Austin grasped both handles of the door and opened them at once. The chamber that met his eyes was the very playpen of affluence. Austin wouldn’t be surprised if he learned that the Queen’s chambers were no different.
A living area greeted him first, furnished generously with plush armchairs and chaise lounges with a beautiful fire crackling in the hearth. Two doors led away from the living space—one of which was slightly ajar. When Austin wandered further into the room, he caught sight of an armoire and the end of a bed. The other door was closed.
Miss Lavender was nowhere to be found. Annoyance prickled at his spine. He thought about calling out for her, then considered just leaving next.
Before he could make the decision, the closed door flew open. Miss Lavender came rushing out with her hair tumbling around her shoulders, a frown on her face.
“What is taking you so long?” she asked. “Come, come.”
Without waiting for a response, she rushed back into the room, leaving the door ajar.
God help me.
The room was a small library with a writing desk sitting in the center. Miss Lavender was not seated at the desk however, nor at any of the armchairs perched in front of the bookshelves. She sat on the ground, hunched over a small book with papers scattered all around her.
She looked…different. Still as plain as when he met her, he noted. But between the unruliness of her mousy brown hair, her hunched posture, and her bare feet, she seemed less like a wealthy lady and more like a maid.
She looked up at him and that frown was back. “Will you continue to stand there, my lord?” she asked, her tone softening the bite of her words. “Come and sit.”
“On the floor?” Austin asked without thinking.
She blinked as if she hadn’t expected such a question. “Well, you can choose any of the seats if you so wish. But come close. I want to show you something.”
Austin stayed by the door out of pure, natural stubbornness. “I am fine where I am,” he said, crossing his arms. “Now why did you call me here? I must inform you that I have more pressing matters at hand than to cater to your every whim and command.”
“Do you?” she asked with a raise of a brow. Austin only glared at her and she rolled her eyes. “I shan’t be long. There is something I wanted to share with you.”
Miss Lavender got to her feet and approached, taking her book with her. Austin was surprised at how lovely she smelt when she got close. Like fresh flowers after the rain.
“I have been up all night, you see,” she began to explain. “That is why I look so haggard, but I could not sleep. I have been planning instead.”
“I suppose you want me to ask you about what you were planning,” he drawled, unable to hold back his irritation.
“Not to worry, my lord. I plan to say it anyway.” She responded to him with such quickness that it threw Austin for a second. He wasn’t used to that. “You see, my plan is a simple one but one I have been thinking about for years. Now that I am old enough to attend the London Season, I can finally do what I have always dreamed of doing. I will usurp Lady Amelia Howard and become the face of the upper class overnight!”
A grin stretched across her face, her brown eyes gleaming with excitement. Austin couldn’t help the derisive look that crept over his face. “Should I know who that is?”
The grin fell. “You do not know Lady Amelia Howard? You are an earl! You should—” She broke off, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Never mind. Lady Amelia Howard is the Countess of Lively and the most popular person in all of England. Everyone—upper class or not—knows who she is. She holds the key to the gates of social acceptance, capable of turning a lady into a diamond or an outcast.”
“And you want to impress her?” Austin asked slowly.
“I don’t want to simply impress her. I want tobecomeher.”
Austin nearly laughed. He didn’t think Miss Lavender was hearing herself. If this lady was as famed as she made her out to be, then the haggard-looking woman who’d seemed content to sit bare-footed and cross-legged in front of him mere seconds ago was the last person capable of replacing someone of such a status.
The fire in Miss Lavender’s eyes, however, intrigued him enough to keep him from pointing out how foolish she sounded. He looked down at the book she still had in her hand. Without warning, he plucked it from her fingers.
“My lord!”
Austin raised the book high above his head as he read. Miss Lavender tried to grab it but her small stature barely brought her halfway.
“’In the end, I shall have everyone in the ballroom applauding me’,” he read in an incredulous tone. “How…creative.”
She tugged on his arm with both her hands, then snatched the book from him. “It is quite rude stealing from others, my lord,” she snapped. “And it would make no sense for you to read my plan in pieces. The reason I have called you here is because I wanted to go through everything with you. My brother informs me that we are to be wed and—”
“This matters not to me.”
Her cheeks grew red in her frustration. “Please stop cutting me off. As I was saying, Vincent has informed me that we are now betrothed and that you have promised to escort me to every event which I am invited to.”
