Beth shot him a sharp look. She’d never said in so many words she didn’t want to leave Sussex and she wondered if she were that transparent that he could tell her emotions just from inference and glances.
‘Who would?’ His eyes were fixed on the horizon and there was a wistful expression on his face.
‘I should return home. My mother...’ Beth shuddered. Her mother would be pacing the halls, waiting to say how disappointed she was in Beth’s behaviour yet again.
‘She will be angry if you return half an hour late or forty minutes. An extra few minutes won’t change things.’
‘You’re inciting me to defy my mother, Mr Ashburton.’
‘We all need a little danger in our lives.’ He turned back to the sea and took a deep breath. ‘Five minutes. Ride with me to the top of the cliffs.’
She shouldn’t do it. For the past two weeks, ever since they’d left London to prepare for the house party, she had told herself she would spend the week avoiding Joshua Ashburton. He brought something out in her that wasn’t sensible, wasn’t rational. She glanced over at him, catching the way he was looking at her, and felt her skin begin to tingle and her heart start to pound just that little bit faster.
Willow, her beautiful mare, tossed her head and pulled in the direction of the clifftop.
‘Traitor,’ Beth murmured, but allowed the horse to fall into step alongside Mr Ashburton’s. ‘How was your journey?’
‘Uneventful. Now tell me, who is your mother hiding in that lovely old house of yours?’
Beth felt herself stiffen in the saddle and had to force herself to let go of the breath she was holding.
‘Hiding? What makes you think she’s hiding someone?’
‘When we arrived she was very keen to usher us inside even though it is a glorious day. She kept looking at the garden and I fancied I saw someone in amongst the flower beds. Someone it seemed your mother didn’t want us to see.’
‘Nonsense.’ Beth knew her voice gave her away. She wasn’t sure why her mother was quite so keen to hide Annabelle from the world. When they had returned to Sussex from London in preparation for the house party her mother had initially planned to send Annabelle away whilst they had guests but Beth had coaxed and cajoled her mother into letting her sister stay. Annabelle hadn’t been away from Birling View ever, and, even though the proposed destination was only the farm at the edge of the estate, Beth didn’t think it fair her sister be discarded like that.
‘I thought it might have been your sister, but then couldn’t work out why your mother would be so keen for her not to meet us.’
Joshua Ashburton was an astute man. Even though Annabelle meant the world to her, Beth had steered clear of mentioning her too much in his company, but still the man’s interest had been piqued by this younger sister who must seem elusive.
‘It may have been Annabelle. She does enjoy the gardens.’
‘I suppose we will meet her at dinner tonight.’
‘No.’ Beth avoided eye contact and instead spurred Willow on to the very top of the cliff. The hills here undulated up and down with many points on the cliff where it felt as though you were at the highest point, but Beachy Head really was the top.
‘Tomorrow, then, perhaps at breakfast?’
‘No.’
‘Ah, I understand. Some people prefer to eat alone. Perhaps she will join us for a walk along the cliffs.’
‘Why do you care?’ Beth rounded on him, her voice rising, carried on the wind and echoing off the hills.
Mr Ashburton regarded her for a long moment, his expression for once serious.
‘Something here isn’t right,’ he said eventually. ‘It has been niggling at me for two weeks. Here you are, two and twenty.’ He waited for her to give a short nod of confirmation before continuing. ‘Doing everything in your power to save the family. Yet your sister, who is a mere year younger, is hidden away here in Sussex, not out husband hunting with you.’
‘You know nothing about me, about my sister, about my family.’
‘That’s not true,’ he said quietly, and Beth was forced to look at him by the intensity in his voice. ‘I may not have known you long, Lady Elizabeth, but do not pretend we do not have a connection. I may not know you by the standards of society, but I understand you.’
Beth felt the piercing of her heart. It was what she imagined everyone wished for—someone to understand them. Even Annabelle, who she was as close as sisters could be to, didn’t understand her. His eyes were burning into her, hot and intense, and it made her want to squirm in the saddle.
‘Something is wrong here.’
Shaking her head, she felt the tears threatening to spill.
‘Isn’t there something wrong in every family?’ she said quietly.
‘Of course. Look at me and Leo: he was wanted, I was not.’
‘Yet you are peculiarly well adjusted.’
He shrugged. ‘We’re not talking about me.’
‘I need to get back home, Mr Ashburton. May I suggest we don’t arrive together?’
‘Josh,’ he said, holding her eye. ‘My name is Josh.’
‘I can’t call you Josh.’
‘That’s your decision, but you can think of me as Josh even if you can’t use my name.’
‘Josh,’ she murmured, knowing she wouldn’t be able to think of him as Mr Ashburton any more. That would be reserved for his brother.
Reminded once again of her duty, she pulled on Willow’s reins and without another word pushed her into a trot. She got as far as the bottom of the first hill before she lost the battle with herself not to look around and glanced back over her shoulder to see Josh still watching her.
‘Mother is furious.’ Annabelle’s face peeked out of the darkness as Beth crept along the upper landing towards the bedroom she shared with Annabelle.
Quickly she slid into the room and embraced her sister, making sure the door was closed firmly behind
