“Step right. One of the Hetheringtons has gone down, taking his wife with him. They are at present laughing hysterically and not attempting to regain their feet. Both have egg on them,” Beth said, rounding the laughing couple. “Are you all right?” She felt she had better ask.
“Indeed we are, Miss Carlow. My wife tells me egg whites are excellent for one’s skin.” Having said that, he smeared some of the broken yolk over his wife’s cheeks. “The yolk is now on you, my love,” he said, and they both fell about the place laughing.
“Married people are very loose with each other,” Beth muttered when they were back on the track.
“Getting back to not showing me your true self,” Nathan said, turning his hand in the bonds so their fingers could entwine.
“What are you doing?” She couldn’t tug free. “Someone will see.”
“Let them. Now, about me controlling you.”
“This is a pointless conversation,” Beth said as they entered the small wooded area. “Oh dear.”
“What?” Nathan stumbled on a tree root and cursed. “This is ridiculous.”
“You’re cheating.” His thumb was on the egg holding it in place.
“I have no wish for either of us to be covered in egg.”
“Mr. Warwick Sinclair appears to be caught in some brambles, and a woman is untangling him.”
“Which woman?”
“I cannot see her face.”
“Are they all right?”
The woman was laughing loudly, and Mr. Sinclair was smiling as she tried to remove the brambles from his clothing. He still held the egg aloft.
“They appear to be.”
“Then move on.”
“Left,” Beth said. “There is a branch sticking out a few paces ahead. Oh dear.”
“What now?” Nathan sounded testy.
“Your brother appears to have walked into it.”
“Which one?”
“Mr. Michael Deville.” He was rubbing his forehead but did not seem in any great stress. His egg, however, was splattered over his boots, and the woman accompanying him did not look pleased.
“Rattle your brains, brother?”
“I am well, Nathan,” Michael called back.
The Deville brothers had a comfortable familiarity with them that she’d often envied. Beth was an only child so relied on her friends for that, or she once had.
“What’s ahead, Beth?”
“Trees. It’s quite dense, so be on your guard.”
“But you are my eyes. This is your chance to take control, seeing as you are so sure I would have held the reins of power in any household we had.”
“Nathan, we should not be doing this. It could lead to unwanted speculation,” Beth felt she had to say.
“Heavens yes, we cannot allow unwanted speculation that there is anything more than an acquaintance between us now.”
