Page 71 of Lavender’s Lost Duke

She shook her head. “No.” She smiled. “But maybe it’s to finish the mountain of food that Her Grace has decided to set before herself.” She giggled and turned back down the path.

Thomas shook his head as he walked over to the pump. He washed as quickly as he could and then used one of cook’s towels to dry himself once he stepped inside the back kitchen door. The moment settled over him. To believe that a few months ago he would have considered it degrading to enter through the kitchens—now it was the most natural thing in the world. It was no wonder the butler had looked at him as if he’d grown an extra limb when he’d asked for work at the front door. He bit back a smile.

Mrs. Bitters shook her head at him. “Keep that smile hidden when you’re in the breakfast room, we don’t want anyone in there swooning.”

Thomas put a hand to his heart. “Mrs. Bitters, I’ve not seen you swoon once yet although I’ve done my level best to accomplish the feat. What makes you think something will be different in there?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Lady Lavender is in there. And you best hurry up. I don’t know what bee is in Her Grace’s bonnet this morning, but something is not as it seems. Her plate has enough food on it to feed five men.”

Lady Lavender was there? He looked down at his dirty shirt. “Ought I change into my livery?”

She shook her head. “No, the ladies are in a bit of a rush . . . supposedly. They requested you immediately.”

He dipped his head. This might very well be the last he saw of Lady Lavender, and he looked like he’d been rolling around in the mud like a pig. Fitting. He was more out of breath walking to the breakfast room than he had been all morning sweating and laboring in the earth. He wiped his forehead with the back of his arm before he entered the room with his head down.

“Oh, Tom, lovely to see you,” Miriam said. “You’ve been busy this morning.” She smiled at seeing the state of him. “Would you please ready yourself to escort us all to Lord Chilcott’s townhouse?”

Thomas fisted his hands at his side. Why would she want him to go straight to the home of the person who wanted to have him sent to the gallows? He allowed his eyes to raise enough to see the other ladies. Lady Lavender was looking studiously into her teacup, but the duchess and the dowager were looking at him as if he were an insect beneath a magnifying glass. “I’m afraid it might take me some time to present myself.”

Miriam scrunched her nose. “Yes, what have you been doing?”

“Working in the gardens, Your Grace,” Thomas said as he looked at her plate spilling over with food. “But I might be able to manage cleaning up before you’ve finished your breakfast.”

Lady Lavender coughed, but Thomas knew it was from her trying to hold back a laugh.

Miriam, however, was unphased. “I’ll race you, Tom. And have Jack prepare himself as well.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” Thomas bowed himself from the room.

Thomas had planned to leave today, but there was no way he was sending Lady Lavender to Lord Chilcott’s home without him. All sorts of unspeakable things could happen there. The man could propose for all he knew.

Tom found Jack in the stable, sitting on a barrel and laughing at something the stablemaster had said. “We’re needed in our livery, Jack.”

Jack bit back a smile. “For all the pig’s mittens. That’s going to be a near impossible task by the looks of you.” He jumped down and circled Thomas like he was an animal on display.

Thomas shook his head. “I’m going to wash. I’ll meet you as soon as I’m done.” He headed to the back of the house once again.

Jack followed at his heels like a puppy. “What is our task?”

“We are needed to accompany Her Grace, the dowager, and Lady Lavender to Lord Chilcott’s home,” Thomas ground out through clenched teeth.

“You can’t go there. It’s a death wish,” Jack said as he reached out and held fast to Thomas’s shoulder.

“I don’t rightly care that it is. I’m not having her go without me.”

Jack let go of his shoulder, his young, freckled face in deep thought. “I can keep the attention from you. Don’t you worry, I could randomly break out in song at any time.”

A lump formed in Thomas’s throat. If only Jack could keep him from worrying—but the opposite was true—Thomas would worry over the young man as well. “Thank you, Jack.”

The pair of them were dressed in their maroon and gold livery and stationed at the waiting carriage a quarter of an hour before the ladies of the house stepped outside. Miriam was a little pale but wore a smile as if today was the first time she’d been given sunshine. Jack helped the dowager and Lady Lavender into the conveyance, and Thomas took Miriam’s hand. “Are you well, Your Grace?”

She put her gloved fingers over her lips and swallowed. “I did my best to give Lavender time to change her mind about this, but I fear my plan was not sufficient. She still intends to—” she looked sideways at Thomas. “Well, she intends to do something abominably stupid.”

“How can I help?”

“You can’t. Not while we are there; you are entering into the lion’s den. But listening might give you some insight on how to win your lady later. It might not seem like it, but I am cheering for you and Lady Lavender to find a way through this mess.” The duchess situated herself in the carriage, and Jack and Thomas hopped on the back.

Miriam’s assertion that there was nothing he could do while at Chilcott’s home didn’t sit right with Thomas. He knew that the situation was precarious, but if anything untoward happened while they were there, he intended to intervene, no matter the consequences. He was tired of hiding and running from his cousin.