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Chapter 12
Lavinia entered the parlor the next day in higher spirits than before. The dinner last night was lively, and she seemed to have replenished her strength after the soul-sucking conversation with Kensington. If she could just avoid him and Caroline for the rest of the house party, and if she were able to corner Mr. Townsend and have an actual conversation with him, then perhaps the time spent here would not be in vain.
Lucky for her, neither Kensington nor Caroline was in the room. Unlucky for her, Mr. Townsend was absent, too. And so was Lord Roth.
Why was she looking for Lord Roth? She shook herself and headed toward Annalise.
“Well, how was your evening, darling?” Annalise asked as she saw her. “I saw you sit close to Marcus at dinner. Your entire side of the table was engulfed in an animated discussion. Did you have a chance to converse with him at all?”
Lavinia stretched her mouth into a smile. “We did converse, but not a lot, because he and Lord Roth were discussing art most of the night.”
“Oh.” Annalise looked at her strangely. “I thought it was rather kind of Lord Roth to escort you into dinner.”
“Yes, well, he only did that because his aunt insisted upon it. He has no interest in me at all.” Brows drew over Lavinia’s face. Why did she care? “Neither does Mr. Townsend,” she hastened to add. “I am afraid I am still no closer to getting a proposal out of him than I was before the house party. And time is running out.”
“Well.” Annalise pursed her lips. “There is always an option of—not that I am endorsing it—but something to think about, perhaps…” Annalise put a hand to her stomach and breathed out as if she had a hard time getting out words.
“Annalise? Are you feeling unwell?” Lavinia placed a hand on top of her friend’s arm.
Annalise chuckled. “No. I am just trying to say that perhaps being caught in a compromising position might expedite things.”
It took a couple of moments for Lavinia to fully understand the meaning of her friend’s words. And when she did, she didn’t believe she’d heard her right. “Are you honestly suggesting this?”
“Well, not right away.” Annalise swept a strand of hair away from her face. “But after spending a few evenings talking and sitting side by side during dinner, this would be a perfect way to speed things up. I thought that’s what you meant when you said you needed lax chaperoning during the house party.”
That wasn’t exactly what Lavinia meant, but the crux of it was, she needed to seduce Mr. Townsend if she wanted to marry him. And she needed to do it fast. Except she didn’t know the first thing about seduction.
Lavinia’s eyes drifted across the room in despair, as if hoping that the answer to all her earthly problems would materialize itself right in front of her if she just looked for it hard enough.
Then her eyes fell upon Victoria. She stood by the column in one corner of the room, talking to… a fern? Lavinia looked around but didn’t see anyone paying Victoria any heed. She turned toward Annalise. “I’ll let you rest now. But let us talk about this later? Hopefully, when I have come to some sort of decision about what to do next.”
With a swift smile at Annalise, Lavinia walked toward Victoria.
Lavinia craned her neck and noticed a shadow disappearing behind the column.
“Who are you talking to?”
Victoria jumped as she turned around, her hand on her chest. “Oh, my! You frightened me,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“Apologies. I did not mean to startle you. You seemed in a deep conversation with a… fern?”
Victoria blinked and looked back at the place a gentleman—for it must have been a gentleman—had just occupied. “No, of course not. I was just… rehearsing a-a speech.”
“About?”
Victoria shifted uncomfortably, then clasped her hands together. “I a—well, you know that English is not my native language. I have to practice.” She fidgeted and refused to meet Lavinia’s eyes as she blushed.
“If you intend to keep your relationship with a… fern a secret, I propose that you practice the lies you are to tell people. It is not my business, surely. But I assume it is not me from whom you intend to keep your… er… friendship?”
Victoria nodded demurely. “My uncle can be a little obnoxious when it comes to gentlemen.” Ah, the infamous Marquess of Roth, standing in the way of all relationships, it seemed. “And before I tell my uncle about this… um… friendship, yes, I want to be certain of the gentleman’s feelings and that of my own. Before my uncle has a chance to frighten him away, that is.”
Lavinia let out a chuckle. “Is he very stern then, your uncle?”
“Oh, no, he is very kind. He is the one who raised me most of my life. But… he doesn’t trust gentlemen in England.”
Lavinia scoffed. “Are the men on the Continent much more upstanding, then?” Considering his own behavior, Lavinia doubted it very much.
Victoria made a barely discernible shrug. “I wouldn’t know. He is very protective of me. And he didn’t let me socialize with gentlemen there.”
