DECEMBER 1670, LONDON

A messenger came down the quay to the Reekie warehouse, disdainfully picking his way as if he might stain his shoes. “This must be for you,” Alys said to Livia as the three women in the parlor saw the cockaded hat go past the window.

Alinor looked up from the cheesecloth bags. “You can get it,” she said quietly, as Livia hesitated and then quickly went to open the front door before the man had even knocked.

“Nobildonna Reekie?” the man asked.

“Da Ricci,” she corrected him. “Yes.”

“A letter,” he said, and handed it over. It was franked by Sir James, with his name signed in the corner, so there was nothing to pay.

“I’ll read it in the kitchen!” Livia called through the doorway, not wanting to face them in the parlor, and went down the hall to the kitchen where Tabs was scouring pans. “Out,” she said shortly.

“Out where?” Tabs replied mutinously. “For I’m not going out into the yard; it’s freezing.”

“Oh, stay there then!” Livia said irritably. She glanced at Carlotta, nursing Matteo before the fire. “Isn’t it time he went to bed?”

“No, your ladyship.”

“Take him up,” she said irritably. She found she was shaking with apprehension. This should be an invitation to come to the distant house in Yorkshire. There should be a guinea under the seal to pay for her travel. Better yet, if it announced the carriage would come for her the next day. Best of all, if he was coming himself.

She seated herself in Tabs’s chair by the fire, took a knife from the table, and slit open the paper.

My dear Livia,

For so I shall call you.

First news! I am snowed in and not able to come to London, nor send for you until the ways are clear. I don’t even know how long this letter will take to reach you. We have had extraordinary weather, and my aunt and I have been housebound for days. We doubt if we shall get out till the New Year. Quite an adventure. It’s not uncommon for us to have snow, but this is early and uncommonly deep.

I hope you are well, and that you are not troubled with such harsh weather. I have often observed that the south of the countries are warmer than the northern regions, and I hope that is the case for you in London.

Livia paused in her reading and gritted her teeth on her temper at her fiancé’s untimely interest in climate.

As soon as the snow clears, I will come to you, and—good news—my aunt is determined to make the long journey to see you also. As soon as we have arrived at Avery House I will send for you. I am sorry for this delay, but I am sure you are having a happy time with your family, and I can only trust you will be glad to greet—

Your obdt servant

James Avery

“Cattive notizie?” Carlotta asked her, disobediently hovering in the doorway, holding the baby. “Bad news?”

“No!” Livia lied. “Not at all. Sir James writes to me that he is coming to London, as soon as the roads clear.”

“Un matrimonio?” Carlotta asked her, gleaming.

Livia glanced at Tabs, who was openly listening. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said coldly. “To sell the antiquities of course. They will be here soon.”