Page 41 of Dared By a Lyon
“I won’t forget,” Ashlyn said, inhaling and then lowering her shoulders and exhaling to relax.
She soon entered the breakfast room, where several small, round dining tables had been set up throughout the room specifically for the house party. She looked about the room and noticed that a few of the guests had already begun to pair off into couples, chatting and exchanging smiles with each other. She felt happy for them, though she couldn’t help but wonder if some of these pairs had been part of Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s original intended matches.
Ashlyn spotted Gabriel at the buffet and bade him a good morning as she began to gather refreshments. “The seat next to me is available, Miss Vickers,” he said. “And if you’d allow me, I’ll carry your chocolate to the table.”
“I’d like that very much,” Ashlyn said, selecting some lemon biscuits from the buffet table to go with her chocolate before taking her seat next to him.
“Perhaps we can take a walk through the gardens, after we break our fast. How are you feeling this morning?” he whispered.
“A walk in the gardens sounds wonderful,” she said, giving a slight nod. “And I’ve had a slight headache, but other than that, I feel fine. Mrs. Dove-Lyon has invited me for tea in the parlor, but I’ll meet you afterward.”
Throughout their conversation, she couldn’t help but notice how genuinely he cared about her well-being. When his leg accidentally brushed against hers, a pleasant flutter stirred in her stomach.
She wished she could stay longer, but after eating, she politely excused herself, as she was expected in the parlor for tea. She felt more than a little reluctant to leave.
A few minutes later, she arrived at her appointment with Mrs. Dove-Lyon for tea in the parlor.
“Miss Vickers,” Lady Ashbourne said after Ashlyn had settled in, fluffing out her dress on the floral-patterned damask settee, “I see theTon Tattlermentioned that you and your cousin, Miss Ashlyn March, took in various sights in London. So, do you still have anything left to see?”
The woman’s tone sounded strained, as though she were being forced to be polite.
Taking her teacup in hand and making certain she was holding it as she had practiced, Ashlyn smiled prettily. She was relieved to be sitting to Lady Ashbourne’s left, in a wingback chair that discouraged her from fidgeting, shifting—or fleeing. “My cousin and I spent several days doing nothing but exploring the sights we had read about on our list—everything from Hyde Park, which we enjoyed for days, to London Bridge. Still, there are so many other places outside of London I wish to see, including Brighton Beach, Greenwich, the cliffs of Dover, and perhaps Stonehenge. Although I’m not sure this trip will allow for that.” Ashlyn was glad she had reviewed the sightseeing list she had drafted, or she might not have recalled the names of the sights still on it.
“It’s such a shame that your cousin could not have attended,” Lady Ashbourne said.
“Yes. She hated to miss it, but came down with a horrible megrim,” Ashlyn said.
“Oh yes. I seem to recall that you put that on your reply to our invitation,” Lady Ashbourne said before sipping her tea.
The parlor was decorated in cheery shades of yellows and whites, with sheer white muslin curtains allowing the warmth of the sun to stream into the room. Mrs. Dove-Lyon sat in a yellow damask-upholstered chair across from Ashlyn, elegantly covered from head to toe in her signature black. Lady Ashbourne sat to Ashlyn’s right on a small white settee. Her yellow-and-white floral chintz dress matched the furnishings of the room so perfectly that she almost blended in. Ashlyn bit her lower lip to keep from laughing; the thought of a mouth suddenly forming on the back of the couch and speaking amused her greatly.
“Miss, would you care for me to freshen your tea?” a maid asked, stepping forward with a steaming silver teapot.
“I’ll just have a little more sugar,” Ashlyn said, eyeing a silver tray of delicate sandwiches sitting on the caddy beside the maid. She hoped her favorite, cucumber sandwiches, were among them. She had not eaten much at breakfast—only a few bites of toast and lemon biscuits, and a few sips of chocolate—because of the laudanum. Perhaps her appetite was finally returning.
“I see you’ve done your homework, my dear. Those are excellent places to visit—especially Greenwich, one of my favorites,” said Mrs. Dove-Lyon, her voice thickening with sudden emotion. “There’s a lovely public garden with a lush, manicured lawn overlooking the village below. It makes a lovely place for picnics. My dear departed husband and I often picnicked there…it was one of our favorite spots.”
“Your description of the site sounds lovely. I will do as you suggest if I can go there, Mrs. Dove-Lyon,” Ashlyn said.
A knock at the door preceded Lady Paula’s entrance. She took her seat next to her mother on the settee and glanced toward Ashlyn. The room had begun to feel more like the site of an interrogation than a simple tea party, Ashlyn thought.Mother and daughter Ashbourne sat across from her, both wearing the same simpering smile on their lips, while their eyes gleamed at her with a sharp intensity, as if there something were amiss with her nose. It took all of Ashlyn’s determination not to check to see if there was a fly on the tip.
“Do you plan to secure a husband on this trip?” Lady Paula asked abruptly, still smiling as her teacup clinked against its dish.
Before Ashlyn could answer, Lady Ashbourne delicately coughed and added, “What my daughter means is that we couldn’t help but notice the Earl of Ravensthorpe’s interest in you. Are the two of you a couple?”
How forward! The apple surely hasn’t fallen far from the tree in this family.Such was her shock. Ashlyn was glad she had not taken a sip of tea, or she’d have spat it all over them. Both Ashbourne women seemed to be challenging her, and while she couldn’t see Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s reaction, the sharp, startled intake of breath from the woman gave her a clue to it.
Rather than fluster or falter, Ashlyn took a steadying breath and considered what Elizabeth might have said. Then, summoning a smile that was all charm and borrowed confidence, she replied sweetly, “Lord Ravensthorpe and I have become good friends. However,”—she paused just long enough to make her meaning clear—“it would be most unladylike of me to discuss the particulars of my…friendship with the earl. If your curiosity on the matter is truly so keen, perhaps you would do better to ask him yourself.”
Before either woman could gather a retort, Ashlyn reached for a sandwich from her plate. “These are delightful,” she said, her tone as calm as ever. “Cucumber has always been my favorite.”
As she took a dainty bite of the sandwich, she thought she saw the flickering of a smile on Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s facebeneath the black lace. Lady Ashbourne’s statement had made it abundantly clear—Lady Paula had set her sights on Gabriel, while her dreadful brother, judging from his horrid actions, had set his sights on “Elizabeth,” the heiress.
Ashlyn could not help but feel her heart sink. In truth, she had no claim on Gabriel. Nor would she—she could not, in all good conscience, return to America and forget her time with him and his family and the kindness they had shown her. She resolved to write them each a letter explaining the situation and include a note for Caro. But only after everything with Elizabeth and her parents had been resolved. Once it became public that Miss Elizabeth Vickers, the American heiress, had eloped and married the Italian artist, people might speculate on when that had happened. She did not want to be in England when the gossip surrounding her cousin started, along with speculation of how her aunt and uncle had reacted. But she could do nothing about any of that.
She would explain to Gabriel and the dowager countess what had happened and why, and apologize for lying to them about her name—but not about how much she had grown to care about them and Caro. She would also send a book with illustrations of American Sign Language.
In the meantime, while she was still attending this dreadful house party, she would certainly be on guard with Lord Pervis. There was no way she could stomach being a part of this family.
