Page 34 of To Treasure an Heiress
“Sher! Crikey.” Telford materialized at his side. “You look like secondhand death.”
“Thanks. Really.”
His friend held out a full, steaming cup of tea. “I got a taste of his skills last week, if you recall. Full commiseration here.”
It made him feel half a degree better. Or maybe that was due to his first sip of tea, brewed strong, just how he liked it.
Of course, it was also how Telly liked it, and Mamm-wynn had clearly made the cup for him.
Sheridan lifted it in a salute of genuine appreciation for the sacrifice. “Where did he learn that, do you think? Certainly not in London.”
“Okinawa.”
At Beth’s voice, his every muscle tensed. He wouldn’t even look at her. He was better off without her, if she was so senseless as to fall for a cad like Scofield.
She sat in the chair beside her grandmother, teacup cradled in her hands, and looked positively gorgeous in a dress of sky blue that teased the shade of it from her eyes.
Blast and bother. He dragged his gaze away again and stomped to an empty chair beside Oliver.
Beth sipped her tea. “Which you would know had you deigned to join us yesterday evening when Lady Emily came for supper. He apparently spent several years traveling Asia. It’s calledkarate.”
She pronounced each syllable deliberately. No doubt wanting to pay them special honor, since it was the chosen form of combat of her darlingNigel.
He slouched into his chair. “So sorry. I hope my absence, as I nursed a migraine from the broken nose her brother gave me, didn’t dampen your evening with your friend.”
Her smile was positively glacial. “Not at all.”
“Elizabeth Grace.” Mamm-wynn tipped the teapot over another cup and handed it to her grandson. “Mind your manners.”
Telly, taking the other empty chair between him and Mrs. Tremayne, passed him a plate with a crumpet already slathered with butter.
Sheridan sighed around his first bite. “You’re a true friend, Bram.”
Beth muttered into her teacup something that sounded suspiciously like “As if he deserves one.”
He would ignore that. He turned to the gentlemen, putting her out of his line of sight. “I assume someone made an attempt to locate Scofield or his yacht around the islands yesterday?”
Oliver nodded. “I took theAdellearound and recruited a few friends to help too. Enyon said he saw a craft matching Beth’s description of the yacht near St. Agnes on Wednesday evening. It’s called theChatelaine. It was nowhere to be found by yesterdayafternoon, but he easily could have gone back to Penzance. With that motor, he could come and go as he pleases if he brings his own supply of fuel.”
Cheery thought, that. He could show up again any time, without warning. Sheridan took another bite of crumpet. Perhaps it was just that he hadn’t had anything more substantial than this morning’s porridge since supper on Wednesday, but it tasted like ambrosia. “I’m going to steal Mrs. Dawe away.”
Mamm-wynn and Oliver chuckled. Beth took another sip of tea. “Perfectly in character. Once a thief...”
He dropped the crumpet back to his plate. “I am not a thief. Iboughtthat box.”
“Which was stolen property. A gentleman would return it.”
“Yes, well, I’m rather glad I haven’t, or you’d probably have given it to that reprobate by now. He’d have smiled at you and you’d have—”
Telford’s hand, steadying, landed on his shoulder. “Are we missing something?”
He snorted. Reached for his tea, then changed his mind and shoved away from the table. “Why don’t you ask our lovely Miss Tremayne? She certainly seemed rather cozy with Mr. Scofield yesterday.”
She put her tea down with a clatter too. “Itoldyou. I didn’t know who it was.”
“Oh, so you just flirt with every stranger, then?” He pushed to his feet, shaking his head. “Well, how wonderful for you. No business of mine. I hadn’t proposed yet, and I certainly won’t be now. You’d probably have strung me along for those eight years and then announced you were engaged to him all along. Well, Abbie was right about you—or would have been. Had she met you, which she won’t now.”
That had come out all wrong. And shouldn’t have come out at all. Oh well.
