Chapter 42
Thomas fairly leaped from his seat, knowing full well that everyone in attendance would be pressing him for more details of his disappearance. But the only person he wanted to speak with was Lady Lavender.
Samuel stood beside him and whispered in his ear. “She saw the whole debacle, Thomas. Don’t make her more uncomfortable by drawing attention to her presence here.” He looked up at the Stranger’s Gallery.
Trailing Samuel’s gaze, Thomas found Lady Lavender sitting above with a hand on her heart and a blank expression plastered on her face.
He felt like she looked: confused, shocked, and a little worried about how things had played out.
He wasn’t free of suspicion, not yet. But he felt that was only because the Privy Council needed time to do their work.
He turned to Samuel. “Thank you for your help, and for keeping a level head. I almost started a bout of fisticuffs in the House of Lords, and although I don’t mind pushing the limits of what is socially acceptable, that one might not have looked good for my case. ”
Laughter from Samuel and a few men standing nearby made Thomas smile.
He looked back up to the Stranger’s Gallery, but Lady Lavender was gone.
He hated it, but it was wise of her. He was duly accosted by a dozen men, all asking him questions at once.
Resigned to dance to the tune of ducal expectations, he answered as many of them as he could while Samuel tried to slowly move them toward the exit.
It was late into the night when Thomas’s carriage drove up to his own townhouse. It had been so long since he’d been in residence, it didn’t feel like going home at all, familiar as it all was.
Samuel had promised him to watch over Lady Lavender until Thomas could come calling the next morning. His brain and body needed rest, and for the first time in months, he would be sleeping on a bed comfortable enough for a king.
Thomas tucked his mother’s wedding band into his waistcoat pocket and looked himself over in the mirror one final time. He looked like a man who knew what he wanted—for the first time in a long time, what he portrayed and what was true were one and the same.
The ride to the Gilfordshire townhouse was less than half a mile, but it seemed to take an age before Thomas found himself knocking on the front door.
It was odd. This door felt unfamiliar; he hadn’t made the mistake of using it since he had been hired months ago.
Andrews, the butler, opened the door and smiled.
It was quite out of place to see the expression on the somber servant.
“I’m here to call on Lady Lavender Gardner,” Thomas said.
Andrews opened the door wider and motioned for Thomas to wait in the drawing room. “I will see if she is at home.”
Lady Lavender ran down the stairs. “I’m home, Andrews. At least I’m home for Lord Fenleigh.” Her cheeks bloomed crimson, and she smiled up at Thomas.
He took her gloved hand in his own and bowed over it, bestowing a kiss on the back of her hand just as he had the first time he’d seen her.
She was even more beautiful now that he knew the woman she was beneath her pretty face.
“I was wondering if I could have a private audience with you, Lady Lavender.”
She nodded her head. “Of course.”
“You’ll need to ask her sponsor for that privilege, I’ll have you know,” Samuel said as he walked up the corridor.
Thomas tipped his head. “Forgive me, I am more than a little excited this morning. Might I have the privilege of speaking with Lady Lavender?”
Samuel clapped Thomas on the shoulder. “Please do. Miriam will have my neck if I keep you any longer than I already have.” He opened the door to his study. “Will this do?”
Thomas tugged Lady Lavender inside behind him. “This will do handsomely, thank you.” He snapped the door closed and pulled the comfortable chair to the middle of the room for Lady Lavender to sit in.
Her light laughter was all the encouragement he needed as he knelt on the floor before her.
“Lady Lavender Gardner,” he took her hand in his own and tugged at the pinky finger of the glove she wore, “I have known you for many months.” He tugged at the fabric covering her ring finger.
“I have adored you since the first time I set eyes on you.” He pulled at the middle finger.
“And I have made myself a fool time and again by waiting for the right time to tell you something very important.” He slowly removed the glove from her right hand and placed a kiss upon her palm.
She shuddered under his ministrations. “And what is it that you’ve been waiting to tell me?”
Thomas set to work taking off her other glove, but her hand stopped him.
“I don’t want to feel ugly right now, Thomas.” Her voice came out as a whisper.
He shook his head. “You could never be anything but perfect to me, Lavender, scars and all—and I fully intend to let you know it beginning right now.” He pulled off her glove and traced his calloused fingers up her arm until they came to the pocked skin above her elbow.
“This is beautiful.” He kissed her scars and lingered there with his breath on her arm, watching gooseflesh break across her fair skin.
“These are marks of a warrior. Someone who has been to the depths of sorrow and back again.” He caressed her arm with one hand and allowed his other hand to cup her cheek as he looked into her hazel, tear-filled eyes.
“Someone who has known deceit and pain and loneliness and yet chooses to give only compassion, healing, and love to those around her.”
Tears spilled from Lavender’s eyes, and it broke Thomas to know that she’d held her insecurities so close to her heart for such a long time.
“I love you, for who you are inside is even more than the beautiful woman you are on the outside. My greatest desire is to marry you, to claim you as my own forever. But—” He took a deep breath and forced himself to back away from her and sit on his heels.
“But I am willing to wait if your affections are not wholly made up. I don’t want you to marry me to make your father happy, or your mother, or Miriam.
I only want you to marry me if it will make you happy.
And I know I ought to wait, but I can’t risk you needing to go into mourning without making you my wife. ”
Lavender laughed through her tears. “You do recall I proposed marriage to you first, don’t you?” She put a hand up to cover her mouth. “I have loved you for far too long to have to wait any longer.”
Thomas jumped to his feet and pulled her up to hers. “I’m confident in the truth winning the day. It might be wise to wait until—”
She cut him off with a kiss. Fast and desperate at first, until their lips melted together in a delicious rhythm. “I’m not waiting another minute, Thomas. Come what may, I will be by your side,” she breathed against his mouth.