Page 57 of The Nature of a Lady
Libby pursed her lips. They could perhaps expect evidence of it if someone had been digging or had removed something—but how would they know it was Beth and not someone else? Or even an animal? There was no shortage of wild creatures on the islands, much to her delight.
It was a question they debated as they made the journey to the small island between St. Martin’s and Tresco. They hadn’t really come to any solid conclusions by the time they waded to shore, but it hardly mattered. They would simply keep their eyes open, explore everything they could, and hope to come across something that would provide a clue.
Once Libby’s feet were on dry sand and she’d put her shoes on again, she turned to survey the grassy hills and rock outcroppings with a grateful breath. Though it lasted only a moment. “Looks as though we’re not the only ones here.” She should have expected as much, she supposed. Other holiday-goers hopped all about the islands, courtesy of the locals and their boats.
But Oliver and Mabena both frowned when they followed herpointing finger to the blue sails barely visible over the land, clearly belonging to a boat anchored at another beach.
“The Hills’ boat,” Mabena muttered. “Have they hired it out?”
“Not that I’ve heard.” Oliver’s voice carried a note she’d had yet to hear from him—a bit stern, a bit resigned. “No, I suspect it’s Perry, who ought to be at school, not gallivanting about Teän. And no doubt he has a Grimsby brother or two with him.”
Mabena laughed. “I did my fair share of playing truant on a fine day. Third term was always the worst.”
“Mm.” Oliver sighed. “Come on. Let’s see where they are.”
Libby followed them through the sand and into the grass. The walking was easier than it had been on Annet, which was littered with rocks and holes that were entrances to the underground nests of the seabirds. And she spotted dozens of plant varieties she had yet to catalogue.
Teän had a few ruins she wanted to explore, in addition to her nature hunting. An abandoned cottage, an early chapel, a Bronze Age cairn ... and they seemed to be walking past one such structure even now. No doubt, because the sound of adolescent voices was coming from within the tumbling walls.
Walls that were covered in a lichen she’d never seen elsewhere in England. Really, everything here was simply remarkable. Different lichen, different bracken, different heather—a whole new world! She could spend a lifetime cataloguing and still never list it all.
“How are we even supposed to know what he was looking for, Perry?” The young voice came from behind the lichen-covered stones, and it sounded none too happy.
An exasperated huff replied, “I don’tknow, all right? But he was here the day before he died.”
“So? I bet he also visited the loo. Do we need to investigatethat?”
“Yeah, Nick.” Perry’s voice sounded exasperated in the extreme. “That was going to be my next suggestion.”
“About as useful,” said a third voice that sounded much like Nick’s, only a trifle higher.
Mabena and Oliver were creeping silently around the corner, perhaps aimed for a door or something. Libby had no idea what might be on the adjacent wall. She stepped a little closer to the stones, though, fishing into her bag with one hand. A scraping of the lichen would only take a second, and her friends certainly didn’t need her to confront lads she’d never even met. She would just—
A scream spilled from her lips when her next step met air instead of ground. Her foot had found a hole that went deep enough that she sank up to her knee, her ankle twisting as it jammed into the uneven bottom. Worst of all, her satchel took the full brunt of her weight as she caught herself on the ground, and something cracked within it. Slides? Her magnifying glass?
“My lady!” Oliver dropped to his knees at her side a moment later, his face contorted with concern and his hands gripping her elbows to steady her. “Are you all right?”
“More surprised than anything.” The initial throb in her ankle was already dulling. Or else it was just fully eclipsed by the far pleasanter sensation of his hands on her arms, his face so close to hers. Bother, but she didn’t know what to do with these feelings he inspired in her. Or why in the world she was debating it when knee-deep in a hole. She ought to have been embarrassed, flustered by the situation more than that gleam in his eyes.
“Let me help you up.” He did so with ease, levering her back to the foot still on solid ground. But he didn’t let go. Perhaps because he was conscious of how carefully she put her abused foot down. Perhaps—dare she hope it?—because he enjoyed the nearness too.
Given the way his gaze brushed over her face and lingered a moment on her mouth, she could convince herself of that.
“Are you certain you’re all right?” he whispered.
Never in her life had she been tempted to lie, to exaggerate a hurt, just to keep a gentleman closer. Lottie would be proud of her for entertaining such a thought even briefly. Which was enough to make her shake it away.
She plastered on a smile and flicked it from Oliver to Mabena, who had also hurried back. “Quite.”
The lads dashed around the corner too, looking stricken and pale. “What happened?” Perry’s voice asked. She could see now that said voice belonged to the boy clearly not related to the other two, who looked enough alike to have been twins, if they weren’t four inches apart in height.
Someone must have raised these lads right. Had it been schoolboy-aged Bram and Sheridan caught adventuring when they should have been in class, they’d have run the other direction upon hearing another voice, not come to make certain all was well.
She rewarded them with a smile for their concern. “Just found a hole with my foot. A burrow of some kind, no doubt.”
“That’s no burrow.” Though he toed the hole, Oliver kept an arm around her that warmed her far more than the summer sun. “Look. The edges are square.”
The lads surged around Mabena and crouched down beside the hole. It wasn’t large—just big enough for her unfortunate foot—and grass had crept over the edge, which surely meant it had been dug a while ago. “Bet Johnnie dug it,” Perry said.
