“Come,” he called gruffly, a little grateful for the distraction.
He expected it to be Mr. Francis, back to bother him with another annoying decision he had to make as earl. When Lavender slipped into the study instead, Austin almost couldn’t believe his eyes.
She didn’t look at him first. Her eyes ran around the room, drinking in every inch of his study. Austin felt a tremor of anxiousness as she took everything in. The study was the last room to be renovated since he’d needed a place where he could disappear from everything else while the repairs were underway. He hadn’t expected to have anyone else in here but him.
What did she think of this place? Was she judging him for letting it get this bad?
Austin didn’t say anything, watching as she made her way to the center of the room. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until she turned to him with no judgment in her eyes.
“I see why you spend so much time in here,” she said. “I would too, but with perhaps a book or two.”
Austin leaned back in his chair, relief flooding him like a tidal wave. He didn’t like the feeling. He hadn’t cared about what others thought of him before so what did her opinion matter?
“I am not a lover of books,” he told her. “I much prefer drinking and brooding.”
“That does not surprise me in the slightest.” She wandered closer, sinking into the chair across from his desk. A smile was playing around her lips. She looked well put together as usual, no different from the daughters and wives of wealthy lords. Her hair, however, had been left down around her shoulders in natural waves. It made her face look softer, her eyes rounder, her lips fuller. Or had she always looked like that?
“What are you doing here, Lavender?” he asked her.
“I am here to pay you a visit.”
“Is it not customary to send word of your visit beforehand?”
“I have never done so before,” she said with a shrug. “Why should I begin now?”
Austin held back his smirk. That was certainly true. “Please tell me you aren’t here to drag me to the park again. I have not recovered from your last two attempts.”
“Successful attempts, I must add.” She didn’t care to hide her smile. It tugged at her cheeks in such full force that her entire face shone like the sun. “But no, that isn’t why I have decided to grace you with my presence on this fine afternoon.”
“The tailor?” Austin asked, a little apprehensive.
“No, no. However, please note that the appointment is already set.”
“Already?” He couldn’t help the scowl that overtook his face. It came as natural to him as breathing but instead of returning the scowl like she usually did, she laughed.
“Yes, but as I said, that isn’t the reason I have come. I was thinking about the garden party and our interaction with Lady Lively.”
Austin searched her face for a moment. He saw no signs of her previous anxiousness. “What about it?”
“As you know, Lady Lively is the epitome of ladylike—”
“I know no such thing.”
Lavender rolled her eyes and folded her arms. “And you, my lord, are nothing of the sort. You are so far from what a proper lord should be that I wonder if you will be helpful or damaging to my plan.”
Austin felt a sharp pang of annoyance at those words. So she hadn’t come here for any other reason that for her own foolish plan.
“I’m sorry to tell you, Lavender,” he said in a tone that implied he wasn’t sorry at all. “But I am who I am. You cannot take the bastard out of the man.”
“That is nonsense and you know it. I have heard many rumours about you, Austin.”
“From your maid.”
She smiled brightly at that and Austin’s scowl grew deeper. “Yes, that is right. And she tells me that you were accepted by your father from birth. You grew along sons of other lords and were given the highest possible education men of your stature can receive. I have no doubt that you have what it takes to become a true and proper earl.”
“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.”
