The Governess and Mr. Granville

by Abby Gaines

  “But never in love with me.”

  “No, but that wasn’t to be the case, anyway, Hester.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Does this other lady return your feelings?”

  “Naturally, I haven’t spoken to her on the subject,” he said. “Please believe that. I really don’t know her feelings.” He could only hope.

  She nodded. “Are you asking me to jilt you, Dominic?”

  Although a gentleman couldn’t jilt a lady, it was acceptable for the lady to change her mind. So long as she didn’t do it too often.

  “I think it would be best,” he said. For him, certainly. “But I’m aware it’s not that simple.”

  “You’re aware you’re likely my last hope for marriage,” she said grimly. “What Mama would say if I had to tell her I jilted you...”

  “I would support you in any way I can,” he assured her.

  Her smile was ironic. “You undertake to spare me a lifetime of recrimination from my mother? There’s only one way to do that, Dominic.”

  Marry her.

  “Then that’s what I’ll do,” he said. “Hester, I wouldn’t want you to suffer in any way.” He wouldn’t be so crass as to offer her money for a breach of promise now, but she must know it was there if she needed it.

  She stood, paced to the window. Out of courtesy, Dominic stood, too.

  “I understand that you had to tell me of your feelings,” she said. “It would be shabby for you to marry me without mentioning your heart is engaged elsewhere.”

  He nodded, unsure if this was heading toward an agreement to release him, or an insistence that the wedding go ahead. This was where his situation differed from Beaumont’s. He’d confessed his fault to someone he hoped would be more forgiving than the women Beaumont had deceived. But who knew, with a spurned woman...

  Hester turned around, her back to the glass. “Dominic, I have a confession, too.”

  He gulped. “You do?”

  “You see, when you asked me to marry you—” she paused “—my heart was already engaged, too.”

  He walked around the couch, over toward her. “Why didn’t you say?”

  Her smile was woeful. “I was sure you wouldn’t want to hear it.”

  “I wouldn’t have been in a position to object,” he said, “given I wasn’t offering a love match.”

  “The thing is, Dominic, the person who has my heart...is you.”

  The words fell into the silence.

  For a moment he thought he’d misheard. Then he registered that she’d pulled her handkerchief almost to shreds.

  “Hester?” He took a step nearer, but she held up a hand.

  “Please don’t think I’ve been pining for you for years, because I haven’t. But you always seemed the best of men to me, Dominic, and when I thought of marrying, it was always you—or someone exactly like you—that came to my mind. So when you offered for me...you might have offered for convenient reasons, but that’s not why I accepted.”

  He felt like a complete brute. “Hester, I’m sorry, my words today must have hurt you doubly.”

  “They did, but there’s not much we can do about that,” she said, with a return to the practicality he’d always admired. “But the fact is, I might have contemplated going ahead with our wedding knowing you cared for someone else, if I didn’t lov—care for you. But I do have those feelings, and I think it would really be too—” her voice caught “—too painful to proceed. So, Dominic, if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll jilt you.”

  * * *

  Grimes, Marianne’s maid, packed the last of Serena’s new dresses into her trunk and closed it. “There, miss, you’re all set.”

  “Wonderful,” Serena said brightly. As if leaving Woodbridge Hall tomorrow morning was the summit of her ambitions.

  Perhaps it was. Certainly “removing herself from temptation,” as Marianne put it, was the key to her happiness, if the unhappiness she felt now was any indication. She had to get away from Dominic. From the imminent danger of falling completely, utterly in love with another woman’s betrothed.

  There, she’d admitted it. Her ability to deny the strength of her feelings for Dominic hung by a thread. She blamed Marianne and Beaumont, who were so ridiculously happy that no one could help thinking about love in their presence.

  Serena was only thankful Dominic had been in London the past few days...even though that meant he’d been with Hester Lacey. Serena might be tormented with repeated visions of the kiss Dominic and Hester had parted with two weeks ago—how could a mere kiss on the cheek be so unbearable to watch?—but at least she’d been spared the sight of his increasingly lovable face, the sound of his more frequent laughter, the awareness of his growing tenderness for his children.

  But he was back.

  He’d returned late last night, breakfasted early, then stayed closeted in the library for hours. A little while ago, he’d asked for the children to be sent in.

  “I’ll have Gregory take this downstairs.” Grimes patted the trunk. “Can I help you with anything else?”

  “No, thank you, Grimes,” Serena said. “I’ll pack my last few things in my valise in the morning.”

  She went upstairs to the nursery, where she’d requested a special tea for the children tonight. A goodbye tea. The nursery maid was setting it up, and assured Serena there was nothing she could do to help.

  Serena hiccuped a sob as she gazed around the airy room, still bright with the late-afternoon sun streaming in through large windows.

  She heard the pounding of young feet, and pulled herself together before the children arrived.

  Not just the children. Dominic filled the doorway behind them, the perfect mix of tall and broad and handsome....

  She tore her gaze away. “Tea’s nearly ready, darlings.”

  The maid slipped past her to go and bring more food from the kitchen.

  “Miss Somerton, now I can tell you my secret.” William had been bursting with news this morning, but he’d said he wanted to tell his father first.

  “About time,” she joked. “Tell me quickly.”

  “You know how last night there was no moon, and it was dark and scary?”

  She nodded.

  “I sang the song Papa taught me, and I went to sleep!” the boy crowed.

  “Really?” she said. Behind him, Dominic was grinning like an idiot.

  “I was still afraid,” William confided, “so I sang it twenty-seven times....”

  “That many?” Serena asked, impressed.

  “Yes, or maybe it was twenty-eight. I kept falling asleep, so it was hard to count.” William screwed up his face in concentration.

  “Don’t worry about the numbers, just tell your story.” Dominic scooped William up into his arms and tucked him against his hip. “Oof, you’re growing far too big for me to carry.”

  William grinned at the compliment. “Anyway, I sang it and sang it and sang it....”

  “Twenty-seven or twenty-eight times,” Dominic told Serena.

  “So I hear.” His smile was so irresistible, she couldn’t help grinning back at him in a way that she feared looked sappy.

  “Yes! And then it was morning,” William said simply. He pulled back, almost making Dominic overbalance, and grinned.

  “Congratulations,” Serena said warmly. “It may not be the last time you’re kept awake by your fears, William, but now you know you can get past them. I’m convinced it will only get easier.”

  “That’s what Papa said.”

  Dominic lowered him to the floor. “Now that’s out of the way, the children have something to say to you.”

  She expected short speeches of thanks; she strongly hoped they weren’t intending to sing. When they lined up in age order, she suffered a qualm, but pinned an appreciative smile on her face.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Dominic said. “But don’t worry.”

  No song, then. She didn’t feel as relieved as she expected.

  H
etty stepped forward. “Miss Somerton, please stay.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Serena’s eyes flew to Dominic. She knew he hadn’t wanted her to leave before his wedding, but to use his children to convince her to stay was underhanded.

  “We have six reasons you should stay,” Hetty continued. “Number one, you love all of us children and we love you.”

  Nods from her siblings.

  “I do love you,” Serena said over a lump in her throat. “So much. But I’m afraid I can’t—”

  “Number two.” Thomas stepped forward. “You know a lot about lizards. Papa didn’t even know they’re called vert—invert—inverbrates.”

  “Invertebrates.” Relieved at his more pragmatic reasoning, Serena leveled an accusatory glance at Dominic. “Is that so?”

  He hung his head. “My ignorance is woeful.”

  “Disgraceful, I should say. Did your governess teach you nothing?”

  The children giggled.

  “If you leave,” Dominic said, “Thomas’s plan to turn this house into a wildlife refuge will be severely undermined.”

  “That would be a great shame,” she admitted. “But—”

  “Reason number three.” Charlotte raised her voice. “And I’m not shouting, it’s my turn to talk, only Thomas is taking too long. But I’m not blaming him,” she assured Serena quickly.

  “I hope not,” she replied. “Reason number three?”

  “Well, I’m not certain I should say this,” Charlotte confided, “but Papa says I may if I’m very quiet.” She leaned forward, and Serena offered her an ear. Charlotte whispered, “Papa says that if you leave, evil will prevail.”

  Serena gurgled a laugh. “Dominic, that’s too bad! I hope you’re not referring to Cook.”

  “You’re the one who decided she’s evil,” he pointed out.

  “It’s my turn.” William jiggled on the spot. “Miss Somerton, Papa says you can teach me to sing my ‘He Is With Me’ song so it sounds nicer. That’s number four reason to stay.”

  “I’m a governess, not a miracle worker,” she told his father severely. “William, I believe God loves to hear your song sung just the way you do it.”

  Dominic bestowed on her a smile so filled with tenderness that she had to put a hand to the nursery table to steady herself.

  “You’ve heard four reasons, Miss Somerton,” he said. “Are you convinced yet?”

  “Dominic, Mr. Granville, I can’t stay. I won’t.”

  He looked shocked...then he smacked his hand to his forehead. “I’m an idiot.”

  The children found that rather enjoyable.

  “In the excitement of William sharing his news, I forgot to tell you one very important piece of information I meant to divulge at the very start.” A rueful smile curved Dominic’s lips. “I omitted to mention that Miss Lacey has ended our betrothal.”

  “I—I’m sorry,” Serena said mechanically, her mind racing.

  “I hope you’re not,” he retorted, in a way that encouraged her imagination into all kinds of forbidden paths. “It’s a long story, one I will tell you in full later. But now, reason number five, the most compelling.”

  He glanced around, found Louisa, pushed her forward. “My secret weapon,” he said smugly. “I saved her for last. She’s irresistible.”

  “Very clever,” Serena murmured.

  Louisa handed her a piece of paper. “Look what I made.”

  Serena unfolded it.

  A painting. Written across the top, in Charlotte’s hand, since Louisa didn’t yet write, was the title: My Family.

  Serena made out five childlike figures. Two much bigger ones. A man with dark hair...

  “You’ll notice I have only two eyes,” Dominic said. “A vast improvement on my looks, some would say.”

  Serena examined the mess of colors and shapes. “Is this me?” She pointed to the figure of a yellow-haired woman, who, if she wasn’t mistaken, happened to be holding Dominic’s hand.

  “Miss Somerton, we need you for our family,” Louisa said.

  Serena nearly burst into tears.

  “Children, this is so sweet,” she said. “And so monstrously unfair.” The fact that Miss Lacey had broken things off didn’t mean Serena could stay. She shot a glare at him; he had the nerve to smile lovingly.

  Lovingly.

  Serena’s breath flew out of her.

  “You’ve done a wonderful job, children,” Dominic said. “But the last part of this is down to me.”

  Five pairs of eyes watched him expectantly.

  “You’re supposed to leave now,” he prompted.

  Their disappointment obvious, the children filed out. As they left, Dominic clapped the boys on the shoulder, kissed the girls.

  “That really was unfair,” Serena said when they were gone. “Who could resist?”

  “Not you, I hope,” he said.

  “Dominic...” She laughed shakily. “I don’t quite understand.”

  “Of all the woolly-headed women,” he groaned, then laughed at her outrage. “Isn’t it perfectly clear that the children love you and want you to stay?”

  “That much is clear,” she agreed. “And it’s clear to me,” she said softly, “that you love your children and they know it.”

  He emitted an embarrassed kind of sound that made her heart swell. While the blaze in his eyes made her pulse race.

  “What I haven’t made clear, my dear—” he began.

  “You called me that once before,” she interrupted. “It’s what you call your sister.”

  “Ah.” He reached for Serena’s hands. “Yours was more of a ‘my darling.’”

  “Better,” she approved, drinking in the warmth in his eyes, knowing she would never have enough of it.

  “My feelings for you, Serena—my darling—are such that I never thought to know again,” he said. “Yet also different from what I’ve felt before.”

  She squeezed his fingers.

  “I love you, Serena, with all my heart. Which brings me both joy and terror, as I know that love can be lost.”

  Confident now, she could afford to tease. “I wouldn’t want you to live in terror.”

  “Oh, I shan’t, not most of the time,” he said. “I know I have One to whom I can hand over all my fears, and I’m determined to get better at doing that. The real terror now, my sweet Serena, is that you might refuse my proposal of marriage.”

  He waited, expectant.

  “What proposal?” she said.

  “Ah.” He smacked his forehead again. “I knew I’d forget something else.”

  He went down on one knee before her, the way he’d assured his sister he would never do. “Serena, my darling, I love you. I can scarcely hope that you return my affections, but if you do have even a crumb of regard for me...will you marry me?”

  “No, I won’t marry you for a crumb,” she said.

  He paled.

  “You know perfectly well that I require wholehearted love on both sides,” she said. “I won’t marry for less.”

  “Then tell me you love me wholeheartedly,” he ordered. “Either that, or shoot me, but one way or another, put me out of misery.”

  “I would hardly want to orphan five children,” she said. “So I have no choice but to comply with your first request.” She tugged on his hands. “Please stand up, Dominic, and kiss me.”

  Who knew that Dominic Granville could be so obliging?

  Some time later, Serena snuggled into his arms. “I love you, Dominic,” she said. “You’re the finest man and the best father in the world.”

  He kissed her again. “I hate to quibble over the details, my darling, but you haven’t yet said that you’ll marry me.”

  “Ah.” She kissed his chin. “Dominic, I love you, and I know I’m of age so I don’t need permission, but I feel compelled to ask my parents before I accept. You understand, don’t you?”

  “No,” he said calmly. “But I knew you’d come up with some such woolly-headed objecti
on. I’m afraid I won’t allow it, Serena.”

  “Oh, you won’t?” she said, indignation sparking.

  “Don’t give me that look, my adorable one.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth. “Before I left London yesterday, I wrote to your father and told him I’ll agree to any terms he cares to name, but he can’t stop me proposing to you. Your settlement can bleed me for every last penny—he has my assurance in writing. Serena, I admire your father and the way you care for your parents’ good opinion, but your past is behind you. I am your future, and the sooner that future starts, the better.”

  She began to smile. “Dominic Granville, you’re a man of excellent sense.”

  “The kind of man,” he pointed out helpfully, “that you should marry.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Oh, yes, Dominic.” A laugh of pure joy burst from her as she went up on tiptoe to kiss him again.

  His arms closed around her with an eagerness that said he felt as she did: they had their second chance, both of them, and they would savor every moment.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt of A Baby Between Them by Winnie Griggs!

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