Page 31 of The Good Fortune of Miss Robbins

“I agree,” Mr. Merritt said. “I once hit a young lady’s ball into the trees and she cried. Her mama looked as if she could murder me. The rest of the afternoon was not very pleasant.”

Lord Markeley laughed, a cynical look on his face.

“Then we shall warn everyone that the game shall be played in the most cutthroat manner, and there are to be no tears.” Lord Brookhaven’s face was unreadable, his voice deep and even.

I had to stifle my laugh behind my hand.

“Absolutely no crying allowed.” Lord Brookhaven gave me a pointed look.

“Of course.” I smiled. I fancied I saw the corner of his mouth quirk upward.

“I can certainly be competitive if I must,” Millicent was saying. “And I should hope I won’t cry over a silly game of pall mall.”

Neither of us would cry, especially now that we knew it wasn’t permitted, but in truth, I was glad they made that stipulation. I could be very competitive myself.

Rose Rutledge played another song, then declared that she would let someone else play. “Miss Allen?” Rose said. “Are you well enough to come and play?”

“I don’t know.” She stuck her bottom lip out slightly.

“Try to stand on it,” her mother said.

Lord Brookhaven and Mr. Merritt helped her stand, and she tried her weight on it.

“I think I can walk,” she said. “But I should like to go up to my room now.”

Everyone else decided to retire for the evening as well, and so I realized I could go too.

“Shall we go for a walk in the morning?” Millicent whispered as we parted from each other on the staircase landing.

I nodded, and as I turned to go to my room, caught Lord Brookhaven’s eye.

“Good night, Miss Robbins,” he said.

“Sleep well,” I answered and continued up the stairs to the servants’ quarters on the next floor.

Eleven

As I waited for Millicent at our meeting place, I pondered my reckless thought the night before, that I was in love with Lord Brookhaven.

Such a thing could not happen. It had only been the excitement of the moment. Not only was he an earl, and therefore far above me and out of my social sphere, but he was my employer.

The relationship would be unfair to us both. Unfair to him because it would bring him down in the eyes of his peers and possibly even cause the ruin of his family name, thereby harming Samuel and Annabelle. And it was unfair to me due to the fact that, as a poor governess with no family, I had no power. Although if he wished to marry me ...

But peers of the realm simply did not marry servants, and I was in fact a servant, even if the other servants never considered me one of them.

And if I was right about him, Lord Brookhaven was too good a man to take advantage of a girl like me with no power, privilege, or say-so. And as far-fetched as a marriage proposal from Lord Brookhaven might seem, I could not accept even if he offered, since I could not harm Samuel and Annabelle that way.

I felt the air go out of me. Until that moment, I hadn’t realizedhow much I’d been hoping to think of a way Lord Brookhaven might marry me.

A tear dripped from my eye. I tore off my glove and flicked the offending drop away. How foolish to cry about something that I knew could never be. Had the invitation to the house party made me think I could be like the members of society, of gentlemen, lords, and ladies born into privilege and wealth? I was not one of them. No doubt Lord Brookhaven only invited me because he needed one more female to have enough pairs for dinner and partners for dancing. I was only performing a service for my lord, serving in the capacity for which he needed me. That was all.

A stab of pain went through me. I didn’t want to believe it, but I must. Otherwise my heart would be torn from my chest when I had to accept the truth, and I didn’t want to humiliate myself in the process.

“Miss Robbins?”

I spun around. Lord Brookhaven was standing not ten feet away in the shadow of an oak tree.

“My lord.” I rubbed my cheek, then quickly dropped my hand, lest he suspect I was wiping away tears.