Page 16 of The Nature of a Lady
“You’ve used invisible ink?”
At the note of pleasant wonder in her voice, Oliver’s grin grew. “With Beth and our brother, Morgan. We were pretending we were pirate princes—and princess—evading our archnemesis in port.”
Her frown twitched a bit at the wordprincess, but she banished it with a wistful smile. “What fun you must have had.”
Why the wistfulness? “You’ve a sister, haven’t you? And a brother, of course.”
And like pollen on the breeze, her wonder blew right off her face. “Edith never liked the same games I did. Nor, for that matter, did Bram. They played together, but I was always left behind, it seemed.”
Mother never let him and Morgan get away with neglecting Beth—try as they might. “And so you went outside and made a friend of nature instead.”
The way she blinked up at him, clearing the memories from her eyes, said his observation startled her—at least for a moment. Then she relaxed again, even smiling. “I suppose I did. Well.” As if finally realizing how close to him she sat, she scooted away and motioned to a few other items on the table. “I haven’t yet had time to go through all these, but I found them in my room with the other things. I thought at first they were just part of the furnishings, but are they your sister’s?”
Glancing over the collection of papers and books, he could only say the truth. “I have no idea.” Before he could suggest they thumb through it all together, the door gusted open.
And the wind herself blew in.
6
Mabena blew inside with a stiff sea breeze that had won the battle with a few of her hairpins. She summoned a laugh to her lips, ready to deliver it on cue to Libby, if she were inside, though it was entirely possible she was out enjoying the afternoon on the island.
The laughter died on her lips when her quick scan delivered not only Libby on the sofa, but Oliver Tremayne himself. She pushed shut the door and mentally scrambled for what she meant to say—to each of them together, and separately. She’d thought she’d have another day or two to decide on what story to give them both. But here they were.
“Mr. Tremayne. What a pleasant surprise.”
Apparentlynotthe story Ollie had been expecting her to tell, given she’d never in her life addressed him as “mister” anything. And the arch of his brow called her on it—though he turned said arch toward her alone so that Libby couldn’t see it. He might not approve of her decisions, but he wouldn’t take her to task in front of an outsider. “Miss Moon. How lovely to see you again. I had no idea you were coming home for the summer.”
She heard the accusation as clearly as she would the bells in St. Mary’s tower come Sunday. She could only hope Libby didn’t. “LadyElizabeth needed a holiday. Didn’t you, my lady? And I told her there was no lovelier place in all of England than the Scillies.”
Libby didn’tlookparticularly suspicious. Just curious, which was nearly as bad. “Mr. Tremayne’s sister seems to be missing, Moon. Beth—she was staying here before us. It was her things we found. Do you know her? Well, of course you know her. I mean...”
Mabena’s heart might as well have stopped beating. Oliver knew, then? That Beth had vanished into thin air? She hadn’t counted on that either. She’d rather hoped she’d be able to poke around a bit without alarming him or his grandmother. Without shining a light on whatever secrets Beth had been hiding.
Hiding from him. From everyone here. When Mabena blinked, she could see those hastily scrawled words.“Idon’t know what Ollie would say if he knew, but it wouldn’t be good. I can’t lethim find out.”
Mabena hadn’t a cluewhatBeth didn’t want him to know. But still, it was a trust. And she’d not break it. Not now, at any rate, when the answers to Beth’s whereabouts could be simple.
She pasted on a look of mild concern that she moved between the two on the sofa. “Beth Tremayne is the Elizabeth who Mrs. Pepper was so put out with? But that makes precious little sense. What was your sister doing here for the summer instead of at her own home, sir?”
His nostrils flared the slightest bit at thatsir, and he cleared his throat. “That is what Lady Elizabeth and I were just trying to discern—because clearly she was about something more than the holiday she saidshewanted.” He motioned to the table.
Mabena frowned at it while she unpinned her hat. “What’s all this, then?”
Libby pushed to her feet. “There are a few other things I’d like to check too, in my room. I don’t know if they were Beth’s or just came with the house. Mr. Tremayne can tell you what we know while I look—and put away my microscope.”
“Microscope?” Oliver stood, being too much of a gentleman to do otherwise. Though with an eagerness that said he might just leave Mabena to inform herself while he went to investigate the lady’s toy.
Had the lady not been there, Mabena would have laughed out a “Down, boy,” as if he were the wolfhound he’d had as a lad.
Perhaps he heard her silent jest even through her still lips, because he glanced her way and relaxed. A bit.
Libby was already angled toward the bedrooms. “The light isn’t very good for its mirror out here right now, but I can bring it too, if you like. Not that it will help us with the question of your sister, but . . .”
But she’d heard the note of eagerness, obviously. And where it made Mabena want to roll her eyes, it would make Libby thrum her own note of it. Quite a chord they’d make—or part of one, anyway.
“Ah.” Usually Ollie would have been quick to agree. But it took him a long moment to say, “That would be lovely, if you don’t mind. I haven’t seen one since my university days.”
Libby smiled, bobbed her head in a half-shy acknowledgment, and scurried into the bedroom.
