Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“Miss Finch, please, take a seat.” The Duke sat behind his desk, not rising when she stepped into his office.
Octavia paused in the doorway.
The office was dark… or maybe that was just the Duke’s indomitable presence?
Although he was seated, he still appeared large and intimidating as if he stood right over her.
The office felt cramped, claustrophobic, and everywhere that Octavia looked, it was as if her gaze was somehow dragged back to his probing eyes.
I should just turn and run. What is even the point? Never mind what just happened between us! After last evening, there is no chance that he will ever hire me.
“Well?” he said calmly.
Octavia was not a typically timid person.
Having lived the life that she had, the last few years especially, confidence and self-assurance were weapons that she used to defend herself against the harsh realities of a world that was constantly at her throat.
She did not scare easily. She did not cower.
And more often than not, she found that strong words and stubbornness were the best ways to get what she wanted.
But as she stood across the room, as she felt the Duke watching her, all her built-up confidence and bravery were like a candle in the darkest of rooms. It fought against the dark, it rallied as hard as it could, but it was a pitiful thing…
“I…” She swallowed. “I should explain.”
“Explain?”
“What happened just now,” she started, her voice cracking. “That was an error on my part. I… I thought you were… I did not realize who you were.”
“I would hope not,” he said simply.
“I thought you were robbing the place.” She laughed awkwardly, but it died before reaching the Duke. “If I had known who you were, I would have never…”
“Never what?”
“Did as I had done.”
“Which was?”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. She had thought that he was testing her; now she realized that he was teasing her! No doubt he figured that she would recuse herself, and all he had to do was wait for her to break.
If that is what he thinks, then he does not know me half so well…
“Might we start again?” she offered. “While our initial introduction was not ideal, if you ask Miss Spencer, she will tell you how right I am for the role of governess. I pray you do not allow a simple misunderstanding to incorrectly color your opinion of me.”
“Our initial introduction?” His expression remained passive. “But that was not our initial introduction, was it?”
Her face paled.
“I trust Miss Spencer,” he continued simply. “Not once have I had a reason not to do so, and not once have I regretted it. However, what she knows of you… What she thinks that she knows tells less than half of the story.”
“I –”
“You wish to be my governess,” he spoke over her.
He did not raise his voice, but there was no need.
He was so in command of this room, of his world, that he was like a battering ram smashing into a gate made of reeds.
“You wish to help raise and educate my son. Your education, and indeed your qualifications, are not what concern me. Perhaps they would be, if my situation were not as desperate as it is. Alas, beggars cannot be choosers.”
“I did not lie about my qualifications,” she hurried. “I am more than capable of being a governess to your son.”
“However, I am also not one to hand my son and his future over to the hands of a woman whom I do not know.” His voice hardened.
“And certainly not one I do not trust. So, tell me, Miss Finch, why should I trust you? Why should I trust a woman who just last evening was being chased through the street by a group of thugs?”
“Perhaps…” She swallowed. “Perhaps they simply saw me walking alone and –”
“I will give you one more chance,” he cut her off. “One more chance for the truth. Again, I ask, who are you, and why should I trust you?”
He did not sound angry, and for that, Octavia was grateful. Rather, the way he spoke was simple, to the point, and without emotion. He sat behind his desk, he looked right at her, and he locked onto her with eyes that seemed to look right through her and into her soul.
Octavia had considered lying. On the walk to his office, she had wondered what lie she might tell so that she could explain what had happened last evening. If such a lie existed.
Already, she had convinced herself that she would not get this job, just as she had decided that to lie would be to waste her time. The Duke wanted the truth? Let him have it. Let him see who she really was… and then judge accordingly.
It is not as if I am not used to such things…
Octavia sighed and let her shoulders slump. “You wish for the truth? It is not so exciting, I assure you. The simple fact is, those men whom I ran from last night believe that I owe them money, and they have been hounding me now for years in a bid to retrieve it.”
“And do you owe them money?”
“No,” she snapped before she could stop herself. “The debt belongs to my late father. He passed away four years ago, but these loan sharks are rather incorrigible, and as far as they are concerned, the debt has passed onto me.” She folded her arms and looked right at him with a glare of her own.
“And your mother?” he pressed.
“She is also deceased.”
His expression remained unreadable. “Meaning that you…”
“I live on the street,” she said sharply.
“Or a close equivalent. I have spent the last four years trying my best to survive, working whatever job I can, pooling together the little funds possible so that I might run away far from here, where even debt collectors cannot find me. Well, my brother and I…”
“You have a brother?” For the first time, he sounded curious.
“I do,” she said with a hint of pride. “He is eight years old, and I am all he has in this world. Everything I do is for him, the hope that one day we will have enough money to live a life better than what we have been given.”
“So, this job is about money?”
“Of course it is,” she said without reservation.
“While that might sound uninspired – oh, I am sure you wish to hire someone whose heart yearns to be a governess. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Sadly, the world does not work that way, Your Grace.
I am desperate; this job came to my attention, and so I applied. ”
“Anything else?”
“If you must know, I have no doubt that I will make an excellent governess,” she continued, her tone now accusatory, as if the Duke owed her an apology.
“I am well educated. I speak both Greek and Latin. I am well versed in the ways of the ton, your customs, everything one should know if they are to survive in your world. I am not simple. I am not stupid. What I am is poor, a fault that is not my own, but one I must suffer with.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that all?”
Octavia held onto her anger as she let the silence build.
Perhaps it was not so smart to have snapped at a duke. And it certainly would not help her job prospects. But she had already resigned herself to the likelihood that he wasn’t going to hire her for this role, so she wasn’t going to beg and plead.
Rather, if she were to be kicked out on her backside, she would do so with her head held high. At this point, it was all that she had left.
“Very well,” the Duke said without emotion. “Please, take a seat.”
She balked. “A seat?”
“Yes…” He gestured to the seat across from him. “I would like to discuss the expectations of this role, and I do not wish to speak at you across the room.”
“You… you are going to hire me?” she stammered.
“If you still wish for me to.”
“Yes!” she cried. “I mean…” She grimaced and smiled politely. “I would like that very much.”
“Then please, the seat, take it.”
This time, she did not argue.
Octavia hurried across the room and took her seat, keeping her head down the whole time, unwilling to risk looking into the Duke’s eyes.
Why he was still willing to hire – or even considering it -- her was beyond Octavia’s understanding.
And she worried that if their eyes met, he might see through her…
secrets revealed that even she was not aware of.
Best to play things safe.
“As I said, I trust Miss Spencer, so I trust that if she thinks you are adequate for this job, then you will be. However, if I am to hire you, there are three rules you must be made aware of.” She continued to look down and she felt him eyeing her.
“Rules?” She glanced up quickly and looked away.
“Rule one.” He held a finger in the air. “You will never seek me out at night. Anything you have to say to me concerning my son’s education can be done during the daytime. Is that understood?”
She considered the rule and how odd it was. “Yes, that sounds reasonable –”
“Rule two,” he cut her off, another finger in the air. “You will never go to the eastern wing of this property. It is private, it will remain so, and I would prefer it if you did not think about it at all.”
That had Octavia frowning. She was a naturally curious person, and such a specific rule made her mind tingle with curiosity…
“And rule three,” he continued, his third finger lifting. “Once you accept this position, you will remain in it for six months. No other governess has lasted that long, and I am sick to death of the turnover. It is not good for my son, who needs stability. Now, more than ever.”
She frowned at him. “Truly? No one had lasted six months?”
“Will that be a problem?”
“I cannot see why it would be.”
“Good,” he said. “If you break that final rule, if you mean to run, well…” He continued to look right at her, letting the moment build. “Debt collectors will be the least of your problems.”
A cold shudder ran through her body. While Octavia did not think the Duke was a dangerous man, she did not doubt his power, his self-belief, and the very real fact that here sat a man who expected mountains to move if he desired it.
All that was to say, he was not a man to be trifled with.
“That…” She swallowed. “That will not be a problem.”