Julia Justiss - The Tempting Of The Governess

For a moment he stared at her unsmilingly. ‘Are you sure?’

Innate honesty warred with her determination to remain the girls’ protector. ‘I shall do my utmost to prevent it,’ she said at last.

She thought she saw the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. But surely she was mistaken, for he said, ‘I understand you were... impetuous and outspoken with my head groom this morning. Commandeering a vehicle? Taking the girls with you to Bristol?’

She swallowed hard. ‘Yes, sir. Since...since you referred me to Mrs Wallace to obtain necessities for the girls, necessities she had already refused to provide, I felt compelled to go to the city and buy them myself. As the day was warm and fair and the girls have seldom been allowed to leave the nursery, I decided to take them with me. After all, how can they come to love their homeland if all they know of it is a rainy field seen from the nursery window? And you had not given any orders that the children and I were specifically forbidden to venture away from Somers Abbey.’

‘No, I had not expressly forbidden it, Miss Overton. But I am not in the habit of having those in my care taken away without my knowledge. Nor did you think to take a groom along to protect them, should anything have happened on the road.’

‘I... I know the house is short-staffed, sir. I didn’t want to pull any of the other servants from their tasks. I can manage a team quite competently, the road is well travelled and, in broad daylight, I didn’t expect to encounter any malcontent who couldn’t, if necessary, be discouraged by the use of my driving whip.’

‘Deciding and managing once again, Miss Overton?’

Her cheeks heating, her eyes flew up to meet his gaze. It was for their good! she wanted to insist. But rather than voice the protest hovering on her lips, she made herself lower her eyes and say, in the most penitent tones she could manage, ‘Yes, I suppose I was. I’m sorry, sir.’

‘And you promise not to do that again, either?’

Eating humble pie was harder than she’d imagined. Keeping the image of Sophie’s face firmly in mind, she said, ‘I will earnestly try not to, Colonel.’

She heard something that sounded like a choked laugh. Surprised, she looked up—to find the Colonel chuckling .

She wasn’t sure what was more shocking—his sudden mirth, or how the smile made his blue eyes sparkle and transformed his stern features into something unexpectedly appealing—and undeniably handsome.

She was still trying to make sense of those startling observations when he said, ‘I’ve tortured you enough, Miss Overton. I can only imagine how difficult it was for you to hold your tongue and abase yourself to apologise, especially knowing you were right.’

‘I—I was right?’ she repeated, caught off guard.

‘Yes. Actually, I’d summoned you here so that I might apologise to you . I am not normally so churlish, but you caught me with the devil’s own headache—and, yes, I’d indulged far too much, so you needn’t add that scold.’

Then, as understanding dawned, she said indignantly, ‘You were going to apologise to me ? And yet you led me on...’

‘True.’ He nodded. ‘It wasn’t well done of me, but I think we both have a...managing bent. As I know only too well, it isn’t easy for a person of that nature to apologise—especially when one knows one was in the right. I’m afraid I couldn’t resist encouraging you to go through with it. You were hoping a display of penitence would dissuade me from firing you, I suppose. Because you felt you must stay on and protect the girls from their evil, uncaring guardian.’

‘Not evil. But you did seem rather...uncaring.’

Some sort of anguish briefly crossed his face, gone before she could even be sure she’d actually seen it. ‘I shall have to do better. Once I’d calmed down after our confrontation—and some strong coffee and beefsteak had made me feel human again—I went up to the nursery and found it just as you described. I don’t recall what was on the beds when my brother and I were boys, but those threadbare cotton rags wouldn’t warm a flea. Somers Abbey’s finances may still be recovering, but we can certainly stand the cost of clothing and blankets, and so I informed Mrs Wallace.’

She must have grimaced, for the Colonel nodded. ‘Dreadful woman. I try to have as little to do with her as possible.’

‘Would that I might!’ Olivia said feelingly.

The Colonel frowned. ‘Do you fear she will try to exact retribution for your having come to me after she refused your requests?’

Now that she knew she had her employer’s support, Olivia was quite sure of holding her own. ‘I can deal with Mrs Wallace.’

He smiled slightly and once again she was caught unawares by the strength of his sheer masculine appeal. Goodness, what a transformation when he smiled! He should do it much more often.

‘I’m sure you can, my Managing Miss Overton,’ he was saying. ‘But if she does give you any trouble, you are to inform me. Also if she baulks at providing any other supplies you feel the girls need.’

‘If she is so unpleasant, why do you not discharge her?’ Olivia asked—and then remembered that, as an employee, she had no business asking such a question.

Instead of putting her in her place, though, the Colonel sighed. ‘After reducing the staff to a skeleton level and spending most of my time away from the house, I had to leave someone in charge. Why my brother hired the woman, I have no idea. Once things are in better order and finances improve, I intend to replace her.’

‘Providing her with a good character so you may pass your problem along to another household?’

‘You are impertinent, you know,’ he said, giving her a reproving glance.

‘I, too, have managed a household,’ she reminded him. ‘To be charitable, perhaps she would be happier in a larger household with more staff to manage.’

‘And to underscore her importance,’ the Colonel said.

‘Precisely.’

To her surprise, the Colonel chuckled again. ‘I should like to have been a fly on the stable wall when you commandeered that pony cart. What exactly did you say to John Coachman?’

Feeling a little embarrassed, she confessed, ‘I used my “Mistress of the Household” voice and simply ordered him to prepare it.’

‘Ah, yes. Behaving as if one has the authority to command something generally gets results—whether or not one actually has that authority.’

‘To be fair, he was hesitant at first. But a governess does have charge of the children, and once I demonstrated my driving ability, he was content to see us go.’ She smiled. ‘He probably reasoned that, if anything untoward transpired, since he’d not had orders to refuse me, I would mostly likely bear the blame of it.’

‘I imagine he did.’ The Colonel shook his head. ‘You are the most insubordinate subordinate I’ve ever encountered.’

‘Well, sir, you may be a colonel, but this is not the army and I am not your corporal.’

‘What are you then, I wonder?’

She looked at him...and something flashed between them. An odd sense of being kindred spirits, underlain with a strong physical attraction that sent a wave of warmth through her. The feeling of connection was gone almost before she was aware of it, but the simmering heat remained, exciting, energising...and dangerous.

Before she could pull her shaken senses together, he looked away. ‘We still have the matter of your purchases,’ he said, all business again. ‘By the way, how did you pay for them? Petty larceny from the household funds?’

‘Certainly not. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mrs Wallace carried the precious “household funds” around on her person. I used my own funds.’