Chapter 6 #2
For the first time, Mrs. Theobald seemed embarrassed, and she looked away. “It makes little sense, I know, but handsome girls grouped together always feel like they’re in competition with each other.”
Meriel felt distinctly that the housekeeper wasn’t telling her everything, but how could she accuse her of lying?
“Do you have any suggestions?” Meriel asked. “I can’t wait around wondering if I’m going to be poisoned someday.”
Mrs. Theobald looked at her aghast. “Oh, don’t worry about that! These are mostly good girls, whose fine features have given them ideas they shouldn’t have. But they won’t hurt you.”
Meriel would reserve judgment on that.
“Leave the gowns with me,” Mrs. Theobald said. “I’ll have a word with the laundry staff.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Theobald.”
Feeling disgruntled, Meriel went back to finish Stephen’s lessons on mathematics.
~oOo~
After spending the morning with Mr. Tearle, pretending that Cecil was finally interested in his faltering finances, Richard decided to involve Stephen in the training of the two wolfhounds.
If the boy was familiar with the dogs and their commands, the dogs could be used to guard Stephen when Richard wasn’t available.
From what Richard understood, the dogs didn’t like Cecil, so his brother hadn’t bothered with them.
They seemed to like Richard, and everyone at Thanet Court had noticed.
It was time to have the dogs trained, so at least their devotion to Richard could be controlled.
He found the boy and his governess on their hands and knees in a remote corner of the garden, their faces bent near the earth, heads close together as they talked.
For once, Victoria and Albert stayed behind Richard, cocking their heads in curiosity.
Richard squatted down beside Miss Shelby and Stephen.
“What’s so interesting?” he asked.
They gasped and bumped heads and fell on their rumps.
Richard got another glimpse of lacy petticoats, before Miss Shelby came to her knees, holding her skirts down around her thighs.
They were face to face, and he saw at once that her immaculate hair had begun to come down in disarray.
A curling lock hung over her eyes, and she blew up at it to no avail.
Her eyes, so blue, were naked to him, no longer hidden behind glass.
She had long, delicate lashes, and even the curve of her eyebrows bespoke grace.
“Where are your spectacles, Miss Shelby?” he asked in a soft voice.
Stephen chimed in. “She didn’t need them to see the ants, Father. They have a nest right here, and it looks like a hill. Do you want to see?”
He regretted that he could no longer look at the world from a child’s innocent point of view. But he was already straying from Cecil’s boundaries.
“Another time, perhaps,” Richard said, his gaze sliding back to Miss Shelby.
She slid her spectacles back onto her nose and rose regally to her feet. From below he had the perfect view of her breasts, corseted so immovably within her dark blue gown.
She frowned at him, so he stood up beside her.
“Did we have an appointment I did not know about, Your Grace?”
“No.”
Victoria and Albert trotted past him, and put their snuffling noses down near Stephen’s. The boy laughed and put his arms around their necks.
“But I made a decision that Victoria and Albert need more training than I can give them,” Richard continued. “I thought Stephen should come with me to talk to the huntsman. You, of course, may come as well.”
He saw the indecision she didn’t bother to hide.
“I’ll accompany Stephen, Your Grace. We can finish our studies afterward.”
“Will you accompany me, too?” he asked, enjoying the playfulness that he’d once thought didn’t come naturally to him.
“If I must.”
“Ah, your reluctance wounds me, Miss Shelby.”
She looked up at him over her spectacles. “I’m sure you have plenty of other ladies who would never wound you. A Lady Parthenope comes to mind.”
“Lord Yardley’s sister?” He grinned down at her. “You are a natural flirt, Miss Shelby.”
She looked down at Stephen, who scratched the hounds’ ears and watched his father and governess.
“I do not flirt.”
“Then call it a natural ability to excel in drawing room conversation. Surely you did much of that before your…unfortunate circumstances.”
“Converse in drawing rooms?”
“Converse with men—and women—in drawing rooms.”
She shrugged and leaned over to wipe the dirt and leaves from her skirts. “I attended my share of dinners and parties.”
“Do you miss them?” he asked, knowing he was going beyond playfulness.
She could have answered flippantly, but she gave it some consideration. “I miss the companionship of a busy social life. But that could be summarized in one sentence. I miss my sisters more.”
She did not look at him, just continued to watch over Stephen, who rolled around with the dogs.
“How many sisters do you have?”
“You already asked me that at our first interview,” she said crossly.
He liked that she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind to a duke.
“You cannot expect me to remember such a detail from months ago when you were a stranger to me.”
“A stranger you were hiring to teach your son!”
“Well, yes, so humor me and answer again.”
“I have two sisters.”
When she said nothing more, he said, “And their names? Their ages?”