“How is Walter?” Beth asked before Nathan could ask her another question like,are you sure you don’t know where Mr. Valentine’s book is?She hated lying to him, but she must, to keep him and her family safe.
“Healing well, and really should be up and about. However, he drags himself from place to place so he gets treats and pity. I caught him outside galloping about in the gardens from a window. He then saw Dimity approach and started to limp.”
Beth laughed. “He is a very clever boy then.”
“Very, and we are so impressed with his acting ability we’re letting him get away with it. Even the Duchess of Yardly is visiting him daily with slices of ham, as apparently her ham is superior to ours.”
“Well, well,” the Duchess of Stratton said as she approached with a length of ribbon, which she began wrapping around their wrists. “Fancy you two being tied together.”
Beth wasn’t sure how to answer that, so she said nothing.
“I always thought you were a superbly matched couple and that there was a great deal more to you, Miss Carlow.”
“Oh, well… thank you,” Beth said, unsure how to answer that.
“It appears you are correct, Duchess. There is a great deal more to her than even I had realized.”
“Because you are a man and therefore unable to see beyond the end of your nose.” The duchess patted his hand.
“Stop haranguing the contestants, my love,” the Duke of Stratton said.
“Don’t let her get away again, Deville.” The duchess moved on, leaving Beth uncomfortable.
“Well that certainly put me in my place,” Nathan drawled.
“I’m sorry.”
“You cannot control what others say, Beth, only your own actions.” Nathan looked down at her.
Her actions had been to leave him, and she’d suffered for it every day since.
“I will count backward from five; you will then start. Follow the course, no cheating or harming the other contestants,” the duke stated. “Unless they are siblings, then I doubt anything I say will stop you.”
This caused a ripple of laughter. Beth looked at the other contestants. There were several Sinclairs and Ravens, the Deville brothers, of course, and she saw the Hetherington twins. There would be carnage, she was sure.
“Brace yourself,” Nathan whispered in her ear.
She shivered as the hot breath tickled her skin. The countdown began and then they were all rushing forward. Lord Plunge tripped over his feet, going down; Lady Trilberry managed to keep hers. Plunge landed face-first in his egg.
“Step left, Nathan. Lord Plunge has fallen on his egg.”
“Not words you hear every day,” he said, doing as she directed.
“If only it had been hard boiled,” Cambridge Sinclair said, jogging by with his wife. “I could have snacked on the way.”
Nathan stumbled, taking an elbow to the back, and righted himself, bracing her with an arm.
“Most dreadfully sorry,” Zach said, running by with Mary, who waved at Beth.
“They’re all beating us,” Beth declared. “I don’t like to be beaten, Nathan.”
“Another thing I did not know about you. You really did keep the true you hidden, didn’t you?”
“Yes, yes. We have no time for that now. There is a race to win!”
He chuckled, low and deep, and she bit back a sigh. Even his laugh was charming.
He picked up the pace, and soon they were passing others.
