Lady Vivian Defies a Duke - By Samantha Grace Page 0,52
pleasure, Your Grace,” Mrs. Ogden said before turning to Vivi. “Would you like some tea, milady? I can put on the kettle.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I would prefer to enjoy your company rather than have you waiting on me. I don’t wish to keep you from your wash. Is there anything I can do to assist?”
The woman’s warm smile returned. “No, milady.”
She hadn’t expected Mrs. Ogden to accept her help, but she wished she had something to do while she waited for Luke. Vivi found a stump and sat with the basket in her lap as the woman returned to her wash.
Mrs. Ogden watched her surreptitiously as she reached into the tub and extracted a garment to scrub against the washboard. It seemed Vivi wasn’t the only curious one.
“Do you like living here, Mrs. Ogden?”
The woman blinked. “Uh…”
“The area is beautiful,” Vivi added, “and the cottages seem to be in good repair.”
“Aye, milady. Lord Richard is usually quick to respond to our requests.”
Vivi tipped her head to the side. It made no sense that Luke’s brother would see to the tenants’ needs rather than Luke. “Why does Lord Richard respond to your requests?”
“I couldn’t say, milady.” Mrs. Ogden’s attention fell to her task. When it became apparent she had nothing else to say, Vivi suppressed a sigh. Her gaze strayed to the other women, who looked away quickly. She would get no answers from them either. She would have to ask Luke about this later. Eventually, she settled on watching a group of children playing in the distance.
Upon returning her attentions to the women, she discovered a young girl clinging to her mother’s skirts and peeking at her. Vivi waved, and the little girl buried her face against her mother’s legs.
“Mary tends to be shy, milady. Please forgive her.”
“There’s nothing to forgive. She is a clever girl. Why, if I didn’t know myself, I wouldn’t speak to me either. As a matter of fact, even though I do know me, I probably shouldn’t talk to myself, but I just can’t help it. I have so much to say.”
The girl’s mother chuckled, and the tense lines in her face faded.
“I am sure you have noticed, Mrs…?”
“Mrs. Turner, milady. And I apologize for laughing.”
“Nonsense,” Vivi said. “Everyone should laugh at least a hundred times a day for a healthy constitution.”
Mary looked at her curiously, and Vivi made a silly face. The girl giggled.
Vivi tapped her fingers against the basket and mouthed “May I?” to Mary’s mother. The woman nodded, her smile growing wider.
Vivi opened the top. “I almost forgot. Mrs. Dillingham, Twinspur’s cook, prepared sugar biscuits for me to bring, but I am afraid they may not taste good. I really shouldn’t hand out biscuits that haven’t been tested by anyone.”
Mary eased from behind her mother, but still held a fistful of her skirts.
Vivi made a show of pulling a sweet from the basket and waved it. “I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to taste one for me. Perhaps one of the other children—?”
“Me,” Mary declared in a soft voice.
“Why, dear Mary, would you do me such a kindness? I don’t know how to thank you.”
Vivi waved the biscuit in the air again. The girl released her hold on her mother and wandered to Vivi’s side to take the offering.
In a matter of two bites, she and Mary became bosom friends.
“Would it be acceptable for me to offer biscuits to the other children?” she asked the women.
They had stopped regarding her with wariness and smiled kindly. “Of course, milady.”
“Mary, would you like to be my helper?”
When she agreed with an eager nod, Vivi took her small hand, and off they went to deliver their treats. The other children were much less shy and accepted the sweet gifts readily. They had many questions for her, some of which she wasn’t sure how to answer, such as who she was.
No, she wasn’t the duke’s sister. She wasn’t a princess either.
Yes, she did think His Grace was kind, and she agreed he appeared tall when he sat upon his horse.
She was fairly certain his dark hair did not make him a highwayman, no. But he would be an excellent one if he so chose, given his skill with firearms.
Once the children had exhausted their curiosity, an older boy asked if she would like to play tag. Vivi accepted his invitation with a curtsy, and cried foul when he declared she was It. She set the basket aside and chased after