Page 47 of The Earl Next Door
“My attitude was just fine until I looked up and saw these two snooping in my dressing chamber.”
“Your dressing chamber?” she repeated, obviously horrified.
Adeline’s words had hardly been above a whisper. Still Lyon couldn’t resist the urge to add, “While I was in the bath.”
Both girls snickered.
At that admission from him, Adeline gasped. “They didn’t.”
He nodded. “Don’t worry, they didn’t see anything other than newsprint in front of my face.”Hopefully.“My butler and valet quickly apprehended them and held them until I could get dressed.”
He watched Adeline inhale deeply and collect herself. “I understand. Thank you for bringing them back. I’ll have a chat with them. Later, of course.” Adeline walked past him to the doorway and called, “Mrs. Lawton, please come here.”
“We didn’t touch anything in his house,” Fanny said, swinging her friend’s hand ever so lightly.
“No, we didn’t,” Mathilda said, the earlier fear gone and a more penitent expression on her face. “It was a big house. We couldn’t find our way out after we went upstairs.”
“But you went into his house on purpose,” Adeline said earnestly. “Into his private chambers. That was wrong and very disheartening.”
“We didn’t know he’d be washing,” Fanny said. “We just wanted to see what the inside of the earl’s house looked like. We didn’t want to take anything.”
“I should hope not!” Adeline exclaimed, obviously furious this had happened and devastated she didn’t seem to know what to do about it.
“What can I do for you, my lady?” the housekeeper asked, walking up to join them.
“Take these two back to Mrs. Tallon. Tell her to put them in separate corners, their faces to the wall. She’s to watch one and you the other. I don’t want either of you to take your eyes off them until I get there. I’ll be over later to discuss what needs to be done.”
“You won’t send me back home, will you?” Fanny asked, looking up at Adeline. For the first time since she’d been caught, she had a worried expression. “My mum would be mad with me if I had to come home before I learned how to read.”
“Mine too,” Mathilda agreed. “She wants me to make her a pretty blue dress one day. It was my dad’s favorite color.”
Lyon’s stomach squeezed uncomfortably.Damnation!Why did the girls have to suddenly seem so innocent? Why did he suddenly feel such compassion for them and like he was the guilty one?
Adeline looked over to Lyon, and his heart felt as if it melted. In that moment he knew he’d do anything for her. His anger over the girls’ infringement had dissipated and in truth he didn’t want them to be sent home. They wanted to learn how to read! He didn’t want to be the cause they couldn’t have the opportunity. He gave Adeline a gentle shrug and a nod.
What could he say? Rules were broken. Children get in trouble.
“I can’t make promises about anything right now,” Adeline said, turning back to the girls. “This is serious misbehavior. I’ll have to talk to Mrs. Tallon. Off you both go with Mrs. Lawton.”
The moment the girls turned to leave Adeline folded her arms across her chest and walked back over to stand in front of the fireplace. “I can’t believe this. I thought they were all afraid of you. Well, maybe not Fanny. She doesn’t seem to be frightened of anything except going home. I don’t know why they would enter your house. Leave the school again.”
“Again?” he said, walking over to join her by the fire. “So this isn’t the first time they’ve slipped out of the school and into someone’s house?”
“No. Yes. I mean, Fanny has left the school building before but not broken into anyone’s home. Not that I know of. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her. She has been told not to do it, reprimanded, and punished.”
“Those two must have struck a good friendship between them when they met,” Lyon offered. “Or perhaps there’s a kinship. What they did took a fair amount of trusting on both their parts.”
“Perhaps even some planning, too.” She swallowed hard before shaking her head and saying, “For them to go all the way up to your chambers is just so shocking. I’m mean you were—you’re hair’s still wet.”
Lyon knew Adeline was imagining him in the bath because he was imaging her in the water with him. His body stirred. He reached up and smoothed a strand of honey-colored hair away from her beautiful, worried face. She didn’t back away but watched him do it with a soft expression that let him know she welcomed the comforting gesture. The undercurrent of sexual awareness that always flowed between them was coming startlingly alive.
“I’m not one that can give advice on children, Adeline, but I do know boarding school by its nature is difficult to adjust to for anyone. It’s constrictive especially for children who have been free to roam about alone and explore whatever’s before them be it the streets or the countryside. Suddenly being forced to live by someone else’s rules is not easy no matter your age or station in life.”
“Yes, I can understand that,” she conceded softly; but then in a stronger voice she added, “But when there are rules, we must obey them or suffer the consequences.”
He touched her hair again, thinking he could look at her all day and not grow tired, but that thought brought others with it. The more he looked at her, the longer he wanted to stay, take her in his arms, comfort her, and make her forget everything but the thrill of being in his arms again.
“I’m sorry I had to bring them over here. I thought you’d want me to. That you’d want to know.”
