Page 41 of The Nature of a Lady
“Tremayne! Are you going to help with this gig or just stand there flirting all morning?”
Flirting? Were they flirting? Libby turned along with Oliver to see his friend’s teasing gaze and raised brows, knowing she was the one blushing now.
Oliver grinned. “Well, if you’re giving me a choice—I’ll take the flirting.”
His friend roared with laughter and waved him over. “Come on, Ollie. Some of us have work to do yet today.”
She expected him to simply follow, but instead he looked down at her, eyes still sparkling with amusement, and his fingers cupped her elbow, squeezed. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”
Her stomach did a lovely little flip. “I look forward to it.”
He released her and stepped away. Her elbow shouldn’t have felt so cold after a short three seconds of warmth from his tea-heated fingers, should it? He pivoted, took his next step backward so that he was facing her. “And my lady? Purple suits you.” His gaze brushed over the shawl before returning to her face.
The flip turned to a dance. “I know.” She grinned. “Mamm-wynn already told me so.”
She might have stood right there, watching him turn to his teammates and listening to his laughter, until the tide swallowed her up, had Mabena not obscured her view and all but pushed her away.
For a moment she thought it genuine horror on her friend’s face—but no, it was teasing. And her words were loud enough to be overheard by all the men. “Now you’ve done it—you’ve let him work his elbow-magic on you. You’re doomed now, my lady, to spill all your secrets to him.”
The group all laughed, even Oliver. Though he also shouted back, “Watch yourself, Mabena Moon. I’ve known yours since I was three years old!”
Libby chuckled with Mabena as they started back up the beach. Maybe it hadn’t been actual flirting, then. Probably not. After all, if it had been, she wouldn’t have held her own. Nothing made hertongue tie in knots and her stomach start aching like flirtation. Well, unless it was disapproval.
Mabena bumped their arms together. “I think the islands have been working their charm on you. I’ve never heard you flirt so effortlessly.”
“You mean itwasflirting?” Laughter bubbled out. “I’d just convinced myself it must not have been! Oh, Mama would be proud.”
Mabena snorted. “Aye—at least until she realized who it was that you’d managed it with.”
She might as well have tossed a pail full of the cold Atlantic over her. “You don’t think she’d like Mr. Tremayne?” Dash it all—and why did she ask? Why did it matter?
“Oh, she’d adore him. Everyone does. She just wouldn’t likeyouliking him overmuch.” Mabena sighed. “That Wight girl had that much right, my lady. Society won’t accept his family, not fully, thanks to his mother andherfamily.” Her lips curled up in a self-deprecating smile. “There are members of it in service, you know. And they all work with their hands.”
“And what of it? It doesn’t make a person anyless.”
“Most people would disagree.”
“Well, they’re wrong.” She surveyed the group of islanders, all drifting back along the path, carrying empty mugs and laughing together. “Everyonehereknows that.”
Mabena’s sigh was as gusty as the air. “Maybe. And maybe they respect him the more for his mother. But that’shere. Your people, your place—”
“Mabena!” The voice was deep, clear, and totally unfamiliar. To Libby, though, the way Mabena stiffened said she recognized it perfectly well. And didn’t mean to acknowledge it, since she lifted her chin and kept herself facing forward rather than turning to greet its owner.
Its owner didn’t seem inclined to be ignored. His footsteps pounded, and a moment later he jumped in front of them, walking backward like Oliver had done a few minutes before. And yet not at all like Oliver.
Casek Wearne, that’s who it was. Libby recognized his breadth if not his face, which she hadn’t seen clearly before. And he barely glanced at her before directing the full wattage of his smile at Mabena.
He had nice teeth—straight and white. But the showcasing of them didn’t soften her friend’s posture any. “I hear you’re going back to St. Mary’s today,” he said. “Do you need a lift? I’ve another delivery coming on the ferry and need to run over anyway. I’d be happy to take you and the lady.”
Mabena’s chin came up even more. “Tas has prepared theMermaidfor me, so I don’t need to be relying on anyone else to ferry us about.”
The rebuff just made his smile go lopsided, into a grin. “Good. What time are you leaving? It’s been too long since I’ve watched you sail.”
Mabena huffed. “Shouldn’t you be over there telling Perry and Yorrick to hurry along to class?”
“They have an hour yet.” Though he darted a glance, Libby noted, to the left, gaze searching until he found the two teenaged boys.
“Then allow me to rephrase it: go away.”
