26th June, late evening: the Dinner Trip

Hunter gave Torrington a withering look, but accepted the ham.

It was getting rather dark, several torches and fires were already lit and the paddock was finished. Slowly the clearing was filling up with people and a lot of them did not look like they belonged to the gypsy band: they sat or stood a little aloofly, though some seemed to be on friendly terms with the band.

A young woman passed Torrington and Hunter by and gave Torrington a playful smile.

Edward returned it and gave her a playful salute, and only Hunter next to him could see that it didn't reach his eyes and he still looked around cautiously and ready to react.

"Definitely an improvement over our camp, but ... from what I heared about gipsies, it would be rather an invitation to trouble, wouldn't it?", he murmured.

Hunter huffed out a laugh. "You, Torrington, would be an invitation to trouble in heaven itself."

Edward raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

"And am I to take it that, since you have joined me, you are trouble?"

"No, I am an angel," Hunter smirked and bit into the slice of ham.

"I do not think those descriptions are mutually exclusive! You are that kind of angel that was asked to leave and enjoy a warmer clime."

Edward began to munch (in a very aristocratic manner) on a piece of ham himself.

"I am the kind of angel who sauntered vaguely downwards, if anything."

"I'm sorry I wasn't around. I would have provided you with a good map to help with the vaguely part."

"You weren't around because you were causing trouble for Eve."

"She was a very nice woman, and my mother had taught me to share."

Edward speared a piece of cheese and held it out to Hunter with a tempting smile and a playful pose.

Hunter plucked the cheese off the knife point and popped it into his mouth. "Well, let's see what knowledge I will acquire."

Edward tossed his head back to shake the lock Hunter had so artfully arranged out of his eyes again.

"The forms of things unknown ... and probably of my fist if you insist on teasing me that way."

But he said it teasingly and without any anger.

"I always was of the opinion that the form of the fist is not exactly the important thing about it...," Hunter grinned and moved slightly away from Torrington.

Edward grinned back and glanced pointedly down at the bigger space between them.

"I'm not quite sure whether I should take that as a compliment to my wiry strength or as an insult."

He was still much more relaxed and teasing than Hunter had seen him before, but he had slipped out of his 'highwayman' act. Quite a skilled actor when he concentrated on it, it was still always an act to him and as such required constant attention to get it right. So his sprawl now with each move reverted back to a more dignified posture and his diction had become clear and and slightly drawling again.

"Take it as a precaution on my part, nothing else." Hunter turned his attention to the food. He in counterpoint to Torrington was relaxed, an air of swagger present about him, even as he sat and chewed.

The voices were getting louder and rowdy. The woman who passed them by earlier walked up and smiled rather invitingly to Torrington, speaking to him in Spanish. Hunter snorted.

Edward raised his eyebrow at him and in his most beautiful Italien, with a charming, playful smile, replied to the woman:

"Forgive me, senorita, but your dazzling beauty has struck me so much and my ears were so overwhelmed by the melody of your voice that my poor brain quite failed to understand your words."

The woman just laughed, not really understanding what Torrington said, then switched to Portuguese. "You don't only look like a lord, you sound like one."

His Portuguese was by now marginally better than his Spanish, which helped just enough to understand that he and 'lord' were mentioned in the same sentence, and that a not had been somewhere in that sentence, too, but he hadn't been quick enough to catch whether he was supposed to be a lord (that possibility send a chill down his spine - had their incognito been discovered?) or whether the lady was mock-offended because he hadn't behaved like a gentleman (the second part bothered him quite as much). So he answered more seriously, still in Italian:

"Forgive me, but I still don't understand you."

He glanced at Hunter, who should have been able to at least understand the Spanish words.

Hunter shook his head: "I refuse to be your matchmaker, Torrington."

the sarcastic eyebrow came into play again.

"So you refuse to help a lady for fear that I might run off with her?"

"No, I simply refuse to get blamed for the consequences. If you wish to flirt with her, do leave me out of it." Hunter was smiling and his tone was light, but there was a certain tightness to his voice.

Edward suddenly laughed.

"Oh no, you are my host for tonight, you will not be left out of anything! So if you don't want to watch me making polite, but ununderstandable conversation with a pretty girl, I'm afraid you will have to provide a suitable substitute for my entertainment."

"Don't worry, it's coming." Hunter said something to the girl. She let out a reluctant laugh, shrugged and walked off, her skirts swishing.

One of the men, who looked to be in charged suddenly shouted something and people dropped whatever they were doing and their attention was riveted to the paddock. A group of men led several horses into it.

Hunter shifted closer to Torrington. "There is our entertainment. They have several horses to sell."

Edward jumped to his feet to get a better look. If he had been anybody else, he would probably have whistled under his breath.

"And a good one it is. Can we bid, too? That gray mare that man is leading in just now ..."

Hunter rose and slung an arm around Torrington's shoulders, leaning in. "Bid away, just let's see what others offer for it first. Don't look so eager Torrington. One would think you never haggled before."