The Governess' Debut: A Sweet Regency Romance (Ladies of Mayfair Book 1)
Page 8
“Truly, Papa? Oh, this is just grand! Felicia, you told me my father might wish to remarry one day, but I had no idea it could be you. Why did you not tell me?” The little girl hugged Felicia to her in delight, while Felicia struggled for composure.
Lady Gertrude lost her struggle for composure. “You cannot be serious, my lord,” she declared shrilly. “The Earl of Standish cannot marry his daughter’s governess.”
“Yes he can, and he will,” Victor declared staunchly, although he was eyeing Felicia worriedly.
“Take me home this instant. I will not be a party to this travesty,” Gertrude declared as tears of rage began to track down her cheeks.
Seemingly oblivious to Lady Gertrude’s distress, Penelope was bouncing in her seat, peppering Felicia with questions. “When will you be married? Will that make you my mama? Does Grandmother know? Can I have a puppy?”
This last question was almost enough to make Felicia smile, but she merely patted Penelope’s hand rather weakly before urging her to, “Hush, Pen, we shall discuss it all later.”
The rest of the blessedly short ride passed in strained silence. Victor was silently berating himself as an unintelligent buffoon. He argued regularly and eloquently in the House of Lords, but he could not manage to declare himself without an irate audience. If only he’d had the presence of mind to anticipate Lady Gertrude discovering Felicia’s position in the household, he could have been prepared to handle it with a degree more finesse. Now he wondered if he would ever be able to convince Felicia that he had been in earnest.
From the look on her face, Victor surmised that she was worrying over Gertrude’s words, that she was somehow to blame. He longed to reassure her, but decided that any further discussion on the subject would most definitely be best left until they had a degree of privacy.
Gertrude continued to sniffle inelegantly until they pulled up outside her house. She scrambled down before the footman had properly let down the step, and she stalked off in a huff without a backward glance.
As soon as she was gone, Penelope hurled herself into her father’s lap. “Did you mean it, or were you just trying to make that awful lady be quiet?” Penelope uttered the words that were running wildly through Felicia’s mind.
Victor answered his daughter’s question while looking steadily into Felicia’s tear-filled eyes. “I meant every word, sweet pea.”
“Oh goody!” Penelope resumed her bouncing, oblivious to the turmoil experienced by the adult occupants of the carriage.
As they pulled up in front of their own address, the earl helped his daughter alight and then advised her, “You run along with Mrs. Hill, my dear. Felicia and I have a few things we need to discuss.”
Felicia had maintained her silence for a worrying length of time, and Victor was anxious to get her to his library where they could speak in peace. She had managed to prevent the tears shimmering in her eyes from spilling until she heard the click of the door, at which point she launched into speech as they spilled over and ran down her cheeks.
“Oh, my lord, why did you say something so rash? How will you ever extricate yourself from this situation? You can be sure the nasty Lady Gertrude will not keep silent on the matter.”
“I have no wish to extricate myself from the situation. While it is, no doubt, the least romantic proposal in history, I stand by my words. You are the next Countess of Standish.”
Felicia looked at him blankly for a moment. “But she was right. You cannot marry your daughter’s governess. It just isn’t done, my lord.”
“I really do think that by now you must be able to call me by my given name.”
Felicia managed a watery chuckle despite shaking her head. “My lord, you must see reason.”
“I do see reason. You shall be a most excellent countess.”
Felicia now thought of another wild possibility. “Are you trying to pinch pennies, my lord? Do you think to avoid paying my salary by making me your wife?”
Now it was the earl’s turn to chuckle. “Do you really think I am that much of a simpleton, my dear? Surely you have noticed that countesses are far more expensive than governesses.” Victor managed to gain possession of Felicia’s hands and stop them from their wringing before he continued. “You brought light into this house that I don’t think has ever been here.”
Felicia’s tears were drying up, and she listened to his words attentively. Joy and hope, which she had been studiously holding at bay, began to well in her breast, but she strove for reason. “But I can remain in the household as Penelope’s governess. You needn’t marry me in order to keep me here. I had no thought of leaving.”
“That shan’t be sufficient for me, my dear. Quite simply, I find that I cannot possibly live without you. Please say that you will marry me and make me feel whole.”
Felicia stared at him quite seriously for one moment before throwing herself into his arms with a whoop of joy. She welcomed his warm embrace with her own innocent enthusiasm.
About the Author
Wendy May Andrews has been reading whatever she could get her hands on since the age of five. She has been writing for almost as long but hasn’t been sharing those stories with anyone but her mother until recently. Wendy lives in Toronto with her own real-life hero. When not writing or reading, they love to travel wherever the mood takes them.
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