“I tried to choose a place where we would be able to meet safely,” she said.
“And I think you did well,” he assured her. “Even so, we shouldn’t take any chances. Someone might come along at any time.”
Lavinia nodded, knowing that he was right. He had done more than enough by coming out here to meet her in the first place—there had been nothing compelling him to do that. “All right,” she agreed. “This evening, then.”
“And don’t be late,” he reminded her.
Lavinia sighed. “I was only five minutes late.”
“There’s no reason for you to be one minute late. Leave your room earlier this time and we’ll avoid that problem.”
“Are you ever going to stop bossing me around?”
“If you ever stop needing it, I will,” he said. “Don’t forget the reason we’re doing this—it’s because you’re not ready to face the difficulties of charming a gentleman without help. You might not enjoy my instructions very much, but you do need them. Unless you want to storm away from me again?”
Lavinia shook her head. She didn’t want that. She would just have to try to find a way to put up with how domineering he could be.
And after all, she wouldn’t be putting up with it for long. Only for the next few days—for the remainder of this party. Once the party reached an end, whether Lavinia had found love or not, her time of studying under the duke would be at an end, and she would never have any occasion to listen to his thoughts or his advice again.
It wouldn’t matter how harshly he liked to speak to her when that day came, because his days of speaking to her would be at an end. Given how frustrating she found him, that should have been a comforting thought—at least this would all be over soon—but it wasn’t comforting at all. Instead, she found herself feeling prematurely sad at the idea of saying goodbye to him. Even though he annoyed her, it was a sort of annoyance that shethought she might miss when it was gone. That was a funny idea, but she couldn’t pretend it wasn’t true, even if she had no idea how to account for the way she was feeling.
It could only be due to the fact that no one had ever treated her with dignity before now. No one had ever looked at her as someone with potential. And although it was difficult to accept the way he ordered her around, she still felt grateful for the fact that he saw anything in her at all. It still felt like more than she would have dared to hope for.
She would be on time for their meeting tonight. At the end of the day, it wasn’t such an unreasonable thing to request. Itwasmore polite not to keep him waiting, and she didn’t want to seem ungrateful.
And though it was difficult to admit it, she knew that it might even be necessary to concede that he had been right to come between her and Lord Routhecamp.
He thinks I can do better. That was what he had said.
Lavinia wasn’t sure he was right about that, but she was sure of one thing—it was incredibly flattering that he thought so. And she believed that he meant what he’d said. As frustrating as he was, she didn’t think he had lied to her once, and that was what made her want to go on trusting him with this project.
CHAPTER 18
“You need to be careful,” Edwina said firmly.
Lavinia raised her eyebrows. “There’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “And you didn’t have to wait up with me, Edwina.”
“I know you’re going to the library to meet him again tonight. Of course I was going to stay up to talk to you about it. Someone needs to talk to you about what you’re doing.”
“And what of that? I thought you thought it was a good idea.”
“I do think so,” Edwina said. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I want you to go, and I think you’ll be glad you did—ifyou’re careful. I just hope you’re being careful. That’s really all I’m saying.”
“Well, the duke isn’t going to do anything to harm me,” Lavinia said. “He and I have clashed over many things, but I do trust himnot to have any ungentlemanly intentions. He isn’t that kind of man.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Edwina said. “I’m more worried that it will become widely known that you’ve been spending as much time as you have with him.”
“I don’t understand,” Lavinia admitted. “If you’re so concerned about this, why did you encourage me to approach him and ask him for help again?”
“Because I could see that it was what you wanted,” Edwina said. “And I do think it’s a good idea, as long as you aren’t caught. If youarecaught, though, I can’t see things going very well for you. To begin with, Father would lose his mind to hear of you spending time with a gentleman in the dead of night.”
“He isn’t going to hear of it,” Lavinia said. “You’re not going to tell him, surely?”
“You shouldn’t even have to ask me that question. Of course I’m not going to tell him. But what if someone else finds out about this? I mean, anyone else. They won’t have any hesitations about letting Father know what’s going on, and you know what his response will be. He’ll say that he made a mistake in giving you the freedom to try to find your own match.
“He’ll say that this is what comes of allowing you too much control over what you do. He’ll force you into a marriage at once, just to make sure that nothing scandalous happens.” She sighed.
“To tell you the truth, Lavinia, I’m not sure I would even be able to disagree with that decision. If you’re caught meeting with the Duke of Loxburgh late at night like this, people are going to assume all sorts of unfavorable things about you, and you’ll be lucky to findanyonewho is willing to marry you.”
