She shot him a dark look.
“It seems your simpering days are behind you now,” he added.
“The point is—”
“By all means, get to the point,” Nathan niggled her, enjoying the fire in her eyes.
“Men don’t consider women or their wishes. They are so consumed by their own.”
“You’re quite the vixen when you want to be. I wonder how that slipped by me.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Oh come now. Silence, Beth? When you’ve just shown your true colors?”
She looked away from him.
“That lecture you’ve just given me is at odds to your recent behavior. Valentine is the epitome of a man who sees no further than the end of his nose, and yet you willingly chose to spend time with him. Why?”
“I have nothing further to say on that matter.”
“And yet you will say it,” Nathan added. “Soon.”
“No, I won’t.” She folded her arms.
“Welcome, everyone, to the first annual blindfolded egg-and-spoon race around an obstacle course. Now, hand over your money!” The Duke of Stratton held out a hat as he walked down the line of contestants. “It’s for a worthy cause, and you lot can afford it.”
“I have no wish to do it, Dimity.” Gabe was on Nathan’s left. His frown fierce, he looked ready to flee.
“And yet it is for a good cause,” his fiancée said, prodding him in the chest.
“I will hand over money if that appeases you, but must I also make a fool of myself?”
“Earls are an elite bunch who rarely make fools of themselves, Gabriel. You will do it like you do everything, looking noble and dignified.”
“Surely you’re not falling for that?” Nathan asked Gabe.
“She does have a point,” the eldest Deville, said leaning in to kiss his fiancée right there in front of society’s finest.
“No, she doesn’t. You can’t set a foot in society and not stand on an earl these days; you are a common lot. Dukes, however,” Nathan said. “Now they are rare.”
“Thank you, Deville.” The Duke of Stratton bowed to him, having heard the comment.
Beside him, Beth snuffled.
“What?” He looked down at her. There were smudges under her eyes and worry etched in her face, but she was still, in his eyes, the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
“I’d forgotten about how you and your brothers converse.”
“It’s called brotherly love.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Michael said. Beside him stood Miss Helen Stillman.
“You will be tied to your partners. The aim is to make it around the entire course with your egg still on your spoon,” the Duchess of Stratton said, standing at her husband’s side. “You will be blindfolded, and the woman will guide you.”
“Empty your pockets, Devilles. Eva wants to make a sizeable donation to our cause,” the Duke of Stratton said, reaching them.
Nathan dug in his. Pulling out notes, he placed them in the small sack the peer held. It was then he noted the gold band on the man’s finger. It was twisted, the stone hidden.
