Well, for once, Lavinia was glad for the aspects of her personality that seemed to turn gentlemen away from her. For once, they had served her well. What did she want to associate with someone likehimfor? He seemed positively dreadful, and the accusations he had made were deeply unkind. As if she would ever try to trickanyoneinto marrying her—much less someone she didn’t even know!
“Lavinia, this is Lord Ocherton,” her father said the next morning after breakfast.
The gentleman beside him smiled and bowed to Lavinia. He seemed friendly enough, she thought, though he was at least ten years older than she was. It was obvious what her father was doing—trying to play matchmaker. Though Lavinia had nothing against Lord Ocherton, it was impossible to imagine ever falling in love with him.
She didn’t want to be impolite, so she smiled back. “A pleasure to meet you, my lord.”
“Lord Ocherton has suggested that the two of you take a walk in the garden today,” her father said. “Your sister can accompany you as your chaperone.”
“All right, Father.” Lavinia wished she could see some way out of it. She had a feeling she knew what would happen. It would be the same as what always happened when she spent time with a gentleman with her sister as chaperone. Edwina never tried deliberately to outshine her, but she couldn’t seem to help it. Lord Ocherton would no doubt be so taken with Edwina that he would be ignoring Lavinia within minutes.
Not that it mattered. Lavinia wasn’t interested in him either, and as far as she was concerned, he could do whatever he liked. Still,it would not be enjoyable to spend the day with a gentleman who was expressing a clear preference for someone else—especially when that person was her own sister.
Still, she knew she had to accept her father’s designs for her. If she tried to fight back, he would only push that much harder, and it would make it all but impossible for her to find any time to herself. And if she was going to manage to find herself a match in the next twelve days—no, eleven days, she had only eleven days left now—she would need to control as much of her own time as she possibly could. Ultimately, that would be better accomplished through cooperating with her father than by fighting with him.
Lord Ocherton smiled. “I’ll come and collect you in an hour,” he said.
“I’ll look forward to it, Lord Ocherton,” Lavinia managed.
When he had walked away, her father looked at her disapprovingly. “That’s the sort of thing you ought to be able to arrange for yourself,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to do it for you.”
Lavinia wanted to tell him that she might have managed it for herself if he had given her the chance, but she knew what his response would be. He would tell her that she had had a year to find herself a match, a year in which he had not interfered, and now it was too late. He would tell her there was a perfectly good reason she couldn’t be trusted to manage her own affairs. And for all she knew, he was right.
He walked off, leaving her alone. Lavinia wondered whether it would do her any good to go and find the library. Perhaps she could claim she had gotten lost in a book. If she played her hand well, she might be able to get away with hiding up there all day.
“Lady Lavinia?”
She looked up. It was the duke. “Good morning, Your Grace.”
“I saw you speaking to Lord Ocherton,” he said. “Already trying to ensnare another man?”
His lips twitched, and she thought he might be joking, but it wasn’t funny. “Excuse me,” she said, and turned away from him.
“Hold on,” he objected. “Don’t walk away from me.”
“My father made me talk to him,” Lavinia said.
“Yes, you mentioned that your father wanted you to make a match during this party. So he’s the lucky one, is he?”
“I don’t know,” Lavinia said. “I doubt it will be up to me, Your Grace. You ought to know that gentlemen don’t find me very appealing, so it will simply depend on what sort of deal my father is able to make.”
“Gentlemen don’t find you appealing?”
“Youcertainly didn’t,” she said. Then she sighed. “It wasn’t unusual of you. Most gentleman respond to me the way you did.”
“Do you drag them into bushes, too?”
“If this is all you wanted to say to me, perhaps we can consider that it’s already been said.”
“It’s not all,” he said. “I wanted to offer to help you.”
“What?”
“You’re trying to make a match. You say you have trouble getting the interest of gentlemen. Well, I know what gentlemen want, and I also know which are the most eligible at this party. I can help you. If a match can be made in two weeks’ time, I can help you make it.”
She stared at him. “Why would you do that? You don’t even like me.”
“I don’t dislike you.”
