Lily by Royal Lauren

Author:Royal, Lauren [Royal, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General, Romance, Historical, Fiction, ISBN-13: 9780451208316, Signet
ISBN: 9780451208316
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2003-01-15T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

“You look very nice, Rand.”MMMMMMMMMM

Standing outside the inn with Lily the next morning while they waited for the rest of her family, Rand had been lost in thought, rehearsing in his head the upcoming interview with his father. He blinked and focused on Lily, noticing that her pale green dress really was quite lovely. The underskirt was white, the stomacher and sleeves sprinkled with little white rosettes.

Very demure and aristocratic. His father would approve.

He smiled. “Thank you. You look very nice, too.”

She moved closer, sweeping him with an appreciative glance. “You look better even than at the baptism.”

His smile widened at the memory. A special occasion, that baptism, and he’d dressed the part.

The smile turned wry as he suddenly realized he’d dressed for his father this time, even going so far as to have hied himself off to a barber early this morning to have his hair properly trimmed. Ruefully he ran two fingers along his freshly shaved jaw. After all these years, he was still trying to impress the old goat.

He briefly contemplated returning home to strip off his dove gray velvet suit in favor of one of the wool ones he usually wore, but they were running late already. Besides, the marquess was a stickler for gentility, and it certainly couldn’t hurt his case to look as prosperous as possible.

As was typical with the Ashcrofts, he heard them before he saw them. Along with the family came a valet and two maids and an incredible amount of luggage considering they had only been away for one night. It took a good bit of time to get everyone and everything settled, during which Rand was reminded why he’d never wanted to be an earl.

The ride to Trentingham was a loud one with similar rigmarole at the other end. Rand breathed a sigh of relief when he and Lily finally set out for Hawkridge alone.

“How far is it?” she asked.

“Not very. A couple of hours downriver.”

She looked surprised. “I wonder, then, why I never met you before Violet’s wedding. I thought I’d been to every house within a day’s driving distance with my mother and her perfume.”

“There were no women at Hawkridge,” he reminded her. “My mother died before you were born. And there were all those years you were at Tremayne, remember?

Far away near Wales. Then, soon after you returned, I left for Oxford.”

“But surely your father entertains.”

“Not since the death of my mother. Even Christmas at Hawkridge is a rather dreary affair, with more attention paid to servants and tenants than any sort of celebrating.”

“It sounds dismal,” she said, rubbing the scars on her hand, her eyes apprehensive. “However did you meet any friends?”

“’Twas not easy.” He’d met few young people during his years at home. “If Kit hadn’t lived so nearby, I likely wouldn’t have had any friends at all.”

Lily’s apprehension faded, replaced by a look Rand could only describe as resolute. “Well, if we end up living at Hawkridge, things will change.”

Rand very much doubted that, but he did allow that Lily had a better chance of influencing his father than he did.

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