He cleared his throat. “I still think you need to be a bit tougher. You need to promise me that you’ll be capable of hearing criticism without walking away.”
“I can do that,” Lavinia said. Her pulse felt uneven. She thought she might have agreed to anything he asked of her in that moment.
“Good,” the duke told her. “And in exchange, I can promise you that I won’t be as harsh with you in the future.”
“So…can we begin again?” she asked him.
“You’re saying that you’d still like to have my help?”
“I’m saying I think I need it. I don’t know if I have a chance at finding the future I want if someone doesn’t help me, and you are the only person who’s offered.”
He nodded. “Then shall we say the usual time and place?”
“I think that would be good, yes.”
“Your Grace,” Edwina interrupted, stepping forward. “I want to be sure that you’re dealing with my sister kindly.”
“Do you, Lady Edwina?” The duke raised his eyebrows at her. “And how much of all this are you aware of?”
“She knows everything,” Lavinia told him. “I told her all about it.”
“Do you think that was wise?”
“I do, as a matter of fact,” she said evenly. “My sister can be trusted with all my secrets. If I can’t trust her, there’s no one in the world I can trust.”
The duke nodded. “I suppose it’s too late to take the information back if you’re wrong,” he said. “Does anyone else know?”
“No one,” she assured him. “I know how much it matters to you to keep this a secret. You wouldn’t want anyone to find out you had been meeting with me.”
“I wouldn’t want anyone to find out I had been meeting with any lady,” he clarified. “It’s not because it’s you, Lady Lavinia.”
She appreciated that clarification. It made her feel a bit odd that he had realized she would need to hear it, that it would matter to her that he treated her no differently than anyone else. There were so many gentlemen at this party who thought of her as someone to be avoided because of how awkward she was with them.
Things might be complicated and somewhat unpleasant between the duke and herself, but at least he didn’t look at her in that way. It made it easier to think of voluntarily spending time in his company.
“I’ll see you later this evening, then,” she said.
But she lingered for a moment before walking away, a part of her wondering whether he might ask her not to go. Was there any possibility of them spending time together during daylight hours? If there was anything that would improve her social standing more than being seen in the presence of a duke, she couldn’t think what it was.
And there was something more than that, too. Despite the unpleasant tension that had existed between them, she found she didn’twantto walk away. She wanted to stay with him. As exasperating as he was, she felt more alive in his company than she did with almost anyone else.
But she could find no excuse to stay, and he didn’t ask her to, so after a few moments, Lavinia turned and walked away.
CHAPTER 16
That evening at dinner, Seth positioned himself carefully across the table from Lady Lavinia.
He was interested to see how she would handle the meal—would she take the lessons he’d already given her under advisement? Would she use this time to practice engaging the interest of the gentlemen around her? He hoped she would, and he knew that watching her would give him the opportunity to know how to assist her better when they met again that evening.
Time was growing short, and he felt determined to achieve what he had set out to do for her—if only to prove to himself that he was capable of it.
Tonight she had been seated beside a gentleman he didn’t know, and he leaned over to his mother and spoke quietly into her ear. “Who is that gentleman? The one seated across from you—do you know his name?”
She looked up from her dinner. “I don’t know him well,” she said. “That’s Lord Routhecamp. He’s new to London.”
“Where did he come from?”
“Italy, I believe. My understanding is that he was born here, but his parents took him to Rome when he was quite young, and he was educated there. He’s returned now because his father, the late Marquess of Routhecamp, has died, and Lord Routhecamp is inheriting the title. They say he’s looking to marry at the end of the season.”
