Page 76 of A Very Bellamy Christmas

Chapter 15

“A treasure hunt?” Andrew repeated, and then raised a forkful of ham to his mouth.

“Yes, haven’t you heard of one before?” Lady Crewe poured more tea into her cup and then dipped another piece of dry toast.

After a night filled with a great deal of tossing and turning and very little sleep Andrew had awakened hours after dawn. When he had finally made his way to the stables, he’d found them crawling with guests and servants. So instead of taking his morning ride he had decided to come to breakfast early, hoping to beat the crowd.

Instead, he had found the oldest Bellamy sibling reading a newspaper and eating sops.

“Er, a treasure hunt? What’s that?” he asked, recalling that she had asked him a question. He wondered if the woman was ill. Why else would somebody eat something as tasteless as plain toast and watery tea?

“There are clues and whoever figures them out first will get the treasure.”

“What’s the treasure?”

She took a tiny sip of tea and then paled slightly.

“Are you unwell, my lady?”

She gave a small shake of her head, her lips pursed tightly, as if she might shoot the cat if she opened her mouth.

Andrew watched her surreptitiously while finishing his second helping of coddled eggs.

After several minutes a faint pink tinged her cheeks and she gave an audible sigh of relief and then took a swallow of tea.

“Nobody knows what it is,” she said, setting down her cup with a sigh.

Andrew paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. “I beg your pardon?”

“The treasure. It is a secret.”

“Ah.”

“Lord Needham has provided it, and my sister Phoebe says it is something spectacular.”

“How interesting,” Andrew murmured. Unless the treasure was a large valise stuffed with £50 notes it sounded like a waste of time.

“It starts in less than an hour,” she said.

“I see.” The way she was looking at him made Andrew wonder if he had food on his face.

“Are you going to play, my lord?”

He glanced out the massive arched windows that flooded the breakfast room with light even on a gloomy day. Large drops of sludgy sleet slapped almost angrily against the panes. One of the huge wych elms for which the house was named whipped wildly back and forth in the wind.

“It looks a bit cold outside to be playing games,” he observed.

“Are you afraid of a little rain, my lord?” Her lips curved up at the corners, making her look even lovelier than she already did. All the Bellamy women were beautiful—even the duchess, in her own terrifying way.

“Rain? It looks more like sleet to me.” He pulled his gaze from the slate gray sky back to his breakfast companion. “As for participating in this treasure hunt, I hadn’t—”

The door opened and Kathryn, Lucy, Lady Celsa, and a young woman Andrew had never seen before burst into the room, their coats, mittens, and pink cheeks proclaiming that they’d been out in the brisk weather.

“Ah, there you two are Shelton,” Kathryn said. “Come along, we are forming teams.”

“Teams?” Andrew repeated.

“For the treasure hunt!” Lucy said, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.