“That is what you think,” she pressed. “But they are always looking. And once you misstep, it will be spoken about for days to come. I didn’t come here to cause a scandal, my lord. I came here to set my plan in motion and brief you on all the things you need to do.”
“Dearest Lord, pray tell me what tangled web have I unwittingly ensnared myself in?” he muttered under his breath.
“Language,” Lavender chastised. She schooled her expression into a more pleasant one, even though her annoyance was now sending heat to her cheeks. As discreetly as she could, she tugged on his arm and hoped that he would catch the hint.
Thankfully, he didn’t protest this time. He bent his arm to accommodate hers and allowed her to lead him down a lesstraveled path, though they were still well within view of everyone else.
“To answer your question, my lord, I was observing you,” Lavender went on. “Admiring you, to an extent. Though you did make it quite difficult with your crass manner of speech.”
“It’s how I’ve always spoken,” he grunted. “No one has ever complained before.”
“Perhaps they have just been too frightened,” she mused. “In any case, I shan’t allow you to frighten me nor will you deter me from my plan.”
“To usurp that countess.”
“Yes, that countess.Thecountess,” she pressed. “But in order for my goal to come to fruition, I need your compliance.”
“I am here walking with you,” he grumbled. “What more do you want?”
“Well, for one, I would like for you to look a little happier to be here.” Lavender peered up at him, giving him a soft smile. “Like this.”
Lord Derby looked down at her as if she were an alien creature. “Don’t do that.”
Lavender’s smile fell. It took everything in her not to give in to her irritation. Surely, this man was difficult.
“We’ll get there,” she said, mostly to herself. “I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised at your personality. I will just have to learn how to use it to my advantage.”
“You know nothing about my personality,” he protested.
“I know more than you think. Last night, after Vincent informed me of our arranged betrothal, I had my maid tell me everything she knew about you.”
She could sense his surprise, even though her attention remained on the beaten path before her. “Your maid?” he growled in question.
“Yes, my lady’s maid. Her name is Betty and she is quite talkative once she is comfortable. Since there is a divide between new money and old, I am unable to garner as much information about you as I would have if I had been born with a title, sadly. But servants tend to talk amongst themselves, you know, no matter who they work for. And she had a lot to say about you.”
“I hear a lot of judgment coming from the lady whose only ambition is to become a part of a class of people who only want to exclude her.”
How typical. He thought she was nothing but a simple-minded lady with no interest but to attend parties and climb up the social ladder. She supposed she couldn’t fault him for assuming such, but it still bothered her.
Lavender rolled her eyes at his sarcastic drawl. “It isn’t that simple.”
“Oh, pray tell, my fair lady, how complex it is.”
“My ambitions do not rest in being accepted by the ton alone, my lord,” Lavender expressed, struggling to keep her tone civil. “I want to infiltrate the very same ton that humiliated my father at his most vulnerable moment and caused him to live in shame for the rest of his life. I will make them remember that moment and then regret it until the day they die. They will know the error of their ways and they will know it by my hand. And if I am given a gentleman like you to help me then I suppose I have no choice but to take it.”
“A gentleman like me? Why on earth do you think I will assist you with any of this nonsense?”
“Because you have reason to invest in my ambitions,” she stated. “You are a bastard, after all.”
***
You are a bastard, after all.
The words rang through Austin’s head like a gong. Every bone in his body went rigid, his heart instantly banging against his chest at a rapid pace. Emotions he could hardly contain raced through his body—horror, surprise, rage.
He settled on the rage. That was easy. That was something he was used to.
Austin pulled away from her and then caught Miss Lavender’s elbow. She gasped in alarm—or perhaps pain—but it didn’t stop him from dragging her off the path behind a large willow tree.
