Chapter 6

Thorne looked at the footman in his rough gray coat, and at the hands that had never done a day of hard work in their life. "Who are you?""Someone who's going to make very sure that little girl wakes up."Before he rode back, Lucien wrote one more letter to Lord Ashby, the Lord Lieutenant of the county and his late father's oldest friend, who lived barely an hour away, and left it with the doctor. Then he told Pike exactly where to find him if anything went wrong.That evening's dinner was a performance from start to finish.Pike sat at the head of the table in Lucien's best black coat, sweating like a man on the gallows. Silas poured him cheap claret from an expensive decanter and talked about horses, bloodlines, and rents. Basil drank. Amelia sat opposite Pike in an old emerald silk gown that had been her mother's, her cropped hair pinned up under a lace cap so no one would see what she'd done.Lucien stood by the sideboard with a napkin over his arm and watched everything.When the fish came, Pike picked up the wrong knife. Silas noticed; his eyes narrowed for a split second.Lucien stepped forward smoothly, removed the plate, and murmured, "His Grace prefers his fish without bones, sir."And Pike, bless him, nodded with tremendous dignity, as though he'd ordered it."My niece is a treasure, Your Grace," Silas said, smiling broadly. "Quiet, obedient, never a moment's trouble. She has no opinions at all, I promise you.""How restful," Pike managed.Lucien saw Amelia's knuckles go white around her glass.Then Basil, already drunk, leaned toward her and slid his hand onto her knee under the table. Amelia went rigid. She didn't make a sound; she couldn't, not with her sister's life riding on this dinner.Lucien moved before he could stop himself. The decanter in his hand tipped, and a full pint of red wine poured straight into Basil Crowther's lap.Basil leapt up, roaring, "You clumsy animal!"

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