“I think Leah would want you to be happy. And she would want Jamie to be raised by someone who cares for and adores him. I can tell that Miss Ainsley does both.”
“Yes, she does. My only concern is that others will see her as Margaret has. That is a lot of pressure to put on someone, and I hesitate to even ask her to take on that type of burden. It’s not going to be easy for her.”
“Dowding, nothing is easy when it comes to relationships. If it wasn’t this challenge, it would be another.”
“You are right, Darnerton. If it is meant to work out, I have faith that it will.” Oliver sighed, and took another drink of port. “Now, tell me about your latest business ventures.”
* * *
The drawing room was silent. Priscilla sat there and slowly sipped her wine, trying to think of something to say to Lady Darnerton. The entire situation was awkward, and even though the rest of dinner had been relatively uneventful, Priscilla had forgotten that she would be expected to sit with Lady Darnerton following the meal.
“Leah was my closest, dearest friend.” Lady Darnerton said, breaking the heavy silence. “Jamie is the only thing on this Earth that is still a part of her, and I cherish that, greatly. I’m not saying that I want to be best friends with you, but I realize that I have been a bit harsh, Miss Ainsley.”
Priscilla nodded slightly, and then took a sip of her wine.
“I won’t apologize for doing what I think is best to protect my dearest friend’s legacy. However, I do care for Oliver, too, and I can see that he is smitten with you. Jamie, too, seems to be quite fond of you. So, with all of that now out in the open, if you like, I will give you guidance on what it requires to be a lady.”
“I really appreciate that, My Lady. It means the world to me, in fact. I know that Oliver and I come from two different worlds, but both of us accept that, and we are willing to work together to get me to where I need to be in regard to his standing.”
Priscilla watched Lady Darnerton. Again, she was silent for a moment, almost as if she was repeating Priscilla’s words in her head. She then took a sip of wine.
“Miss Ainsley. I will work with you to teach you what you need to know, as a favor to Oliver. All I ask in return, and please don’t take this the wrong way, is that you don’t do anything to mar the family name. I’m sure you understand that Oliver is taking a big chance entering into this courtship with you, and not everyone will be as understanding as we are.”
“I surely understand that, My Lady,” Priscilla replied while thinking that Lady Darnerton was still trying to test her. “I appreciate that you are willing to help me. I assure you that I will not do anything to affect Oliver’s reputation.”
“Oh, my Dear,” Lady Darnerton said with a smile. “Don’t you see? His reputation is already going to be tarnished when people find out he is courting an orphan turned governess. It is going to be my job to ensure that it is at least salvageable when all of this is said and done.”
* * *
Oliver was having trouble sleeping. When he and Darnerton had joined Margaret and Priscilla, the two were engaged in conversation about the dessert that was served at dinner. He was happy to see them talking. In fact, both of them were smiling and seemed engaged in the conversation.
However, something was bothering him. Priscilla just didn’t seem herself, and he wondered if Margaret had said something to her to make her upset. She just seemed…off…quiet, perhaps.
He turned onto his back and sighed. Unfortunately, he was unable to speak with Priscilla before they all retired for the night, but he would be sure to question her in the morning after Darnerton and Margaret were gone.
There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Margaret was an opinioned, yet refined, lady but she could certainly come off as tough and unyielding when it came to her thoughts about certain things, including his courtship with Priscilla. He hoped that this would be the worst of it, and that they wouldn’t have to deal with any other trials in their budding relationship.
* * *
“Miss Ainsley, you seem quiet this morning.”
Jamie had been in the school room for at least an hour, and Miss Ainsley had not said even twenty words to him. At first, he wondered if she were angry with him, but he couldn’t think of anything that he had done wrong. Then, he thought that maybe she was no longer happy with his father, but his father had clearly stood up for her last night. To Jamie, all of this was a big mystery.
“Oh, Jamie. I’m so sorry. My mind is just elsewhere today. I didn’t sleep well, and it is making me feel a bit off. I didn’t mean to ignore you or make you feel like I was being cold towards you. Please forgive me.”
“That’s good. I was worried for a minute. I thought you were angry at something.”
“Oh no. In fact, I’m quite happy. I feel very blessed to have you and your father in my life, and I’m also…happy that Lady Darnerton is willing to help me learn the ways of life that you are all accustomed to.”
“How is she going to help you?”
“I’d imagine that she is going to show me the proper ways to do things as a lady and what is required of me.”
“What about me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if you have other responsibilities, who is going to teach me?”
“Oh, Jamie.” Miss Ainsley smiled at him and touched his arm. “Soon, you won’t need a governess at all, so I would be leaving anyway. You are surely ready to join other young gentlemen your age away at school. As the son of a Duke, who will be a Duke himself, you need a proper education…not one that I can give you.”
He was silent for a moment, letting all of this sink in, and then said, “I will miss you when I go.”
“I will miss you, too. I have an idea, though. Let’s take our lessons outside today. We don’t want to let this day get too sad, right?”
That sounded like the perfect idea to Jamie.
* * *
“Your Grace, a letter from Lord Kenley.”
“Ah, thank you, Wright.”
Oliver took the letter and opened it quickly. He scanned the words on the page.
“Hmm. It seems like Lord Kenley would like to see the lift in action. He has asked if we can set up an appointment. Wright, I think I would like to invite him to dinner. They were gracious enough to have me to dinner at their home, so the least I can do is extend the invitation to him if he is coming anyway.”
“Yes, Your Grace. I think that sounds very nice.”
Though Lord Kenley was still not his most favorite person in the world, Oliver didn’t think it would hurt to get more friendly with him. After all, if he had more merchandise like the lift, Oliver thought that being friendly with Lord Kenley would give him better access to his offerings.
“I’ll write up a quick response, and you can get it out to him. Also, can you please have Miss Ainsley join me here after her lessons with Jamie?”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
“Thank you, Wright. In the meantime, I am going to walk over to the distillery. Do you need anything from me before I go?”
“No, Your Grace.”
“Very well. Thank you, Wright.”
Oliver stood up from his desk and began making his way through the house and over to the distillery. While he walked, he allowed himself to think about Priscilla for just a moment. Though he was quite distracted from her physical attributes while Darnerton and Margaret were visiting, since they left, all Oliver could think of was getting Priscilla into bed.
He knew that he would have to be a gentleman and get those thoughts out of his mind until it was the proper time. A little fantasising never hurt anyone, right?
Imagining Priscilla’s naked body laid out before him, her body naturally reacting to his movements and touch, was almost too much for him. He could already feel himself stiffening and straining against his trousers.
Oliver shook his head and continued to walk, pushing those erotic thoughts aside. Instead, he now focused on
Darnerton and Margaret. Things had gotten a bit uncomfortable during their visit, but ultimately, Margaret had consented to helping Priscilla settle into her future role, and even though Oliver was sure that neither of them were thrilled by the prospect, he was grateful that Margaret was willing to do it. Assuming things kept going as well as they had been, he and Priscilla would be married, and she would have to know all of the ways of being a lady.
“Welcome, Your Grace.”
The staff at the distillery noticed he was approaching. Since getting the lift, Wright had seen to it to re-arrange some of the duties of the staff, and unfortunately, they had to terminate the employment of others. Since then, Oliver felt as if some of the distillery workers were a bit cold and unwelcoming to him.
“Hello. How are things today?” Oliver said to the supervisor who was standing near the large, open doorway.
“Very well, Your Grace. We have improved our bottling time significantly, and thanks to the lift, we haven’t lost one barrel since it has been installed.”
“That is tremendous news! Just what I wanted to hear, in fact. I certainly want to make sure that it is working as I was told it would.”
“It absolutely is.”
“I am inviting the seller of this device, Lord Kenley, here to the distillery. I was hoping that you would meet with us to show him the lift in action. I think it will be next week at some point.”
“It would be my honor, Your Grace.”
“Perfect. Keep up the good work!”
Chapter 24
Priscilla was standing in front of Oliver’s office waiting to be called in. She was excited to see him and was hoping that their unplanned visit together would bring good news.
The footman motioned for her to enter, and when she did, Oliver was standing there with a large smile on his face. “Priscilla, please come in.” She wanted to fall into his arms and feel his body enveloping hers, but instead sat down at the table, where he promptly followed and sat next to her.
“I’m sorry if I pulled you away from anything this afternoon. I simply had to see you.”
“Of course not. I would choose seeing you over anything else.”
“I was hoping you would say that. Now, I want you to be honest with me about something. Are you truly accepting of Lady Darnerton’s assistance? If not, I can, perhaps, call upon my sister. She would be more than willing to help, I believe, but she and her family live in the north, almost in Scotland, and they would have to disrupt their lives for a time. I would prefer not to ask her that, but if you don’t want to learn from Margaret, I would completely understand. She was quite harsh at times.”
Priscilla felt blessed that she had a gentleman in her life like Oliver, who was so caring and focused on her own feelings.
“I certainly appreciate you offering to do that, Oliver, but really, it’s not necessary. Lady Darnerton is fine in this case. By the end of the evening, I think we were at a much better place. She just wants to make sure that I am suitable enough for you.”
“Indeed. I hope that she realized that you are very much suitable.”
“She said she would send a letter soon and we could set up an arrangement. Hopefully, she can come here for a few days and help.”
“That would be ideal, of course. I suppose the other alternative would have you going there, but that would be a strange home with strange staff. Here, you could learn in a place where you are comfortable and with people you know care for you.”
“I would prefer that, of course.”
“Me, too. Now, the other thing that I wanted to talk to you about is planning a day into town. I think it’s important that people start to see us together. We don’t want to give the impression that we are hiding anything. I plan on sending a letter to my sister to inform her of our plans. She should know now that Darnerton and Margaret have met you.”
Priscilla nodded. She would let him handle all of that. She knew that being with him would require things like this and it was far too complicated for her to understand at this point. “All of this is your decision, Oliver.”
“Well, not all of it.” He looked at her and smiled. “It’s your decision on whether or not you want to be with me forever.”
She chuckled, and then said, “Will you give me time to think? Forever is a long time.”
His laugh was like music to her soul, and the two of them laughed together in this one, perfect instant. “As much time as you need, Dear, but I would prefer sooner, rather than later. Ever since our…meeting…that night by the library, I have many times thought about our life together as a married couple, and I would certainly like that to happen soon.”
Again, she laughed, and even thinking about that moment between them caused an ache of desire for him. “I suppose there is no sense in waiting for too long. It’s not like I have a father for you to ask or anything. I suppose you could go ask the old vicar who used to come by the orphanage when I was young. He’s probably old and senile now, though, so who knows what he might say.”
Oliver’s booming laugh once again filled the office. “You are so funny. That’s just one of the reasons I love you.”
Those words caught Priscilla off guard for a moment. It was the first time he had said it, and though she was quite confident that she loved him, too, actually saying the words out loud made them very real.
She took a deep breath and then said, “I love you, too, Oliver.”
* * *
Jamie was waiting in the schoolroom for Miss Ainsley. It was not like her to not be here for their lessons. He looked up at the clock and it was almost ten minutes past when they normally began.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Miss Ainsley came rushing in. “I’m so sorry I am late, Jamie. I was speaking with your father. We have decided to go to town today.”
“Really?!” He was so excited that he forgot his manners momentarily and began clapping.
“Really,” she replied. “I want you to go tell Miss Slade where we are going, and I am going to write down a few quick notes of things that I want to show you while we are there.”
“Yes, Miss Ainsley.”
Jamie quickly left the schoolroom and made his way to the nursery where Miss Slade’s quarters were located. She would probably be in there reading, as she often did after breakfast.
As expected, when he opened the door she was sitting there with an open book in her lap. “My Lord?”
“Miss Slade! I’m so excited. Miss Ainsley came into the schoolroom and said that we, along with my father, are going to town today. She asked that I let you know.”
“Well, that’s wonderful, My Lord! Please tell her that I greatly appreciate her telling me. I would have sent out a search party to find you, otherwise.”
Jamie laughed. “I have no doubt that you would.”
“Be on your best behavior, My Lord. If your father is going, I suspect that they have decided that it is time to show the world their intensions.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that when a couple plans to be married, they do things like appear in town together or dance at a ball to show people that they are committing to each other to be married. It’s sort of like an engagement announcement, I suppose.”
“But I will be there. Wouldn’t they do that when I’m not there?”
“Of course not, My Lord. You will be a family. You are just as important to them as they are to each other. Now, I suspect that they will want to leave quickly, so you better get downstairs to the carriage.”
* * *
It was unlike Oliver to willingly leave his work behind like this, but they would only be gone for a few hours, and with the success of the lift in the distillery, they were well ahead on their orders this month. It was the perfect opportunity for the three of them to go to town.
“When we get there, what do you want to see, Jamie? I think you should choose since your father and I have been to town so many times.” Priscilla asked him. Oliver loved that she had taken such a caring role
for his son.
“I think I’d like to go to the sweet shop again.”
Priscilla laughed. “Of course you would. What else?”
“Could we have a cake at the inn?”
Priscilla looked up at Oliver. For a moment, Oliver was going to say absolutely not, but seeing Priscilla look at him made him reluctantly change his mind. The entire point of these visits to town was to show Jamie how most other people lived, and he supposed that other people ate in the inn. Oliver nodded.
The Devious Seduction 0f A Wayward Duke (Steamy Historical Romance) Page 22