“And what if I don’t want to be?” Austin asked with a raised brow. He ignored the irony of the situation, considering his confusion earlier while looking through the ledger book.
“You have no choice in the matter.”
Lavender was in a chipper mood, he realized. Despite his grumpiness, she faced him with nothing but bright words and a smile on her face. Lavender pulled her chair towards the desk until she was close enough to rest her elbows on top.
“Now, pretend that I am Lady Lively,” she said. “And I have approached you at the horse racing match. How will you greet me?”
Austin just stared at her. Lavender’s smile began to slip as her expectancy morphed into curiosity then confusion.
“Don’t you know what to say?” she asked at last.
“You asked, how will I greet her. I do not intend on greeting the countess at all.”
“Goodness, you are being quite stubborn, aren’t you?” She shifted in the chair. Austin realized after a moment that she was tucking her legs underneath her. “Very well, how about this? Whatwill you say if someone were to ask about your feelings towards your betrothed?”
“Why is that anyone’s business?”
“It does not matter. They will ask regardless.”
Austin couldn’t deny that. The ton were a nosy bunch.
He considered the question for a moment. His first inclination would be to tell them the truth and not care about what they thought of it. It took him a moment to realize that he didn’t quite know what the truth was.
He’d resented Lavender for a moment when they’d first met, even though he’d walked into this betrothal himself. For making him do the things he’d always dreaded, for dragging him around as if he were nothing but a prop in her play. But now, none of that remained.
Right now when he looked at her, he felt…something. It was potent, rearing its ugly head every time he looked directly into her eyes. But he didn’t know what that something was. All he knew was that he didn’t feel any irritation when she’d walked into the room. And when she’d scooted her chair closer, a part of him wished that she would bring it to his side of the desk instead.
“She is my betrothed,” he said at last when he realized that she was still waiting for his response.
“That…” Lavender frowned, looking disappointed. “That is not a proper response at all.”
Austin only shrugged.
For the first time since she’d walked into the room, she looked genuinely frustrated. Suddenly, she began getting to her feet even though she’d only just gotten comfortable.
“Come with me,” she said.
“Where? Why?”
“There is a garden behind this house, is there not? Let us go for a walk. Get some fresh air.”
Austin found himself standing without realizing it. “Oh, dear, this woman and her walks,” he grumbled loud enough for her to hear.
Lavender laughed and turned away before she caught the end of a smile he’d been trying to hide.
Chapter Fourteen
Lavender didn’t know what possessed her to leave her comfortable house to come and visit Austin but she didn’t question it at all. But she supposed that coming here under the guise of teaching him how to be more gentlemanly was a good excuse as any. He didn’t need to know that she was really just looking forward to spending time with him.
How quickly things changed.
Lavender couldn’t help glancing at him as they strolled between the surprisingly manicured rows of bushes in his garden. She’d expected the garden to be in as much a sorry state as the townhouse. But, even though she spotted a few overgrown areas, Lavender supposed it was easier to care for the landscape than it was to care for a building.
He didn’t notice her stares. Or at least, she hoped he didn’t. She wouldn’t know how to explain herself if he did. How would she be able to tell him that she didn’t quite understand why she felt so at peace, why she was so fine with them strolling in silence rather than charging headfirst into preparations for her plan like she had been since they’d met? Lavender couldn’t understand it herself. He was a handsome man, undoubtedly. And his grumpiness had an underlying layer of charm that many others wouldn’t see.
But beyond that, Lavender was beginning to realize that she liked him. Perhaps they could be friends after all of this.
“Will you say something or do you intend for us to make laps around the garden until you have found your tongue?”
