Page 40 of A Baron's Disguised Lady
“It’s all right. I’m sure they’re enjoying themselves. Is… Miss Stuart still here?” Archie asked, and the butler nodded.
“I believe she’s in the drawing room, My Lord,” he said, and Archie nodded, crossing the hallway to the drawing room.
He was about to enter, when he heard humming, and singing, from inside which caused him to pause. The door was ever so slightly ajar, and Archie stood listening, smiling as he realized it was Lavinia who was singing.
“The flowers do bloom, to banish the gloom… da dee, da dee, da dum,”she sang, and through the partially open door, Archie could see her twirling around the room, her eyes closed, caught up in a dance.
She really was very pretty, and graceful, too. On her own, it seemed Lavinia had no inhibitions, no fear of getting things wrong. She danced effortlessly, albeit alone, and Archie was seized with a sudden desire to join her. His heart skipped a beat, and he opened the door, just as she opened her eyes.
A sudden look of embarrassment came over her face, the blush rising in her cheeks, but now he took hold of her hands, smiling at her as he continued to hum and sing the same tune.
“And so in the moonlight, we dance to the tune like, the blossoming flowers that bloom to banish the gloom,”he sang, remembering the words from a song Gwendolene used to sing.
Lavinia laughed, and as they sang, they twirled and whirled around the drawing room, caught up in the effortless delight of the dance.
“I’m sorry, I was just practicing,” Lavinia said, as their tune came to an end.
“And very good you’ve become at it, too,” he replied, and she laughed.
“I don’t think so. I’ve still got two left feet, or two right feet, or two feet with no direction at all,” she said, and he laughed.
“Well, they seem to match my feet, don’t they?” he said, and Lavinia smiled.
“They do, yes. And I really was very grateful to you for dancing with me at the assembly ball. I don’t know what I’d have done without you,” she said, and Archie blushed.
He had decided not to tell her about Lord Bath’s appearance, knowing it would only upset her. He had every intention of protecting her, had vowed to do so as he had walked back to Sarum Lacey House that afternoon.
“It was pleasure to do so,” he replied.
“Did the doctor tell you anything” she asked, as they sat down in the window, looking out over the gardens.
Archie shook his head.
“He’ll tell us the results of his tests in due course. But it seems he didn’t suspect anything untoward. But I’m more convinced than ever, Lavinia, someone harmed her,” Archie replied, and Lavinia nodded.
He was glad she believed him—that someone believed him. He knew his mother would not want to hear such a claim. It would only upset her. Archie knew she still cried each night for Gwendolene. But her grief was private.
“I am, too. It makes me shudder to think of it. But… the facts are there. Can you think of anyone who would want to harm her?” she asked.
Archie shook his head. He had gone over every name, every possibility he could think of, but still there was no one for whom he could cast the net of suspicions over.
“There’s no one,” he said, sitting back in his chair with a sigh.
Lavinia put her hand on his and smiled.
“You’re doing the right thing, Archie. Your sister would be proud of you,” she said.
She had not called him “Archie” before. Lavinia had spent so long mixing up Lords and Graces that to hear her say his name was a moment of deepening intimacy between them, such as to make him smile back at her.
“I’m sorry if I can sometimes seem… preoccupied. Perhaps I come across as rude. But my grief, well, it consumes me at times,” he said, but Lavinia shook her head.
“Not at all. You’re a good man, Archie. Your kindness reflects that. And you’ve been very kind to me, considering all my many faults,” she said, sighing as she glanced at him with an embarrassed look on her face.
But Archie would not hear of such talk. She had no faults, and it was he who felt guilty for being critical of her previously, of judging the manner in which she used her cutlery or the honest abruptness of her tone.
“What faults? Come now, don’t be foolish. You don’t have any faults,” he replied.
“The likes of Wilhelmina Tipping think I do,” Lavinia replied, but Archie shook his head.
