“Lord Derby,” Lord Pemberton greeted. “I am surprised to see you here.”
“Lord Pemberton,” Austin responded. “As am I, in truth.”
Lavender dug her fingers into his arm. “My lord,” she greeted the host with a curtsy, putting on that sickly sweet voice she never used with Austin. “Thank you for your invitation. I have heard many things about your events so I am happy to be given the chance to experience it for myself.”
Lord Pemberton’s smile was a little more pleasant for Miss Lavender. “I am happy to have you here. Won’t your brother be in attendance as well?”
“He had an important meeting to attend to, unfortunately. But I did not want for chaperones, you see.”
“Yes, I do see.” Lord Pemberton returned his attention to Austin, barely concealing his distaste. “I did not think that you two were acquainted.”
“Do you know each other well?” Miss Lavender asked.
“Well enough,” Austin said with a small smirk. “Say, my lord, would you care for another game of whist this afternoon?”
“I have other guests to attend to, I’m afraid,” he pushed through gritted teeth. “But perhaps another time.”
With that, he walked off. Austin chuckled to himself.
“What was that about?” the lady on his arm asked. He couldn’t help but notice how perfectly she fit there. And she smelled wonderful, as usual
“Lord Pemberton and I do not like each other,” Austin explained. “No, actually, he does not like me. I do not care about him.”
“You seem to take much pleasure out of riling him though.” She sighed softly as they made their way deeper into the party. Austin didn’t miss the fact that everyone seemed to be staring at them. “It seems we are already off to a bad start.”
“He did not kick us out. That is good enough, given his penchant for doing such things.”
“Did he kick you out of his party before?” she asked with a small gasp.
“Let’s just say that he is not very fond of being called a cheater.”
Miss Lavender shook her head. “I do not know what surprises me more. The fact that you are not already making thisafternoon difficult for me or the fact that you had attended a party before, given your hatred for the ton.”
“I am a complex man, Miss Lavender.”
“Lavender,” she said. They stopped by the refreshments table and she picked up two glasses of lemonade, handing him one.
“Pardon?”
“Call me Lavender. I have been thinking about it and I think it will help if we refer to each other more familiarly. So call me Lavender and I shall call you Austin. How does that sound?”
“Not ideal.”
“Lovely. Now put a smile on your face. Lady Lively is looking at us.”
Austin began looking around to see for himself but Lavender tugged on his arm. “Don’t look! We don’t want too much of her attention, remember?”
“I remember,” he grumbled. “Though that does not make any sense to me.”
Lavender sighed, sipping her lemonade. “You do not have to understand it. Just go along with what I say and everything will go well.”
He said nothing, studying the way her eyes skimmed over the garden, barely brushing over Lady Lively. It didn’t make any sense. The countess she wanted to impress was right there and yet she wanted to ignore her? This was really important to her, it seemed. More important than he’d believed at first. This silly little quest to make it to the top of the upper class couldn’t possibly be enough to make her this fearful.
But why? Because of her father? That couldn’t be it.
He was tempted to question her about it again, even though he doubted she would give him a proper answer, but his chance disappeared when they were approached by two ladies. They greeted Lavender as if they’d known her forever and it didn’t take him very long to realize that they were all friends.
To his relief, Lavender didn’t seem very inclined to make him speak. She was clearly avoiding another situation like yesterday. So she took charge of every conversation they engaged in, all the while wearing that perfect mask that made her the spitting imageof every other lady he’d ever seen. The woman who had been slumped in a couch groaning about how her plan was over had disappeared. The same woman who he’d found with ink all over her hands as she pored over the details of this plan was gone.
