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“You don’t intend any more of that naughtiness I caught you at earlier,”Miss Weston said with a shake of her finger.
“Delia!” Lavinia exclaimed. “There was no naughtiness. I fell and tripped Mr. Jennings in the process. Completely innocent.”
Miss Weston, however, was looking at Lucas like a cat that had trapped a mouse. “It is as she said, Miss Weston,” he replied as evenly as he could.
“If you say so,” she said again, arching an eyebrow.
He was not going to convince the old woman of anything, so he gave up trying. He took Lavinia by the elbow and led her to the kitchen and away from listening ears.
“You mustn’t put too much stock in Delia’s comments,” she said. “She can be fanciful at times.”
“She has a vivid imagination,” he said. And yet therehadbeen that distinct moment of connection during their mishap that might have been discerned by the woman. “That is not why I want to speak with you though.” He looked her fully in the eye. “Lavinia, I realize I have no right to interfere in your life. But as a bystander who has inadvertently fallen headlong into your affairs and as a gentleman trained from birth to help a lady in need, I would like to offer my assistance—”
“I am not a lady in need, Lucas,” she said, interrupting him. “I have resources, and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and the others.”
“Assistance with temporary lodgings, then, as I was about to say if you had allowed me to finish my sentence.” Regardless of her words to the contrary, shewasin need. “You have unlimited resources, then, do you? The money to lease rooms indefinitely while your farm of two hundred acres is restored and producing once again? The expertise to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible?”
She looked away.
“Lavinia,” he said, gentling his tone. “You pressed me into service when you leapt upon me and called me husband. Do not refuse my help now when I offer it freely to you and your friends. Listen for a moment. I have a solution to the immediate problem of lodging—at the very least a temporary solution that will give you the time you need to make further plans.”
She studied him intently, her expression a blend of curiosity and skepticism. But she hadn’t silenced him, so he continued. “Primrose Farm is notfar from my ancestral home, where I was intending to go before chancebrought the two of us together, as you already know. In fact, we are at leastas close to Alderwood in the south as we are to Sleaford in the north. Weshould be able to make it there within an hour or two. It is also in the direction Grimes already wants to travel on his return to London, heading south back to Stamford. He will not have to double back to the north and then south following the way we came, wasting his time and your money puttingin extra miles. It works best for everyone.”
“Everyone except your family, who are not expecting us,” she countered. “We cannot simply show up there and expect a place to stay. We would be a huge imposition.”
Alderwood wasn’t the largest of estates and didn’t have the most expansive manor house. And if all of Lucas’s siblings and their families had gathered for his return, there would be little spare room available. There was no way to know. Regardless, he couldn’t abandon Lavinia in an unfamiliar part of the country with only Miss Broome to assist her in herding Miss Weston and Mr. Drake about while she commenced restoring her farm.
“My family will be delighted to receive you all,” he assured her, hoping it wasn’t an outright lie. “Besides, my father is a landowner with connections throughout the county. Mr. Finch, his steward, has been with the family for years. I’m completely confident they would be willing to help, and their expertise will be invaluable as you make your plans.”
She heaved a sigh. “Accompanying you to Alderwood is not what I would prefer to do, and yet I will concede that your reasoning is sound. As regarding the state of Primrose Farm, I admit I am out of my depths. Very well. We shall accompany you to Alderwood—for a brief stay, and only if I can see for myself that it is no imposition.”
“Excellent.” Lucas was surprisingly relieved that she’d agreed to his suggestion, not realizing until that moment he hadn’t been looking forward to bidding her, or her friends, farewell.
“But, Lucas, I can’t arrive at Alderwood looking like this. My dress is covered in dust and filth of a sort I don’t wish to analyze too closely. My hair’s a fright—”
“It appears we are both in need of some freshening up.” He glanced at her traveling gown and then his own clothes. “I propose we continue south and take a room when we reach the town of Bourne so we can all make ourselves more presentable. How would that make you feel?”
“Better, thank you. If you’re sure we won’t be a bother . . .”
He belatedly wondered what effect Lavinia’s arrival at Alderwood might have on his family. He was certain his newfound friends were actors, although he had yet to confront Lavinia about it. Bringing actors—who, in general, were considered to be of questionable morals and low social standing—as guests to his family home was highly scandalous. His parents were good, piouspeople, as was his brother Isaac, the vicar, and most of his other siblings aswell.
It was too late now. His heart and good intentions had once again leapt before he’d thought through all the ramifications. But he couldn’t be any sorrier now than he’d been when he’d stayed behind with a badly wounded Anthony in Badajoz after the bitter siege there had ended. His new friends’ theatrical past would simply have to stay hidden.
“It’s settled, then,” he said. “Let’s return to the others and inform them of the plan.”
* * *
Lavinia spent the time they rode toward Bourne contemplating her farm, her finances, and her fellow travelers, and she came to the dispiriting conclusion that she’d been reckless. She’d been so intent on leaving Drury Lane and her life as Ruby Chadwick behind that she’d neglected significant matters that should have been obvious and had put her friends in a vulnerable position.
She twisted the ruby ring on her finger, the ring that never left her finger in public. Oh, but she wished the ring and its matching necklace and earbobs were made of real rubies rather than paste. She would sell them in a heartbeat. She had absolutely no idea what the costs of restoring Primrose Farm would be. It could potentially deplete most, if not all, of her savings.
They secured a room in Bourne, and she and Delia freshened up, withLavinia taking extra care to make sure her appearance was demure and untheatrical. “The lord and lady won’t have any interest in me,” Hannah said, insisting on using the hour they were there to assist Lavinia and Delia with theirdressing and grooming. “I look like a servant because that is what I am.”
All too soon, they were back in the coach and on their way to Alderwood, where she would be introduced to Lucas’s parents, the Viscount and Viscountess Thurlby.
“I shall tell these people I am your long-lost grandmama,” Delia proclaimed. She’d long since recovered from her fainting spell at the farmhouse and had donned a light gray gown, her fluffy white hair twisted as best as possible into a topknot. She looked, as she always did, like someone’s fairy godmother. “You’re already like a grandchild to me, Livvy dear, if I’d ever had children who could give them to me. I shall say you and I were reunited in London after the death of your poor papa.”
“And I shall be your father’s loyal valet, who stayed by to protect you and the other ladies with my presence,” Artie added. “I play the faithful servant very convincingly, I believe.”
