Free Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday by Nancy Atherton

me.
    “Oliver,” I said slowly, “if you’re asking me to spy on Simon—”
    “I’m not,” he interrupted. “I’m asking you to listen to him, to give him a chance to talk about what’s troubling him. I’m asking you to be his friend. He doesn’t have any, you see. He has allies and associates, yes, but not a single friend.”
    “What about his wife?” I asked.
    “Oh, no, not Gina.” Oliver lowered his eyes. “Gina’s a useful ally, not a friend.”
    I stared down at my plate, but the food had lost its savor. I understood more clearly, now, why Simon was his uncle’s favorite. Simon loved Hailesham and horses, and he’d married a woman who was more than capable of managing a large and complex family fortune. Whether she loved him or not seemed—in Oliver’s mind, at least—to be an open question. Simon had willingly walked a path Derek had refused to tread. Did he think it would lead to his installation as Lord Elstyn’s heir?
    I lifted my gaze. “You’re Simon’s friend, aren’t you, Oliver?”
    “In my family,” he said softly, “brothers aren’t permitted to be friends.”
    “Damn it, Derek!”
    Oliver and I jumped, startled by the earl’s earsplitting shout.
    “My golden girl, in love with an overgrown stable boy ?” Lord Elstyn’s furious roar reverberated from the marble walls of the entrance hall. “I won’t hear of it!”
    “She seems to be over it, Father.” Derek was in the entrance hall, too, and he was making no effort to keep his voice down. “But Emma wanted me to put you in the picture, in case it crops up again. I told her it would be a mistake.”
    “One of many to be laid at your door,” the earl thundered. “I blame you for this unthinkable dalliance. If you hadn’t married beneath you, Nell would never have considered—”
    “Nell would be lucky to have Kit!” Derek bellowed, matching his father decibel for decibel. “But the fact of the matter is that Kit will have nothing to do with her.”
    “He won’t have her ? ” the earl sputtered. “I’ve never heard of such insolence. If this Kit Smith sets foot on my property, I’ll have him shot.”
    “Kit wouldn’t come here for a king’s ransom,” Derek retorted. “He’s far too decent a chap.”
    “Sack him!” shouted the earl.
    “I have no intention of sacking him,” Derek declared stoutly. “Kit’s more than an employee. He’s a friend. Emma and I depend on him.”
    “You care more for yourself than for your daughter,” the earl scoffed. “I might have known. Gina, Bill, come with me. I have nothing more to say to this . . . this in-grate. ”
    Doors slammed and footsteps pounded up the marble staircase. Then all was silence.
    Oliver looked shell-shocked. “What on earth . . . ?”
    “Nell has a crush on a man who works for Derek,” I explained. “It’s nobody’s fault, and he’s not interested. I’m not sure it would be such a bad thing if he were.”
    Oliver glanced fearfully toward the entrance hall. “My uncle would disagree.”
    “Your uncle,” I said, “hasn’t met Kit.”
    “I hope to God he never does,” Oliver said fervently. “Burning bushes are bad enough, but it would be much worse to dodge flying bullets.”
    I thought of the poison-pen letter and hoped Oliver’s words wouldn’t prove to be prophetic.

Nine
    Oliver went to his room to make phone calls and, I suspected, to reduce the chances of running into his irate uncle. I was on my last cup of tea when Giddings returned to the dining room bearing a brown-paper-wrapped parcel addressed to me. I recognized the handwriting on the label, gave the package an exploratory squeeze, and smiled.
    “It’s from my children’s nanny,” I told Giddings. “She must have noticed that I forgot to pack my dress shoes and sent them along to me.”
    “Would you like me to place the item in your room, madam?” Giddings inquired.
    “Yes, please,” I said, glancing at my watch. “Would you also direct me to the