Gossamer

by Rebecca Hagan Lee

  Elizabeth nearly panicked. She couldn’t be in charge of the nursery, because she had no idea what to do. “What about you?” she asked James.

  “I’m going to work.”

  “What do I do?” She lowered her voice to a whisper, not wanting the girls or Delia to hear. “You know I don’t know what to do. I’ve never done this before.”

  James reached under his dressing gown, searching his jacket pockets until he found what he was looking for. He took out a folded piece of Craig Capital stationery and handed it to her. “It’s the Treasures’ daily schedule. I wrote it down for you.”

  Elizabeth unfolded the sheet of paper and read it aloud. “Six A.M.—up and dressed for seven o’clock breakfast with father. Eight-thirty A.M.—supervised play time in the nursery. Ten A.M.—lessons.” She glanced over at James. “Lessons? What kind of lessons?”

  He shrugged. “Start with the basics. The alphabet, counting to ten, colors. Read them a story. Be creative.”

  Elizabeth nodded in agreement, then read the remainder of the schedule. “Eleven A.M.—lunch in the nursery. Twelve P.M.—nap. Two P.M.—daily walk in park for everyone including Diamond.”

  “Mrs. G. will show you where the carriages are kept, and Delia will accompany you.”

  “All right,” Elizabeth said.

  “Four P.M.—return home. Four-thirty P.M.—dinner in nursery. Six P.M.—baths. Seven P.M.—story. Seven-thirty or eight P.M.—bedtime.” Again, she looked over at James for an explanation.

  “Sometimes they fall asleep before the end of the story,” he said. “And sometimes the story is interrupted because, even though we’re weaning her, Emerald often cries for a bottle at bedtime.”

  “That’s a long day,” Elizabeth told him. “And a very full schedule.”

  “Yes, it is,” James agreed. “And I’m afraid your day is even longer. You see, although we try to keep Diamond on the same basic schedule as the others, she requires an early morning feeding or two.” He winced as he said the words.

  “How early?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I feed her before I retire for the night,” James said. “Then she usually requires another bottle around two or three in the morning.”

  Elizabeth gasped. No wonder the man had been desperate to find a governess. No wonder he was willing to have her arrested, bail her out of jail, and agree to pay her the princely sum of fifty dollars a day to come to Coryville. No wonder he looked so tired. No wonder his wife had died. A schedule like this could kill an ox.

  Recognizing the note of alarm in her voice and the expression on her face, James tried to reassure her. “Mrs. G. and Delia will help you during the day. And I’ll do my share at night. I’m usually home in time to help with baths, get them ready for bed, and read them a story.”

  “I’m relieved to hear it,” she replied.

  Realizing her sarcasm masked her apprehension, James gave her a knowing look. “And not only that,” he said, “but you’ll be relieved to see me as well.”

  “Is there anything else?” she asked, glancing back down at his bold handwriting on the schedule he’d written out for her to follow, suddenly uncomfortable with the warm, understanding expression on his face and in his eyes.

  “You did well this morning.” He walked over and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. This time James didn’t attempt to rein in his impulses. Taking full advantage of her speechlessness, he gently caressed her full bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. “You did very well this morning. I’m quite proud of you, Elizabeth.” His voice took on a rough husky quality. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine. Forget everything your grandmother ever taught you or said to you, and follow your own instincts and you’ll do just fine.” He winked at her. “Any more questions?”

  “Are you sure you have to go to work this morning?”

  She looked so appealing, standing there in her nightgown and bare feet, imploring him not to go to work, that James forced himself to fight the urge to give in and stay home and show her everything he knew about babies, including how to make them. Instead of kissing the worried look off her face the way he longed to do, he managed to laugh. “I most certainly do,” he said. “Especially if you expect me to pay you the outrageous sum of fifty dollars a day.” Unable to resist, he leaned closer until he was within an inch of exchanging breath with her. “It’s time to go to work, now. Time for you to earn your money.”

  “It’s time for you to earn money,” Elizabeth rebounded. “As much as you can. Because when I’m done with today’s schedule I may decide fifty dollars isn’t enough!”

  James laughed again. “There is one more thing, Elizabeth.”

  “What now?” she asked, rather ungraciously, wondering what other surprises he had up his sleeve.

  “Dinner for grown-ups is served at eight,” he said. “And I would consider it a very great honor if you’d join me.”

  Eighteen

  “DO YOU WANT to talk about it?” Will asked when James reentered the dining room.

  “What?” James gave Will a blank look and tried to avoid the question by pretending not to understand.

  But Will ignored James’s pretended ignorance and pressed on. “Don’t try to fool me, Jamie. You’re no good at it. I’ve known you too long. If you don’t want to talk to me about what’s bothering you, all you have to say is, ‘Will, I don’t want to talk about it.’ ”

  “Will, I don’t want to talk about it,” James replied.

  “Well, you need to,” Will decided. “I haven’t seen you so snarling and territorial in years.”

  James clenched his teeth and pinched the bridge of his nose, then heaved a resigned sigh and shrugged out of his dressing gown. He draped the silk garment over the back of a chair, then, realizing he was still covered in talcum powder, began brushing at the front of his suit. “Have you finished your breakfast?” he asked Will.

  “Yes.” Will pushed back his chair and stood up.

  James glanced up at the ceiling. “Then let’s go. We can talk in private while we walk to the office. I’ll let Mrs. G. know we’re leaving.” He left the dining room and walked into the kitchen, where Helen Glenross sat drinking a cup of tea at the large oak worktable.

  “Breakfast was delicious as usual, Mrs. G.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Ruby settled down a bit once I gave her the red dish. Thanks for the help.”

  “You’re welcome, sir.” Normally Helen Glenross didn’t interfere in her employer’s business, but Mr. Craig had been having such a hard time of it since that last poor excuse for a governess left, and she wanted to reassure him that this time he’d made a wise choice. “How did our Miss Sadler do?”

  James grinned. “She did fine, Mrs. G. You were right about her. She’s not as experienced with small children as I had hoped, but she handled herself and the Treasures very well.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, sir.”

  “Mr. Keegan and I are leaving for the office. I said good-bye to the girls,” James told her. “And I made it clear to them that Miss Sadler is in charge of the nursery, and I wrote out a schedule for her to follow. She’s to come to you for help if she needs anything. It may take her a while to settle in and become accustomed to the Treasures and the way in which we do things, but her presence should help relieve some of your responsibilities. I would appreciate it, however, if you can continue to help with Diamond. Miss Sadler is a bit apprehensive around her.”

  Mrs. G. nodded. “That’s perfectly understandable. A society lass like our Miss Sadler probably hasn’t been around many newborns.”

  “No,” James agreed. “But she’ll learn soon enough.”

  “That’s for certain,” Mrs. G. said. “And it will be a right good training for her. She’ll be an old hand at caring for babies by the time her own little ones come along.”

  James paused and looked at Mrs. G. as if the idea that Elizabeth might one day choose to leave his house to marry and have children of her own had never occurre
d to him, “I suppose you’re right.”

  Helen Glenross raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, surely you weren’t thinking our Miss Sadler will stay in service forever.” She shook her head. “Oh, no, that one will find a husband before too long and raise children of her own. She’ll not run out on you like the last governess did or cause herself to be dismissed like the others, but you can wager that she won’t be staying on permanently.”

  James knew better than to ask, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “Why not?”

  “Because one day you may decide to bring home a bride,” Mrs. G. answered. “New brides always make changes in the household staff. And our Miss Sadler won’t want to stay where she isn’t needed.” Or wanted. Helen Glenross had eyes. She understood, even if James Craig did not, why Miss Sadler had decided to stay. And if Mr. Craig got tired of being a widower and brought home a new bride, Miss Sadler would be on her way. Not that Miss Sadler was after his money. Nothing of the sort. From what she’d seen of her, Elizabeth Sadler looked very much like a young lady on the verge of falling in love. It wouldn’t hurt to give Mr. Craig a tiny warning not to take his new governess for granted.

  James cleared his throat as he headed for the dining room door. “I don’t think you have to worry about that any time soon, Mrs. G. What innocent young girl would be willing to take on a man of my reputation? Especially when I come equipped with four Chinese daughters?”

  “Maybe an innocent young Chinese girl,” Mrs. G. replied, teasing.

  But James Craig didn’t hear the teasing note in her voice. He only heard the suggestion. He glanced down at the sheen on his highly polished shoes. “Not again, Mrs. G. Never again. I don’t think I could survive it.”

  “I THOUGHT WE were going to talk.” Will Keegan lengthened his stride to keep pace with James. James hadn’t said a word since leaving the house. In fact, he hadn’t said a word since he’d left the kitchen. And James had left the kitchen in a hurry. He’d paused long enough in the study to retrieve his leather satchel, then headed straight out the front door at such a pace, Will immediately suspected the kitchen might be ablaze.

  “Will, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Well, that’s just too bloody damn bad,” Will told him. “Because something’s got your tail tied into knots, and I’m not going to let you keep it all bottled up inside. It makes you too bloody hard to live with! Now, what is it about Beth that’s got you all lathered up?”

  “What makes you think that what’s bothering me has anything to do with Elizabeth?” James snapped.

  Will burst out laughing. “How can it not? Two days ago you were the same Jamie Craig I’ve come to know and love, and today you’re a virtual stranger. So what’s changed in the one full day since I last saw you except that you’ve gone and hired yourself a right beauty of a governess named Beth?”

  “Her name is Elizabeth, Will,” James said. “As in LilyBeth. Does that name ring a bell?”

  “San Francisco Lilybeth? Russ House Lilybeth? The one the men were gossiping about?” Will stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the brick-paved path that led from James’s house around the park to the Main Street office of Craig Capital, Ltd., beside the First National Bank of Coryville.

  “The same,” James said.

  “Thunderation, Jamie! What were you thinking to bring her to Coryville and into your home?”

  “I hired her as governess for my children,” James reminded him.

  “After you spent the night with her in San Francisco,” Will added. “Are you sure that’s wise? How many nights have you spent in her company? What do you know about Elizabeth Sadler?”

  “I’ve only spent one night in her company.” James paused, frowning. “Two, if you count last night.”

  “Exactly my point,” Will said. “I know you’re desperate for a governess, but you don’t know enough about this woman to take her into your home and into your bed.”

  James sighed. “I didn’t take her to bed, Will. I spent the night in her room at the Russ House, but not in her bed.”

  Will glanced over at James, a skeptical look on his handsome face. “She looked awfully cozy in her nightclothes, Jamie, with her hair still in its braid and her feet bare. She looked completely at home and natural—as if she was accustomed to sharing an intimate breakfast with you.”

  James laughed. “You call the presence of four children, a housekeeper, two maids, and yourself intimate?”

  Will quirked an eyebrow at James. “She invited me to join you as if she had the right—as if you’d given her the right. What was I supposed to think? The other governesses you hired didn’t come to breakfast in their nightclothes.”

  “That was my fault,” James said. “I rushed her. I didn’t give her a chance to bathe and dress because I—”

  “What?” Will asked, although he had a very good idea that James’s next words were only going to confirm his suspicions.

  “I wanted to be sure she ate something,” James said.

  “Why?”

  “Because she didn’t touch her supper tray last night. Because I thought that—” He stopped and raked one hand through his hair. “Oh, hell, what does it matter what I thought?”

  “Don’t read anything into her skipping supper, Jamie,” Will warned. “You know how women can be. Maybe she’s watching her waistline. Maybe she just wasn’t hungry. Maybe she had a big lunch.”

  James shook his head. “She didn’t have any lunch, Will. They don’t serve lunch at the San Francisco City Jail.”

  “What?” Will was genuinely surprised.

  “I couldn’t wait for you to get back, Will. I left for San Francisco without you yesterday because I needed to get there before the city police arrested her. I had asked for a couple of favors and set a few wheels in motion …” James felt, rather than saw, Will’s censure and held up a hand to forestall the outburst he knew was coming. “I regretted it immediately, Will, and I was doing my damnedest to get into town before the police hauled her into jail for stealing a handkerchief from me.”

  “So, that’s why you commandeered the express train,” Will interrupted.

  “Yes. But I was too late. The Treasures were being difficult yesterday morning and Mrs. G. had her hands full so I had to stay and help out as long as I could, and by the time I arrived, Elizabeth had already been arrested, charged with theft and destruction of private property, and jailed because she didn’t have enough money to pay the fifty-dollar fine Judge Clermont levied against her,” James told him.

  “Whoa.” Will held up his hand. “Whose property did she destroy?” He shook his head. “Wait, don’t tell me yet. Just start at the beginning.”

  James took a deep breath and began. He told Will everything. And by the time they left the brick path and entered the elegant American headquarters of Craig Capital, Ltd., and the private suite of offices James and Will occupied on the second floor, Will Keegan knew as much about Elizabeth Sadler as James did.

  “So you see,” James concluded, dropping his leather satchel on his desk. “I need you to do a little digging for me. Lo Peng will have members of the Tong watching me too closely. I need you to use your contacts outside Craig Capital to discover what happened to Elizabeth’s brother and why she risked so much by alienating a powerful warlord like Lo Peng.” He sat on the edge of his desk.

  “Does she have any idea how powerful Lo Peng is or how much she’s risked?” Will asked, pulling James’s desk chair around to the side of the big mahogany desk where he sat down on it, propped his feet up on the desk and crossed his ankles.

  “No,” James said. “I warned her to stay away from him and his business, but I think that as far as she’s concerned, Lo Peng is just the angry owner of the Washington Street opium den she vandalized. And I don’t want her to know any differently unless it’s necessary.”

  “It may not be wise to keep her in the dark about the danger she could be in,” Will replied.

  “It may not be wise, Will, but it’s
necessary,” James said. “Elizabeth already has the typical American distrust and dislike of the Chinese. So, even if she doesn’t quite understand how powerful an enemy she’s made in Lo Peng, she knows enough to be wary of him, perhaps even afraid of him. As long as Lo Peng keeps his word and Elizabeth keeps her distance, she’s safe. I don’t want to alarm her by telling her the truth about Lo Peng. I don’t want to fan the flames of her prejudice. I won’t risk having her dislike of the Chinese, in general, or her fear of Lo Peng, in particular, adversely affect the Treasures.”

  Recalling the scenes he’d witnessed at breakfast, Will said, “I don’t think you need worry about Elizabeth’s fears adversely affecting those little gems.”

  “I hope you’re right,” James said. “But you didn’t see the way Elizabeth reacted to the sight of them when we arrived at the house yesterday. She actually recoiled in horror and refused to get close to them, much less touch them.”

  “She seems to have gotten over her fear,” Will commented with a shrug of his shoulders. It wasn’t that he dismissed James’s parental concern or Elizabeth’s disappointing first reaction to the Treasures lightly, but from what Will had seen this morning, she seemed to have come to terms with her feelings. “Thunderation, Jamie! Neither one of us wanted to touch little …” He let his voice trail off for a moment, then continued, “If the truth be known, I didn’t want to touch Ruby the first time I saw her, either. Not because she was Chinese, but because she was so blamed little. I was scared I’d damage something. Did you ever think that maybe Elizabeth’s reaction had more to do with the Treasures’ ages and sizes than with the color of their skin?”

  No, he hadn’t. The fact that she might have been afraid of his little girls because they were so small compared to the girls she must have taught at the girls’ school she’d worked in had never occurred to him.

  “Give the woman a fair chance, James,” Will told him. “After all, not everyone is brought up with a working knowledge of infants.”