Page 5 of A Baron's Disguised Lady
“You really are very pretty,” he had said, slipping his arm around her, and Lavinia had had no choice but to dance with him.
She had derived some satisfaction from having stepped repeatedly on his feet as they had danced, but it seemed he was determined to win her over, and in the coming weeks, Lord Bath had persisted in his attentions.
“He’s certainly keen,” her mother had said, but Lavinia had detected something more than genuine attraction in Lord Bath’s attitude towards her.
It was as though he found something amusing in pursuing her—the fact of her elevation from maid to lady was something he spoke of repeatedly, and Lavinia could not help but think he found it attractive in an unpleasant way. There were many men of his rank and class who had pursued their own servants in this way, and Lavinia could only imagine the earl would derive a sense of satisfaction in seducing her.
But Lavinia was having none of it. She had resisted Lord Bath’s advances, though had not outrightly rejected them. In return, she feared he had spread rumors about her—her past, and manner of her behavior in her less aristocratic days.
“I just don’t like him, that’s all. There’s something… not quite right about him,” Lavinia replied, and her grandfather shook his head.
“Come now, Lavinia. You shouldn’t judge him until you know him properly. And even then, it doesn’t do to be judgmental. But these rumors… no, it won’t do. The sooner you’re married, the better,” her grandfather replied.
Lavinia shook her head. The rumors were just that—and they were lies. She had never behaved with impropriety as a maid, and since her elevation, she had behaved with total comportment, albeit with some mistakes along the way.
“Lord Bath probably started those rumors,” Lavinia said, and her grandfather furrowed his brow.
“Why would he do that?” he asked, and Lavinia sighed.
“So that he gets what he wants. If rumors are going round about me, he can be the one to apparently rise above them, marrying me “despite” what others say,” she said.
Her grandfather looked as though he did not believe what she was saying, but since finding herself in her new position, Lavinia had come to realize just how devious, how backstabbing, and how self-determined most members of the ton could be. Shehad never heard servants gossip with such glee, or delight in the downfall of others.
There were those who lived for scandal, and sometimes it felt as though there was nothing her fellow aristocrats liked more than to see another of their kind brought low. It was terrible, and Lavinia would gladly have washed her hands of them all.
“Well, I don’t know about that. It all seems rather… farfetched,” her grandfather replied, but Lavinia shook her head.
She was adamant she wanted nothing more to do with Lord Bath, even as she feared her grandfather had other ideas…
“I’m sure someone other than Lord Bath might present himself,” Lavinia said.
She was in no rush to marry and given she had only just discovered who she really was, it seemed important to settle down before another upheaval occurred. Her grandfather shook his head. Whenever this discussion occurred, they always reached a stalemate.
Neither of them was willing to give ground, and Lavinia realized she had inherited his stubbornness, as well as his striking red hair. Her grandfather was about to reply—thus prolonging their bickering—when the dining room door opened, and Lavinia’s mother, Octavia, entered the room with an excited look on her face.
“I’ve just received the most wonderful news,” she exclaimed, holding aloft a letter in her hand.
Lavinia’s mother had settled well into what had been her old life before eloping with Lavinia’s father. The grieving widow had become the grateful daughter, and Lavinia knew how happy, and relieved, her mother was to no longer have to worry about the practicalities of life, in favor of the ease with which she now passed her days. Lavinia was pleased for her mother, but that did not mean she herself was finding the transition any easier.
“What is it?” the viscount asked, and Lavinia’s mother handed her father the letter.
“It’s from Horatia—you remember, the Baroness Sarum. I haven’t seen her in years… well, I haven’t seen many people in years. We lost touch, of course, though she was never against my marrying Arthur,” Octavia said.
Lavinia watched as her grandfather unfolded the letter and began to read. She had never heard of the Baroness Sarum before. But she was beginning to learn there was a great deal about her mother’s past she did not know. Her history was one Lavinia had not been privy to—though she had never asked about it, either. Lavinia had simply accepted her lot, and to find it was different from what she had expected was still something she was getting used to.
“Oh, yes, what a tragedy—losing her daughter. And she’s been a widow for… I think, six years,” Lavinia’s grandfather said.
“Who’s this?” Lavinia asked, and her mother looked at her and smiled.
“Horatia Thompson, the Baroness Sarum—well, dowager, now. We were friends in our younger days. She’s invited us to go and stay with her at Sarum Lacy House in Wiltshire—it’s the family seat,” Octavia replied.
The name “Sarum Lacy House” conjured up all manner of grand thoughts in Lavinia’s mind. She still marveled at the size of the houses of those she was introduced to—and she herself—occupied. A hundred rooms for a family of five and their servants, or a house with two wings and tower for a bachelor and his small band of staff. It seemed obscene, though it was not something unusual, of course. Those that had, had, and those that had not, had not.
“What a strange name for a house,” Lavinia replied.
“It’s a wonderful place, deep in the countryside. It gets quite cut off in the winter when the snow comes. But in the summer, one can roam across the estate all day and not meet a soul in the woods and meadows. I went there several times—when Horatia’s husband was still alive. Oh, and to think of going there again…” she said, clutching her hands together in delight.
Lavinia’s grandfather had now finished reading the letter, and he looked up at Octavia and smiled.
