Read Heirs of Acadia - 02 - The Innocent Libertine for Free Online

“Give them a taste of something they won’t soon forget!”

Chapter 4
    Once they were seated at the dining table, Lillian said, “You really are too kind to me.”
    “Nonsense,” Lavinia Aldridge replied. “I am only doing what any person should, which is offer a friend a helping hand.”
    To many in London society, Lavinia Aldridge was a paradox. She now sat regal as a queen in her realm, though many thought she did not belong in such upper echelons. After all, her husband’s former political power was gone. Now he was merely a merchant trader, and an American at that. They seldom invited anyone to their home on Grosvenor Square. They lived like social hermits. Yet here she sat, at the head of one of London’s finest tables, certainly the nicest of those banished from the current royal court. And she was not merely calm and collected. She looked as if she belonged .
    But the oddness only began there. Lavinia dressed in a style that was only a half shade removed from severe. There was no adornment to her dress. No plunging neckline, no silver buttons, no embroidered design. She did not even wear jewelry, save for a relatively modest wedding ring. Yet the ivory taffeta was of the finest quality, and Lavinia Aldridge held herself with regal bearing. She had the poise and assurance to defy current standards. Though Lillian was dressed in the height of fashion, and though she was considered a woman of startling beauty, somehow she was the one who felt tawdry seated beside this calm, strong lady.
    And Lillian’s current objective only made her feel the worse.
    She looked at her bejeweled hands, the perfectly buffed nails reflecting light from the chandeliers and the table’s candelabra. She scarcely whispered the word friends .
    “Indeed so.” Lavinia gave her the scarcest nudge. “Friend enough to warn you that eyes are upon you right the table round.”
    Lillian straightened in her chair. “I hadn’t noticed.”
    “So I thought. Now smile and tell me about your boy.”
    Lillian felt herself relax. “Byron is a grand, healthy fifteen-year-old. Four years ago he was utterly miserable going off to boarding school. This year he could not depart for Eton soon enough. He is adorable and intelligent and proud to be so independent of his poor mama. I am the one who pines for him now.”
    Lavinia observed her with an odd smile. “Excuse me for saying. But I still have difficulty believing you are of an age to have a fifteen-year-old son. You scarcely look a day older than my own Abigail.”
    It was on Lillian’s lips to speak the truth. She so yearned to confess all to this woman. How she was being blackmailed by a scoundrel who wished ill upon this fine woman and the Aldridge family. But if she did, her own existence would come crashing down around her. And even worse, her son’s future would be destroyed.
    Lillian dropped her eyes, the movement enough to dislodge one tear.
    “Forgive me, my dear Countess. I had no idea what I was saying.”
    Even her title seemed a lie in this fine woman’s mouth. “You must call me Lillian.”
    “I will, and gladly, but only if you call me Lavinia and will smile for me once more.”
    Lillian did so. “Perhaps I should not have come.”
    “Nonsense. What a lovely smile you have; you should reveal it more often. Now then. I do not recall learning your birth family’s name.”
    “It is seldom mentioned.” Lillian took the hardest breath of a very hard day and spoke a lie she hated before it was uttered. “I was born to clergy in the north of Lincolnshire.”
    Lavinia was genuinely delighted. “You are a believer, then.”
    She would taint this evening with no more falsehoods than absolutely required. “I-I fear not.”
    Lavinia’s obvious disappointment disappeared behind her own bright smile. “There is always hope.”
    “Hope?” Their host leaned forward far enough to peer over and take in both ladies. “What hope is there in enduring this meal when my two