“We were far too busy taking in the view of the sea every time it appeared. Absolutely stunning.”
“The waters are so blue! It’s like being in the Caribbean.”
Lady Abbie chuckled. “I was rather hoping Theo’s search for Mucknell and Rupert would take us there soon. But you know, this is just as lovely, and so much closer to home.”
“I do see why it’s become a popular holiday spot. Mostly.” Lady Millicent cast one more nose-wrinkled glare over her shoulder at the cottage. “Though the cottages do leave something to be desired. What are the hotels like, Miss Tremayne?”
“Other than booked solid at this point, she means.”
Gracious, having a conversation with these two was a bit like watching a tennis match.
Luckily, Beth had always quite enjoyed the sport. “Charming, though probably not up to London standards. Though I daresay you’ll find them to be on par with some of the places along the Mediterranean that Lord Sheridan mentioned you’ve enjoyed.”
“Perhaps we should have Boynton see about rooms in the autumn. Or perhaps the spring.” Millicent lifted her brows and hooked an arm through Beth’s. “I hear the Scillies are enchanting in the spring. Flowers abloom everywhere.”
Beth nodded. “A prettier sight you’re unlikely to find outside of the tulip fields in Holland.”
“Excellent.” Abbie gave a decisive nod of her own. “We ought to plan to holiday here for Easter.”
“Assuming Theo wants to return then.”
“Or rather,” Abbie corrected her sister, “you mean if he can be pried away in the meantime.”
The sisters shared a laugh. Beth smiled, but otherwise her pounding heart muted her mirth a bit. These ladies might not be quite so eager to joke about Sheridan’s staying here for a while if they realized she was part of his reasoning.
Millicent’s mirth faded, too, and she sent a frown Beth’s way. “Just a moment. Is Lady Elizabeth Sinclair where we’ll be going?”
Abbie huffed. “I certainly hope so. I’ve been looking forward to giving that girl a piece of my mind. She clearly has no sense at all, to refuse dear Theo as she’s done.”
“Abbie!” Millicent blinked at her. “It’s Miss Tremayne’s brother she’s engaged to now. Isn’t that right, dear?”
Beth nodded. And said a quick, silent prayer for wisdom in how to discuss the subject of her soon-to-be sister-in-law with these ladies who were put out with her. Not that Abbie gave her a chance to speak on the matter.
“And no doubt Mr. Tremayne is as wonderful a chap as Theo says—but even so, it wasn’t right of Lady Elizabeth to run away from our brother as if he had the plague. They would have been a perfect match! She the sister of an earl, and his best friend. And Lady Telford and I had such grand plans for a winter wedding.”
“That’s hardly the only thing that matters.” The words were out of Beth’s mouth before she could think to stop them. And the interjection somehow—perhaps miraculously—managed to silence the sisters. Beth lifted her chin a few degrees. “With all due respect, Lady Abbie, Libby and Sheridan can scarcely tolerate each other. Is that really what you’d wish for your brother? A match that looks perfect in the society pages but results in a marriage in which he and his wife are always at cross-purposes? They both deserve better than that.”
The buildings of Hugh Town were crowding around them now, but the Howe ladies weren’t looking at the charming shops or the other tourists. No, they were both staring at her as if she were a particularly daring gown illustrated in their fashion magazine—interesting, but perhaps a bit scandalous.
Millicent gave her parasol a little twirl. “I suppose you’ll say Lady Elizabeth has found that ‘better’ with your brother.”
“She has.” No room for debate on that, as she’d be happy to proclaim to absolutely anyone. “She’s found a place for herself in the islands—she’s flourishing here, and everyone adores her. She and Oliver complement and complete each other. I think you’ll agree within minutes of seeing them. And Sheridan deserves the same, doesn’t he? Someone who appreciates him for all of who he is, including the things about which he’s so passionate.”
“He certainly does.” Abbie let out a breath that crossed a huff with a sigh. “I’m sure you’re right, dear. Lady Elizabeth looked like a perfect match on the surface, but how many times have we mourned her lack of fashion sense, Millicent?”
The younger sister laughed. “And the girl hasn’t the gumption to ever squeak a protest when you start lecturing her on it either.”
Beth shook her head. “She’s learned a bit of that since she’s been here too. Though she is certainly a seeker of peace—a quality I appreciate.”
Abbie granted it with a tilt of her head. Or dismissed it, Beth couldn’t be certain which. “She is a peculiar girl. You ought to see the . . . the apparatus in her bedroom at the cottage!”
Beth blinked at her for a moment before realization dawned and came with a laugh. “You mean her microscope?”
Abbie waved a hand. “Whatever it’s called. It looks positively dreadful with all those knobs and mirrors and tubes and trays.”
“Well, it helped us locate a bit of pirate treasure last month, so don’t be surprised if your brother decides he must have one for himself.”
Millicent chuckled now too. “I see you’ve come to know Theo well. Tell me, Miss Tremayne—you’ve seen clearly that Lady Elizabeth doesn’t fully appreciate him, but what do you think of our brother?”
She could only hope her face didn’t go all dreamy, as Senara and Em both joked happened every time she thought of him lately. “I think there’s no other person in the world quite like him.” She looked from one sister to the other, noting not only the characteristics that were obvious to the eye, but what she was sure Ollie would have seen, were he here. “And I think he was very blessed to have sisters like you. It was an amazingly selfless thing you chose to do, putting your own lives on hold to raise him.”
She had assumed before meeting them that these spinster sisters had probably always been destined to remain single, but that assumption—a rather ridiculous one for her to have made in general—flew to pieces upon meeting them. They were all the things society best loved: blue-blooded, wealthy, beautiful, fashionable. They could have had their pick of matches, if their parents’ deaths hadn’t interrupted what would have been their first Seasons.
Millicent smiled. Abbie sniffed. “There are those who say we ruined him.”
“Then they’re fools.”
“Oh, I like this one, Millicent.” Abbie winked at her sister around Beth. “You’re obviously a young lady of taste. Which we knew the moment we saw you. All elegance and ease, isn’t she?”
“I do love that color.” Millicent brushed an appreciative hand over the pale blue of Beth’s sleeve. “In general, but most especially on you, my dear. You’ve the complexion for it.”
“And the lacework of this shawl!” Abbie touched a finger to the heather blue wrap that was folded over Beth’s arm. Out on the water, the early morning air had made it a welcome addition, but once she’d been walking about on land, she hadn’t needed it.