“There’s an awful lot of them,” Rafe remarked. “I think there are more than before.”
“That happens with children.”
“Yes, but don’t they usually go through a pink, screaming stage before they get to the shouty, sticky-fingered stage?”
“Oh, I see what you mean.” Thea laughed and hugged him. “The village children are here, to rehearse for the Christmas pageant.”
“The Christmas pageant?”
“Had you forgotten?”
“Yes. And now I shall forget it again.” With one look at her, he did indeed promptly forget the pageant and the children. “Will you skate with me today? I have news.”
She answered with a broad smile, but before they could make their escape, one of the creatures came slipping and sliding across the snow toward them.
“Uncle Lucky! Uncle Lucky!” cried the creature.
Thea cast him a look. “‘Uncle Lucky’?”
“Don’t ask.”
The creature revealed itself to be a girl, who said, “You told Charlie that crocodiles live in the lake, but I looked it up in the bestiary and they say crocodiles like hot places.” She frowned anxiously at the frozen lake. “Will the poor crocodiles be all right?”
“I assure you, they are fine,” Rafe replied. “In autumn, they roll in the warm mud at the bottom of the lake. Then they happily hibernate like bears until spring.”
“Wonderful. I was so worried about them.” She turned. “Charlie!” she screamed and Rafe winced. She ran back to the crowd, yelling, “Uncle Lucky says the crocodiles are warm and happy!”
Rafe caught Thea’s look. “What? I was educating her. That’s what we’re meant to do with children, isn’t it? Educate them?”
Laughing, Thea took his hand, and together they ran through the snow to the lake’s edge, where they helped each other put on their skates. Hand in hand, they slid and circled over the ice, more or less making their way toward a cozy cabin at the far end, which Thea had prepared as Rafe’s secret hideaway, should his extended family threaten to overwhelm.
“I have received news from London,” Rafe said. “Lord Ventnor and Percy Russell have gone.”
“Gone where?”
“An informal ducal inquiry revealed that Lord Ventnor was living beyond his means. Most of his investments failed, and what with keeping up appearances, he fell into severe debt. His solution was to help himself to the Treasury purse.”
Thea’s jaw dropped. “He was stealing from the government?”
“Depends whom you ask. Ventnor insists he was merely taking his due for his invaluable services. Everyone else calls it stealing.”
“What will happen to him? The Crown won’t seize his property or title? What about Helen and Beau?”
“His property and title remain intact. However, after some negotiations, Lord Ventnor accepted a position as governor of the colony of New Wessex. It is situated some four hundred miles west of Sydney Cove, the main center in the colony of New South Wales. Percy will accompany him, as he dare not show his face in society. Or his buttocks, for that matter. Ventnor has been instructed that he may not return to Britain until his colony generates enough money to replace the funds that he misappropriated.”
Thea skidded to a halt, aghast. “How can you smile? After all he did, he gets rewarded with the governorship of a colony where he can make money?” She snorted. “What a very imperial solution: ‘By George, this man is good at stealing. Send him off to steal more land for us!’ I suppose he’ll end up filthy rich as governor of this colony of… Where did you say?”
“New Wessex.”
She nodded knowledgeably. “New Wessex. Yes. I see. Right.”
“Have you ever heard of New Wessex, Countess?”
“You mentioned it just now.” She glared at him. “Oh, very well. I confess I have never heard of New Wessex.”
“No one has. It doesn’t exist.”
Thea looked at him sharply. “Then what lies four hundred miles west of Sydney Cove?”
“We don’t know. No Englishman has yet ventured that far inland.”
“But he…” A slow smile spread over her face. “No! Really?”
“Ventnor and Percy will spend six months sailing to the other side of the world, where they will land at Sydney Cove and inform Governor Macquarie that he, Ventnor, is the new governor of—”
“—Of a place that does not exist!” She laughed. “And Governor Ventnor may not return until he makes money from this place that does not exist. You did this?”