Page 47 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
‘Well, a lady must be accomplished,’ said Elizabeth.
‘But you are not a lady, are you? You’re a little girl.’ Two years younger than herself when she gave birth. And the thought made her throat ache even more.
‘I am lady enough.’
‘And you can read. And run. And learn French. And yes, some day you will have the concerns of the household, but you do not have them now. What you have now is this chance. To learn everything that you might wish. And I am a great fan of science. And of the natural order of things. We can go for walks around the grounds and I can teach you the names of all the plants. Of all the animals. We can find hedgehogs.’
‘I don’t like hedgehogs,’ said Elizabeth, wrinkling her nose.
‘What’s not to like about a hedgehog? They are such fearsome creatures. Very bold, for something so tiny. I have always quite fancied them myself, and perhaps seen my likeness in them.’
‘That’s silly,’ said Elizabeth.
‘Well, perhaps I’m silly,’ she said. ‘I am, after all, a girl who came down from the mountains to see what was in another country, far, far away. I am a girl who learned to read when she was thirteen years old.’
‘And you’re to teach us?’ Michael asked.
He seemed shocked that he’d been given over to the care of someone who must be quite stupid.
‘Yes. Because it is never too late to learn. But if I can give you one gift, it is the understanding that this knowledge is indeed the most glorious gift. Because I don’t live in a mud hut any more, do I?’
Elizabeth sniffed. ‘You live in my father’s home.’
That made her stomach twist. ‘Perhaps. And perhaps you do not understand this, Elizabeth, though it is the way of the world for women. Because you also live in your father’s home, and some day you will live in your husband’s. But what if you are a woman with no husband? Then you must find an occupation. And with the money from my occupation I could rent my own rooms. Though my occupation requires that I live in residence.’
The babe began to squirm and squall again and, thankfully, Mrs Brown arrived with the bubby pot.
She put the spout to his lips and watched him drink greedily.
He fell asleep after, and she moved the children on to mathematics and tried not to sag with relief when the wet nurse arrived.
She felt dizzy.
She did not take the children outside that day, and she was not entirely certain she’d won them over. But at bedtime they were bathed and put into night clothes, and she instructed them in their prayers.
Even Elizabeth did not have a smart comment to make.
Chapter Ten
He still burned from where she had touched him. It had been the simplest, softest of touches. There had been nothing about it that should have made him think of what it would be like to lay her down in his bed.
Or even better, to pull that demure chemise down, all the way down, and expose her breasts. So that he could look on her in that same position she’d been in. On her knees before him, looking up at him with those glorious emerald eyes.
He had wanted to cup her chin and tell her how good she was. He’d wanted to free his cock from the confines of his breeches and guide her lush lips onto his aching staff.
What he wanted was nothing less than obscene.
For a man and his mistress it might be a pleasurable game. But she was his children’s governess.
And it was not a game.
She had sought to comfort him. It had been the simplest and sweetest of gestures. Coming from a woman who in many ways did not seem sweet in the least. He had been beset by illicit images of her all day. Of all the different ways he could have guided that interaction. How he could’ve buried his fingers in her red hair and pulled hard. Encouraging her to take all of him deep into her mouth.
It had been so many years since a woman had done that for him.
He had loved Jane. He would never have betrayed her, nor would he have asked that of her.
He had been told. He had been told you did not ask such things of your wife.
