with her but to locate an ancient Roman site and knuckled down to the task.

Mrs. Wright, the Grange’s housekeeper, interrupted him with a plate of sandwiches and a tankard of her home-brewed ale. “I know what you gentlemen are like,” she informed him. “You lose yourselves in those books, and then you’ll be starving and looking for sustenance in midafternoon, just when we’ve all settled with our feet up.”

Unable to deny the charge, Callum accepted her offerings with due meekness and genuine thanks. He paused to eat, but as soon as he’d finished the sandwiches, tankard in hand, he returned to flicking pages.

The clocks had just struck three o’clock when the door opened, and Honor came in. She paused on the threshold and met his eyes. “Will I disturb you?”

Yes—and please do. Callum held back the words and, with his most charming smile, waved her in. “I doubt it, but to be frank, it would be a welcome diversion.”

She came to the table and set down the journals and papers she was carrying at the far end. “No luck?”

Returning his gaze to the history he was laboriously reading, he shook his head. “Lots of hints and bits and pieces—throwaway references and the like. I’ve found three sources that mention, in one way or another, a merchant’s compound that was located in this area. Two other accounts refer to a villa, and until I prove otherwise, I’m assuming that all the mentions refer to the same site. But as to exactly where the villa or compound was located…that critical fact I have yet to sight.”

While he’d spoken, Honor had arranged her books on the tabletop. She sat and, down the length of the table, caught his eye. “How are the others faring with the search?”

He grimaced. “Not so well. The excitement of Lottie and the well aside, they’ve been concentrating on finding any excavation—any digging or disturbance of the soil—that might have resulted in the unearthing of the coins.”

“Hmm. There wouldn’t be any tilling of the fields in this season.”

“No. And they haven’t discovered any holes for new fencing or anything of that sort, either.” Mentally revisiting the others’ efforts, Callum mused, “It’s difficult to imagine how someone local might have come upon those three coins other than by picking them up. We’ve discounted any local receiving the coins from strangers or while traveling farther afield. Everything points to the coins being

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