Page 54 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
Did his son hate him?
He’d hated his own father. Perhaps a man was doomed to be hated by his son.
‘We are about our botany lesson,’ Mary said, wrinkling her nose, which had grown pink from the sun and was far more interesting to him than he should like.
‘As I mentioned last night, I have a great affinity for all subjects.’
‘You did,’ he agreed. ‘And yet I did not know that you meant to take the children out into the wilderness.’
She did something that he could not recall anyone ever doing before. She laughed at him. ‘The wilderness? We can quite see Attingham itself from here. We are not in the wilderness.’
‘And yet did you not consider the dangers? There are wolves here.’
‘I don’t think there are. I believe wolves have been extinct in England since the seventeen-hundreds.’
She was arguing with him in the broad light of day in front of his children, this woman who worked for him, and he ought to put a stop to it, but, as ever, he found he was far too...interested.
In where it might go. In what she might say next.
He knew that to be true, and yet he also knew there was danger everywhere. ‘Wolves come in many forms, Miss Smith, as I think you know.’
Whether he was warning her about himself or some other danger, he did not know.
‘We’ve been looking at flowers,’ said Michael. His tone was staunch. ‘Mary has taught us a great many things.’
‘Mary?’ He looked at her. ‘Has she given you permission to use her Christian name?’
She had scolded him for it just last night.
‘Yes,’ said Elizabeth.
For her part,Mary, as he would now think of her evermore, looked at him with a small amount of shame. ‘I am attempting to ease some boundaries between us.’
‘I see. I am rather fond of boundaries. They keep everything in their rightful place. And that is quite an important thing, do you not think so, Mary?’
Her name on his tongue should have been the most common thing. For her name was dreadfully overused as to be one of the most common names. And yet it was like springtime, but shot through with something more.
Something forbidden. Something bright and new.
Andnothingwas forbidden to him. He could call one of his employees by her Christian name if he chose.
Still.
It felt tinged with impropriety. Perhaps because the only times he had ever called a woman by her first name, and her his, was when they were lovers. And even then, only his wife had ever called himSamuel.
Even then, it had been infrequent.
‘I do not believe that you and I have had the same conversation, Your Grace.’ Twin spots of colour rose high in her cheeks.
‘I do not believe it is necessary.’
All remained unspoken, but he could see that she had perceived his message all the same. If his children were allowed informal address, he certainly was. He was a duke. Not to be disallowed anything. Not anything.
‘Your Grace,’ she said, ‘I can assure you that the children are very safe.’
‘I do not feel that is your determination to make.’
‘Your Grace,’ she said, ‘I beg, if you are concerned for our safety, accompany us as we journey into the wood.’
