Page 54 of Lavender’s Lost Duke

Miriam clapped her hands. “I, for one, am tired of the whole thing. Let’s divert our attention to something more amusing, shall we?”

“Certainly,” Lord Chilcott answered. “Do you care for a game of whist?”

Lavender forced herself to engage in the conversation. “That sounds fun. Lord Chilcott, would you be embarrassed to have me as your partner? I’m afraid that although I do enjoy playing, I am not particularly skilled.”

“I would partner you any time, my lady.”

Lavender hadn’t meant for her words to come out quite so forward, but she’d achieved her purpose of turning the baron’s attention to herself.

They arranged themselves around the table, and after a couple games, Samuel stood and stretched his back. “I’m afraid I need to excuse myself for a moment. I’ll return shortly.”

Lavender gathered the cards before her and shuffled them together. “Would you like to try to build a card tower?”

Miriam stood and smiled at the two of them. “I believe I am going to take a note from my mother-in-law and rest my eyes for a moment. Daniel was up half the night with a stomachache.” She walked across the room and sunk into a stuffed chair close to the fire.

Lord Chilcott leaned closer to Lavender. “How kind of them to give us a few moments of privacy.” He winked at her.

Lavender felt heat rush to her cheeks. This was the plan all along, but her playacting was not as practiced as the dowager’s. Speaking with Lord Chilcott about topics of a sensitive nature was not easy for her. “As much privacy as one can pretend with someone else in the room listening in.”

“I heard that,” Miriam said from across the room. “My eyes may be closed, but I am nothing if not a diligent chaperone for my dear friend.”

Lord Chilcott laughed. “Touché.” He dropped his voice a little lower. “I fear we left each other at odds the last time I saw you.”

He was referring to their search of the lost duke’s estate, and he was correct. “All is forgiven, my lord.”

“I hope you understand my desire for our opinions on the matter of Fenleigh to be aligned.”

“You might need to explain. I have never met the man. I have no qualms against him. You, however, must have some significant history with him to be so set on defaming his name.”

Lord Chilcott’s face slowly turned a mottled red. “The history between Fenleigh and myself is quite complicated.”

“Naturally,” Lavender agreed as she tried to balance two cards against each other on the table. “I wouldn’t presume you would choose to make someone’s life miserable without a good reason to. But I do not understand it in the least. What are your arguments against him?” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “I am of a logical mind, my lord. If I am to be convinced, I need to understand the details of your relationship. It is against my nature to judge someone based on rumor alone.”

“I should have guessed as much, with all the books you hoard.”

Lavender smiled. “My sister, Bluebell, believes I hoard books like a dragon hoards gold.”

He reached a hand across the table between them and squeezed her fingers. “I hope you might understand, then, why I have at times been stupid enough to lie to you. I wanted only to improve your opinion of me that day at Gunter’s Tea Shop. I fear the opposite was accomplished.”

She only nodded her agreement. “But you can be honest with me now. Why is it you hate the lost duke so much?”

“He has everything I want,” Lord Chilcott answered simply.

“Oh, and what is that, precisely?” Lavender encouraged him.

He let go of her hand and leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh. “Fenleigh and I are cousins. Yet, he can get away with anything he wants, and the entire populace would sing his praises. I have no such luxury.”

Lavender stifled a smile. “Certainly you know that is not true. The Duke of Fenleigh doesn’t have half as many friends as you do. I might not have been here, but I’ve heard what they all say about him. He keeps mostly to himself, and he has a propensity for drinking. But other than that, the man seems unaccountably less presumptuous than almost any other peer I know of.”

She could see the confusion cross Lord Chilcott’s face. He was likely trying to sort out if she had handed him a compliment or if she was challenging his relationship with the lost duke.

“Does his lack of friends not speak volumes? A person of high standing and a good reputation ought to have people flocking around him.” Lord Chilcott began trying to balance his own cards together.

“Do you believe that I am not of high standing or of a good reputation?”

Lord Chilcott shook his head, and an annoyed look crossed his face. “You know I didn’t mean that.”

“I do not have friends flocking around me, and yet, I fit quite nicely into the box you have painted the lost duke into. What is the difference?” As confrontational as their conversation was turning out to be, it was the first conversation Lavender had actually enjoyed with the baron.