“Yes, you’re right. I heard you just fine. I am simply reeling a bit, that’s all. Allow me to process it for a moment.” Lavender dramatically walked away then began pacing back and forth. She stopped in front of him again after a few seconds, a smile playing around her lips. “What if I say no?”
“Forget I said anything then.”
“The answer is yes then,” she said quickly before he could turn away. “A surprised and wary yes. But a yes, all the same.”
“Are you certain?” he asked. “Are you sure you won’t be too busy plotting and scheming?”
Lavender laughed heartily, the sound lifting his spirits. “I shall make some room in my busy schedule for you, Austin.”
“Good. Goodbye then.”
“Goodbye.”
But they didn’t part ways right away. They lingered, staring at each other.
Lavender tilted her head to the side and raised her brows, a teasing smile tugging at her lips. Austin felt heat wash over him. Was it…embarrassment? He didn’t know and he didn’t plan on staying long enough for either one of them to find out. So he gave her a curt nod and climbed back into his carriage. He didn’t look out the window until the carriage began to move.
Only then did he allow himself to look back. And she stood there staring after the retreating carriage with that smile on her face. Austin returned it though she was too far to see it.
Chapter Twenty
Lavender wasn’t used to acting on impulse, without forethought. She understood the merit in thinking quickly on the spot and usually it worked out in her favor. But charging headfirst into a decision without thinking about it at all was not something she was accustomed to doing.
So the fact that her carriage was pulling up to Austin’s townhouse, barely within proper visiting hours, felt a little surreal. The thought had crossed her mind the moment she’d opened her eyes this morning and Lavender hadn’t thought twice about going through it with. She hadn’t even eaten breakfast. Simply climbed out of bed, gotten ready, and made haste for Austin’s home.
Now that she was here, she realized that she might have been a little too hasty. He said that he would come to call on her, after all. She should be waiting for him to follow through with it, not the other way around. What if he was already on his way to see her and they had missed each other?
The thought brought a smile to her face. She doubted it. Austin didn’t strike her as the type to wake before noon.
There was still so much she didn’t know about him, so many layers to be peeled away before the real Austin was revealed. Excitement unfurled within her as she climbed out of the carriage. It abated when she realized that her carriage was not the only one present.
He had guests? The surly, unsociable Earl of Derby hadguests?
Lavender simply stood and stared in shock. It didn’t seem possible but the carriages bore no crests, while she knew his bore the crest of the earldom. Did it mean that someone else had come to visit him, or perhaps was the carriage waiting to take Austin somewhere?
Lavender made her way to the front door, needing to know for herself. Before long, the anxious butler opened the door for her and all but broke out in cold sweat when he saw who stood before him.
“Good morning,” she greeted politely. “I am here to see Lord Derby.”
“Ah, I see.” He glanced behind him, uncertain. “Lord Derby is preoccupied at the—”
“Are you going to turn me away?” Lavender asked in a firm yet innocent tone. “How odd, considering within a matter of months I will be the mistress of this household.”
“Yes, yes, of course, miss.” He quickly stepped out of her way, ushering her inside. “I shall inform Lord Derby of your arrival.”
He hurried away, leaving Lavender with her question still lingering on her tongue. She supposed she could find out who was here by seeing for herself. She waited impatiently for the butler to return and he stated that she had been invited to join the earl and his guests in the drawing room.
Lavender kept her questions at bay, following behind the butler even though she needed no help in finding the room herself. He opened the door for her and seemed all too eager to leave. Lavender paid the butler no mind as she entered the room.
Out of all the possibilities that had raced through her mind, this was the very last of them. The Countess of Lively sat in the center of the room with a cup of tea in her hands and a smug look on her face. Next to her on the chaise lounge was a young, pretty lady whom Lavender vaguely recognized, though she knew they had never met. And then there was Austin standing by the bay window with his arms crossed looking as if someone had just dashed all his hopes.
Lavender didn’t know what to say. So few times had she ever been at a loss for words that it made the silence uncomfortable for a few seconds. She looked at Austin for an explanation but before he could open his mouth, Lady Lively spoke up.
“What a surprise,” she purred. “Isn’t it a bit too early for you to be here, Miss Lavender? And where is your chaperone?”
Lavender’s cheeks grew hot. In her haste to see Austin, she had forgotten to ask Betty to chaperone her. She hadn’t expected anyone to be here to witness her social disgrace.
Rather than give the obvious answer, Lavender attempted to deflect with one of her own. “What are you doing here, Lady Lively?”
