Chapter 1
“Cornelia! Patrick! Get away from that, please!” Letitia called, hurrying to catch up with her little charges. She didn’t actually know what they were peering over, but given the gleeful look on Cordy’s face, it had to be something absolutely disgusting.
Lady Cornelia Lightholder, Cordy to her kin, was probably the most high-born lady in England outside of the royal family.
She was the firstborn in a long line of aristocratic heirs that marked the newest generation of the Lightholder family, Britain’s most prominent dukedom, with its immense wealth and extensive connections.
Cordy would never want for anything in life—not jewels, dresses, or loving parents.
And yet it seemed that all the girl wanted was to touch slime, frogs, mud, and other substances so disgusting that Letitia had not even stopped to identify them before washing them off. Cordy adored them all.
And her little brother, Lord Patrick Lightholder, adored his sister, which meant that he liked to squish all manner of wretched, smelly things between his three-year-old fists, too.
Letitia adored the children; she really did. She’d been with them a year, and watching them grow and change was a pleasure each and every day.
But if they touched something revolting now, after she had spent the whole morning getting them ready for the long carriage ride to London from Godwin Estate back to the family home in London…
Well, she might very well lose her mind.
Cordy snapped up, a too-innocent look on her face.
“I wasn’t going to touch anything,” she said. It was not convincing.
Even if she’d been a more successful liar, her little brother was no help in this matter.
“But what about the big bug?” he asked, awe in his tone on these last words. Cordy shushed him as Letitia hid a shudder.
She did not want to see any insect that might inspire such a tone in the little boy.
“We would never touch a bug, Patrick!” Cordelia said very loudly, for an audience only she could see. “Bugs are not clean, and we are staying very clean for our voyage!”
Even from several paces away, Letitia could see that Cordelia’s stockings were smudged with dirt already from beneath her short skirts. Letty could only hope that it was a… clean sort of dirt. Not the kind that smelled. Not when they would be trapped together in a carriage for however many hours.
Patrick was visibly confused, but willing to follow his sister anywhere.
“Yes,” he said, nodding around the fingers he’d jammed in his mouth. “Clean.”
Letitia suppressed a sigh. She had not intended to lose sight of the children for even a moment after getting them tidy and ready for their trip, but a maid had asked her a question about where to pack the children’s trunks, and that was all it took for these two.
One moment of distraction, and a morning’s work was lost.
Letty didn’t truly mind, and the little lord and lady knew that perfectly well, judging from the way Patrick came and wrapped himself around her legs, sticky fingers still in his mouth.
“Sorry, Miss Knightley,” Cordy said, with the kind of youthful contrition that was genuine but which Letitia knew would vanish the very instant Cornelia thought of some other mischief.
“Are the two of you being good for Miss Knightley?”
The woman who spoke with a Northern accent was Helen Lightholder, the Godwin.
She was a short, cheerful woman with round cheeks and a provincial accent, one that led members of the ton to scoff at her…
right up until they learned what vengeance her enamored husband would enact if they dared insult his wife in the slightest.
She was also one of the best employers Letitia had ever had—and the only reason she wasn’t the singular best was that Letty’s previous employer, Clio Ferrars, now the Duchess of Metford, was one of Letitia’s closest friends.
Helen was Clio’s cousin by marriage, and Letitia was so grateful for her positive experiences with the expansive and powerful Lightholder family.
She knew perfectly well, after all, that not all nobles acted as nobly as they were meant to.
She pushed those painful thoughts away and turned to the duchess with a smile, helping Patrick keep his balance as he detached himself from Letitia to grab onto his mother.
“We are always good, Mama,” he said seriously.
Helen reached down to rub a smudge of dirt from his cheek.
“I see that,” she said dryly. Cornelia was now occupied by swishing the hem of her skirts around her ankles, back and forth, back and forth.
Letitia might normally have reminded Cordy that young ladies weren’t meant to fidget, but at least this was a clean activity.
Besides, they would all be crammed into a carriage for long enough.
Best for Cordy to burn off her energy before that.
“I am sure you are, darling,” Helen said, smoothing back her son’s hair with a warm, maternal smile. “And guess what? You and your sister are going to have a special treat today!”
If Helen produced a new book or toy for the children, Letitia would kiss her right on the mouth.
Letty had, of course, packed a large satchel full of the children’s favorite activities—she’d been a governess long enough to know that bored children and confined carriages were a recipe for disaster.
But nothing was so entertaining as novelty, and she might get hours of distraction out of them with something new.
Anything to delay that first whined inquiry of, ‘When will we be there, Miss Knightley?’
Helen did not produce a parcel, however. Instead, she gestured behind her, to where her husband was standing, looking as important and ducal as he always did.
“You two are going to get to ride with Papa today,” she told her children, to raucous cheers. “Miss Knightley and I will go in the other carriage together.”
Letitia felt her smile freeze on her face.
On the surface, this was, of course, a blessing beyond measure.
She had traveled in all kinds of circumstances across England and the Continent and could say with confidence that riding in a ducal carriage with no children present was the absolute best way to do so.
Having a pleasant companion was even preferable to being entirely alone.
But this was unexpected, and Letty had long since learned not to trust the unexpected. She tried to act cheerful about it as she helped settle the children beside their father, who, for all his affection for his children, had the look of a man shipping off to war. Mentally, Letitia wished him luck.
Helen didn’t look like she was about to bear bad news as they settled into their own cushioned, spacious, well-sprung carriage. This reassured Letitia just a little; the Duchess of Godwin was not a subtle woman, and her expressions tended to be perfectly visible on her face.
Still, Letitia loved her position. She loved the children. If everything was going well, why would her employer endeavor to get her alone for this long trip?
It took nearly all of Letty’s self-control not to probe for answers as they began rumbling down the lane. She was grateful that the main house of Godwin Estate was still in sight when Helen folded her hands neatly in her lap.
“So, Miss Knightley,” she said, a smile still on her face. “I am sure you’re wondering why I asked you to ride with me today.”
Letitia gave her a sheepish look. “I am, Your Grace,” she confessed.
“It is good news, I promise,” Helen said, which told Letitia that she had not been as good at hiding her worry as she might have hoped.
It was hard to care about that now, though, not with the relief that was sweeping over her.
“There is just something I wanted to discuss with you. The plans weren’t set until recently, and then, with our departure, I didn’t have time to discuss it until now. ”
This still sounded like change, and Letitia did not like changes. Still, she clung to the words good news.
“Oh, is that so?” she said politely.
Helen’s grin widened. “Well, as you know,” she began, “I have not traveled to many places. I grew up in my small Northern city, and then I moved to London. Since we’ve been married, Xander and I have traveled back and forth between town and the estate, but we haven’t been to many other places.”
Letitia hummed a vague acknowledgment. She had traveled plenty and had not found much worth recommending about it. But she supposed that taking a trip for pleasure funded by a wealthy duke was far better than riding the mail coach.
“Doing a whole Grand Tour would likely be too much, even with the children a bit older,” Helen went on.
It was clear that she was partially chattering for her own entertainment, her smile dreamy and excited as she discussed her plans.
“But we thought they were big enough for us to spend a year somewhere new. And, of course, we would ask that you come with us.”
Letitia’s smile came a bit more easily after that. Were they just going to live in another place for a year? It sounded like madness to her, of course, but even kind and well-meaning aristocrats were a little bit mad, in her experience. If she had a house like theirs, she would never leave.
“That sounds lovely,” she said.
“And of course you will be compensated for the inconvenience,” Helen hastened to add. If Letitia’s smile had been at all reluctant before, that disappeared. She was already well-paid for her job as a governess to the children, but more money would change so much, both for her and for Sarah—
“But you haven’t even asked where we’re going,” Helen continued, interrupting Letty’s train of thought. “Do you want to guess?”
Well… no. Letitia didn’t want to guess. But Helen really was being so kind about this, asking Letty if she wanted to come along, offering to pay her more.
Most employers wouldn’t have done that. Most aristocrats thought that servants existed only to please their employers and dragged them hither and yonder without any consideration.
Also, the duchess was clearly so delighted that it would have been unkind to ruin her fun.
“Um, France?” Letty ventured. “Paris? Or maybe Marseilles?”
Helen shook her head. “No. Try again.”
Hm. Too bad. Letitia spoke French. It would have made the year much more pleasant.
“Greece?” she tried. The ancient ruins were very popular with English aristocratic travelers, she’d heard, and the Lightholders had a long history with the myths of old.
Another head shake.
Letitia racked her brain. Oh, goodness, they weren’t going to drag her halfway around the world, were they? She didn’t fancy spending months at a time on a ship.
Out of sheer optimism, she guessed something a little bit closer to home.
“Scotland?” It wouldn’t be a typical choice for adventuring nobility, but Helen wasn’t a typical duchess. And she was from the North. Maybe she loved it. Maybe she wanted to go even further north…
But Helen was still shaking her head, a curl bobbing in front of her amber eyes.
“Nay,” she said, her accent thickened by her eagerness. “It’s actually somewhere you’ve already been! Since the Lightholders have a great aunt there, we’ve decided to spend some time with her.”
Letitia’s stomach plunged. She knew what was coming next, but something frantic and desperate inside her prayed that Helen wasn’t about to say it.
When have my prayers ever been answered?
Helen looked thrilled as she pronounced the words that determined Letty’s fate.
“We are going to Belgium!”