Georgie Lee - The Cinderella Governess

Chapter Three

‘Luke and Frances Huntford. I wouldn’t have guessed it considering the way you used to talk about her when you were young.’ Charles Preston, Earl of Ingham laughed across the breakfast table at his younger son before rising to help himself to more eggs from the sideboard. ‘Can’t say I fancy being related to that brood, but if one of them gives me a grandson, I guess I won’t mind. The mother is quite capable of producing children. It bodes well for the daughters.’

Alma paled at the mention of Lady Huntford’s fecundity.

‘Charles, watch what you say,’ Lady Elizabeth Ingham chided as she motioned for the footman to pour her more coffee. ‘Especially since we might end up related to them.’

She winked at Luke, then lifted her coffee to her lips, hiding her teasing smile behind the steam.

‘I’m not interested in Miss Huntford.’ Luke sliced his ham into pieces.

‘You’d do well to have an interest in her. Her dowry could offset our losses from last year’s weak crop,’ Edward added from across the table.

‘I wouldn’t get your hopes up,’ Luke countered. ‘Sir Rodger won’t spend so much as a farthing to repair the roof over his head. I doubt he’ll give it away with his daughters. But since I’m not interested in her, it is a moot point.’

After the ball, Luke had done everything he could to forget his brief time with Miss Radcliff, but it hadn’t worked. Despite a vigorous ride this morning and a round of sparring with the groom, neither her vivid blue eyes, nor her kindness, had faded from his memory. To her, he hadn’t been the catch of the year, but simply Major Preston. He wanted to be Major Preston with her again, but he couldn’t. Courting a governess was as fanciful as hoping Napoleon would walk away from war.

‘If you weren’t interested in Miss Huntford, you should’ve let her return by herself instead of allowing the whole countryside to speculate about the two of you.’ His mother sipped her coffee with a sigh of relief, the late night telling in the dark circles beneath her eyes. ‘It could prove troublesome, especially while we’re guests for their house party.’

Luke and Edward groaned in unison.

‘Sir Rodger has the worst staff, especially the butler,’ Edward complained. ‘He has no grasp of how things are done. He’s surly, too.’

‘It’s because Sir Rodger doesn’t pay him enough.’ Luke imaged the pittance Miss Radcliff must be earning.

‘If the old miser is spending the money on a party, he must be desperate to get rid of Miss Huntford,’ Edward addressed Luke in a rare moment of fraternal solidarity.

After what Luke had witnessed last night, it wouldn’t surprise him.

‘The only reason we’re going is so Luke can look over the other young ladies. Otherwise, we wouldn’t bother,’ their father offered with uninspiring assurance.

‘I haven’t said I’ll go, but speaking of bother...’ Luke sat back from the table and pushed his plate away, determined to discuss the other subject which had kept him up most of the night ‘...I intend to call on Lord Helmsworth while I’m home. I’d like to arrange for another survey of the disputed boundary land, and, if it’s determined to be his, then to arrange a lease of it or the rights to the river. I think it’s time we end our feud with him.’

The silence which answered his announcement echoed through the room. Everyone stared down the table at him as if he’d suggested they catch the plague.

Edward’s glare was especially sharp. ‘You think you’ll stroll into Helmsworth Manor and after twenty years he’ll deed us the land with the river simply because you asked him to?’

‘It’s worth a try.’ Luke trilled his fingers on the table, struggling to remain calm. He needed more to do in the country than search for a wife. Settling the old land dispute was it. He hadn’t thought the idea would receive such a hostile response. ‘We need the water to irrigate the west field. Without it, we can’t expect to have a profitable enough harvest next year to cover our losses from this one.’

‘I’m well aware of what we need, more so than you.’ Edward pointed his knife at him. The conflict between them had returned with Luke from Spain with a vengeance. Except this time it was different. He and his brother were more equal now than in the past and Edward didn’t like it any more than Luke did. ‘This isn’t school. You needn’t try and outdo everyone.’

‘You were the only one I ever outdid and only because it was so easy.’ Luke speared a piece of ham and stuck it in his mouth with a smugness he didn’t feel. In the heat of more than one battle, when he thought he wouldn’t come home again, he’d longed to end the old rivalry between him and Edward. Now he was here and all he could do was argue with him. It wasn’t right, but he seemed powerless to put an end to it.

Alma exchanged a troubled glance with their mother, who flapped a silencing hand at her sons. ‘Boys, it’s too early for this. If Luke wishes to try to settle the dispute, then he may. After all, it’s cheaper to pay a surveyor than a solicitor and if it benefits us, then good. In the meantime, we must make a decision about the Huntford house party. Edward, will you and Alma attend?’

‘We will if you want us to.’ Alma set her fork aside, her food hardly touched. The circles under her eyes were far darker than they should have been, even after a late night. She rose and made for the door. ‘If you’ll excuse me.’

‘I’d better see to her.’ Edward stood, his square chin stiff in the air as he marched to the door. He matched Luke in height, but had their mother’s hazel eyes and their father’s black hair. ‘I wouldn’t want anyone accusing me of failing as both a husband and an heir.’

Once he was gone, Luke’s mother shook her head. ‘Alma tries so hard to be brave and I tell her not to worry. Since we have you, there’s no reason to despair.’

Luke resisted groaning at having his value to the line stated so plainly. He rose, the tiff with Edward, as well as the memory of Miss Radcliff and the sleep it had stolen from him, crawling under his skin as much as his change of situation. Luke wasn’t likely to ever be the earl, and he didn’t want to inherit if it meant his father and Edward’s deaths, but he wasn’t sure he wished to foist the responsibility for Pensum Manor’s future on some unsuspecting son either. He’d seen the demands it had made on his family and the way it had treated him. It wasn’t something to envy. ‘I’m riding over to visit Lord Helmsworth.’

‘Luke, say you’ll come to the house party.’ His mother reached up and laid a hand on his arm. ‘You don’t know how much I want to be a grandmother, to have Pensum Manor filled with the giggles of small children as when you and your brother were small.’

He was amazed she could remember the laughter and forget the awful rows he and his brother used to have. Time hadn’t made them less intense, only more chilling.

‘All right, I’ll go.’ He’d rather spend time in a French prison than with the Huntford girls, but visiting them would allow him to make sure Miss Radcliff was well and Miss Huntford was upholding her end of the agreement.

He left the dining room and made for the stables. He shouldn’t concern himself with the welfare of a governess, but he hadn’t allowed any of the weaker men in his regiment to be bullied by fellow soldiers or even officers. He wouldn’t leave a poor governess to suffer under an indifferent, if not hostile employer. Nor would he allow anyone’s prejudices to stop him from coming to know her better. He couldn’t pursue her, but there was no reason why they couldn’t be friends.

* * *

‘Major Preston is coming here?’ Frances wailed from across the breakfast table after her mother made the announcement.