Page 75 of The Summer Escape

“What’s so funny?” she asked, pushing her fingers into his hair when she reappeared and stood over him.

“My little brother. He’s in the pub with Keira for the quiz. Any chance you feel like joining them? Noah and Seren are down there too, but they’re both working.”

Beth glanced towards the house. “Your mum looked after Ellie last night. I can’t ask her again.”

“She won’t mind.”

“I know she won’t, but I’ll still feel bad asking. You should go though.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” he said, pulling her onto his lap to kiss her.

When the sound of his mum clearing her throat interrupted them, Beth shot up and into her own chair, her cheeks flaming red.

“I just wondered if you two are going to the pub tonight?” Mirren asked, her amusement at Beth’s reaction evident in her smiling eyes.

“We weren’t planning on it,” Trystan said. “Why?”

“Because I’ve had Kit on the phone insisting I get you to hurry up. He reckons Keira’s terrible at trivia and he needs help. Then I had a call from Keira saying the same about Kit.”

Trystan grinned at Beth. “You know they’re going to end up arguing all evening if we don’t get down there and help them out.”

“Off you go and have fun,” Mirren said as she wandered back inside. “I’ll keep an ear out for Ellie.”

“Thank you,” Beth called after her, then lowered her voice for Trystan. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Why?”

“Because your mum just caught me draped all over you.”

“Do you honestly think she didn’t already know there’s something going on between us?”

“I assumed she knew. But there’s a difference between knowing something and seeing something. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable in her own home.”

He told her not to worry about it and smiled as another message came through from Kit telling him to hurry up and get to the pub.

They arrived with impeccable timing just as the first question was read out. Beth whispered the answer to Kit, who was poised with a pen over the paper and a blank look on his face that matched Keira’s beside him. For the next hour they huddled together, whispering possible answers to the questions.

The more wine she drank, the more Beth’s smug smile intensified as she answered questions while teasing Kit and Keira for not pulling their weight.

“Have you two answered anything so far?” she asked, during the break at the halfway point of the quiz. Her cheeks were flushed from the wine, and Trystan struggled to keep his eyes off her. If he could think up a reasonable excuse he’d abandon the pub and take her back to his place immediately.

“We knew most of the answers,” Kit said. “We’re just not jumping to say them because they’re so obvious.”

Trystan grinned at Kit. “You tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Fine,” Kit huffed, slouching back in his seat. “We’re not getting as many as you. But that’s because the questions so far have been aimed at an older audience. You have a definite advantage since so many of the questions have been about history. You lived it – of course you know more!”

Beth shook her head as she laughed. “The questions have mostly been on pop culture.”

“I’m fairly sure pop culture from the eighties and nineties counts as history, right?” Kit turned to Keira for confirmation.

“I’d have to agree,” Keira said, deadpan.

“I think you’re both being very rude,” Beth said, trying but failing at a mock stern expression. Her eyes were too bright and happy.

“Maybe I didn’t express myself clearly,” Kit said, beaming. “I’m very grateful you’re so knowledgeable about the olden days.” He ducked away when Beth swatted at him. “This is why it’s good to have a diverse quiz team. When the questions on contemporary culture come around we’ll clean up.”

Beth untangled her fingers from Trystan’s and stood up.