Page 37 of Lavender’s Lost Duke

Samuel, who had already begun his retreat from the garden, called over his shoulder, “The day I need someone to push me in a swing will be the day I’m dead.”

They both laughed as he walked further away.

“Would you like a push instead?” Thomas asked Lady Lavender.

“Yes, I believe I would.” She settled herself comfortably onto the swing facing Thomas, her back to Samuel.

Thomas looked over her shoulder where Samuel was trying to tell him something by holding his stomach and acting as if he’d been sick. Thomas couldn’t puzzle out the meaning. He shook his head and looked back at Lady Lavender.

“What brought you home from the ball so early? It was Lord Chilcott’s ball, was it not?” To be quite honest, he was thrilled with the prospect of her leaving the baron’s ball early. The less time she spent with him, the better.

“I . . .” she took a deep breath, “Well, I escaped to the library.”

Thomas felt his eyebrows lift on his forehead. He hadn’t expected that. “And is it a library you would approve of?”

Lady Lavender chuckled a little. “For a home in London, it would do. I would expect the library at his county seat to be far larger.”

“You’re probably correct.” At least, Thomas’s library in Kent was far larger than the collection of books he kept in his own London residence. He hadn’t been in Lord Chilcott’s library, but he suddenly wanted to know the dimensions of it and how many books it boasted. Then Thomas would double it for his own home. “So, has his impressive library changed your mind about the baron?”

Lady Lavender shuddered. “Definitely not.”

Thomas itched to know the cause of her discomfort. “And why is that?”

She was quiet for the space of three swings. “When he is close to me, it makes me feel like spiders have taken up residence on my skin.”

“And why was he close to you tonight?” Thomas ground out. He knew it was a ball, it was likely that they were just dancing together, but something deep within him hated the idea.

“It was Lord Chilcott who found me in the library,” Lady Lavender admitted.

Thomas stopped pushing the swing. “And he was too close to you?”

Lady Lavender’s shoulders drooped. “Well, we were the only two in the room. When I tried to leave—”

“I’m going to wring his neck,” Thomas muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. When you tried to leave . . . what happened?” He tried his best to keep his voice level—concerned but not upset.

“He just kept touching me. My arm, my back. Nothing overtly inappropriate, but I still wanted to leave as soon as possible. So I ran and told Miriam I was sick.”

Thomas was sick himself just imagining the scene. When he had the ability to face his cousin again, it seemed like he’d be right back to his old habits. A round of fisticuffs might assuage a portion of his anger at the moment.

It had been a wise move of hers to claim she was sick. So that was what Samuel had been trying to communicate to Thomas with his gestures before he left. “How did you come to find yourself in the library?”

She shook her head side to side. “I needed some space to clear my head.”

Thomas slowly stopped the swing. “That’s not the whole of it.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “No, it’s not.” She blinked back her emotion. “I thought I had been making friends this Season, but I feel like I am letting people down. Miss Dalrymple made that perfectly clear tonight.”

Thomas didn’t have many friends, so he didn’t feel like he was the best person to offer advice. “I’m sorry you feel that way. Only, I don’t believe that’s how friendship works.” He thought about Jack and how the boy had accepted him with all his insufficiencies, and about Samuel with complete trust in him even though everyone else seemed to think he was guilty. “Mind you, I’m not an expert at the concept.” Only weeks ago, he’d been surrounded by so called friends. But he highly doubted any of them were worried over his missing status. They might be curious, perhaps even a little bored without some of his antics when he was in his cups, but not concerned.

He felt differently about Jack. Even with his hands bandaged and hurting, Jack would help Thomas if he needed it, he was certain of that. Any time Thomas felt his load becoming too heavy, Jack would make some ridiculous comment about an animal or a fish that didn’t make a lick of sense, and it would make Thomas smile. The work didn’t seem so terrible after that. And Samuel would likely face all of parliament to stand beside Thomas.

Perhaps he did have good friends after all.

Thomas blinked to clear the stinging at the back of his eyes. “Who do you feel is a good friend to you?”