Satisfied he had logically explained away his uncharacteristic and odd fascination with his sons’ governess, Dolph rolled onto his side and slept.
Chapter Six
‘Not too close to the water, boys, or you will get wet feet.’
The following day Leah watched, smiling, as Stevie and Nicky played with Wolf on rock-strewn Dolphin Beach—a small, secluded cove on the Bristol Channel, sheltered by low sandstone cliffs with angled faces—the eastern cliff rising a touch higher towards Dolphin Point at its head. It was from here that poor Lady Dolphinstone had slipped to her death. The thought always made Leah shudder, but the boys—unaware of the location of their mother’s tragic accident—loved to run around the beach and release their pent-up energy after suffering an entire morning of lessons.
At least here on the beach there was no danger of disturbing anyone, unlike if they ran whooping and shrieking around the house and gardens. Here, the breeze soon carried away the sounds of their exuberance, and Leah was a great believer in the efficacious effects of sea air. Today, the boys had the added bonus of Wolf to play with, and Leah’s legs were saved from taking part in their game of chase.
It had been a frustrating morning. After their encounter last night, Leah had fully expected His Lordship to look in on the boys’ lessons. Truthfully, she had eagerly anticipated his visit even as she assured herself she merely wished to show him how well the boys had progressed with their lessons.
Last night, upon opening Stevie’s door to find Lord Dolphinstone looming there—clad in a deep red dressing gown, the neck of his nightshirt agape, revealing a tantalising glimpse of dark chest hair—heat had scorched her skin as she’d struggled to hide her instinctive response to the sight of him. He was so...commanding. Tall, upright and ruggedly handsome with penetrating grey eyes. She couldn’t help but be physically attracted to him, even though she scolded herself for reacting like an infatuated schoolgirl.
But today, for all his fine words, he had not visited the schoolroom as promised. When she and the boys were preparing for their customary walk before luncheon, she had learned the reason for his absence—His Lordship was showing Lord Hinckley around the estate and the surrounding area.
So much for making his children his priority.
The boys had asked after their father, and Leah told herself any disappointment was purely on their behalf and nothing to do with her own wish to see him again. She knew words meant nothing, from past experience—it was a person’s actions that revealed their true character. So far, Dolphinstone’s actions had done nothing to persuade Leah of his worth as a man. Men such as he felt entitled to do as they pleased, concerned only with their own needs and pleasures without consideration of the consequences for others.
Men like her real father, Lord Tregowan. Men like Peter, Papa’s curate. Men like Lord Usk.
His Lordship had left Wolf behind when he and Lord Hinckley had set off on their tour, and feeling sorry for the dog, Leah had suggested to the boys he might join them on their walk. Although both boys had been wary at first, Nicky had soon gained his confidence, and Stevie, determined not to be outdone by his little brother, had soon joined in and was now happily haring around the beach with Wolf, dodging the boulders that dotted the patches of shingle and sand.
Leah closed her eyes and tilted her head back, breathing in the bracing air, trying, without much success, to quiet her conflicting emotions: nervous excitement at the change and opportunity coming her way; eagerness at the prospect of getting to know Aurelia and Beatrice; anxiety as to what the future held; dread at the prospect of leaving this place and the children.
She spun around at the crunch of shingle behind her, her heart leaping into her throat, to see Lord Dolphinstone and his friend Lord Hinckley—both well wrapped up against the cold weather in greatcoats, scarves and gloves—approaching.
‘Oh! You startled me.’ She put her hand to her chest, which heaved as though she had run the length of the beach. ‘I did not hear you approach.’
As her fear subsided she felt her cheeks scorch and a curious swooping pull deep in her belly as her gaze met that of Lord Dolphinstone, in spite of her earlier annoyance that he hadn’t visited the schoolroom. Heavens! What a ridiculous state of affairs—a twenty-six-year-old spinster governess reacting like a breathless girl of eighteen at the mere sight of her employer. An earl, no less. But, surely, that had been an answering blaze in those hard grey eyes of his...just as there had been last night. Or had that been a trick of the candlelight?
Or the product of a too-vivid imagination! You are seeing what you want to see. Did you learn nothing from that episode with Viscount Usk?
One thing was certain—she could not put this reaction down to the magic of the night and their state of undress, as she had last night. Her face burned even hotter. She put her gloved hands to her face, praying Dolphinstone would attribute her flushed cheeks to the sea breeze. She never could blush a pretty pink, but always turned a fiery red that clashed with her hair.
‘I am not surprised with all the racket the boys are making,’ Dolphinstone said dryly as he turned his attention to the boys.
Lord Hinckley, however, grinned at Leah in a friendly manner. ‘What a splendid place to grow up. I wish I’d had this when I was a lad. You don’t know how lucky you are, Dolph. My place, Miss Thame, is in the Midlands—as far from the coast as it is possible to be in this country.’
Leah smiled back at him, grateful for any distraction from the brooding figure by his side.
‘Dolph has been showing me around the place this morning, so I have my bearings,’ Hinckley continued. ‘Good of you, old man—’ he slapped Lord Dolphinstone’s back ‘—when I know you were eager to visit the children at their lessons. Do you know, Miss Thame, upon our return, Dolph was so disappointed he had missed them, he insisted on coming straight down here to find you all.’
Leah’s earlier irritation with Dolphinstone faded. At least he’d been thinking about the boys...and Lord Hinckley was his guest, so he did have a duty as his host. Mayhap she’d been a bit harsh in her condemnation—it was only his first morning home, after all.
Hinckley continued, ‘Look at your fine, healthy lads, Dolph. They’re a sight for sore eyes, sure enough.’
‘They are indeed.’
Leah noticed a touch of strain in Dolphinstone’s voice, and she caught his sideways glance up towards Dolphin Point. A muscle bunched visibly in his jaw, and he looked away. Leah sympathised. This beach must revive tragic memories for him. The cliff might not be high, but the mounds of rock at its base would prove lethal to anyone who fell, even when the tide was high. She suppressed another shudder, thoughts of the late Lady Dolphinstone close to the surface.
‘Anyway, I have my bearings now,’ Hinckley went on, ‘and I promise not to monopolise so much of your time in future. I am afraid you will have to bear my company for a few weeks yet, Miss Thame. I cannot face another long, bruising journey until this wretched shoulder heals, so I shall remain until it is time to return to London for the Season.’
Leah frowned. Did that mean Dolphinstone, too, would be leaving the children to go to London again? And how would these two aristocrats react if they saw her—Dolphinstone’s former governess—at Society events? She thrust aside those questions for now.
‘How did you come by your injury, my lord?’
Hinckley reddened. ‘A misunderstanding, that is all. Nothing too serious, you understand, but I am grateful for the opportunity to rusticate.’ He surveyed the beach and the surrounding cliffs. ‘I wonder...do you see much of your friend Miss Strong? I was sorry she had to rush away yesterday.’
‘You forget, my lord—I am here to work. My days are taken up with teaching the boys.’
‘Teaching?’ Dolphinstone dragged his attention from his sons and stared at Leah. ‘What is it they are learning here, other than to run wild?’
Leah stiffened, wounded by such unfairness. ‘They are hardly running wild, my lord.’ She kept her tone even and polite, but the knowledge she would soon be leaving gave her the courage to defend the boys. ‘They have worked diligently all morning, and they are now benefitting from much-needed fresh air and exercise. Young boys, in case you have forgotten, have a surfeit of energy that needs release on a daily basis.’
‘You cannot argue with that, Dolph. You were one yourself, once. Allegedly.’ Hinckley grinned at Leah, waggling his eyebrows. ‘Now...where is that cave you told me about?’ Dolphinstone, his lips tight, pointed to the western cliff. ‘Ah, yes. I see it. I must take a closer look. Do either of you care to accompany me?’
‘I must stay and watch the boys,’ Leah said, when Dolphinstone remained silent, even though the question was clearly not meant for her.
‘I will stay here too,’ said Dolphinstone. ‘I outgrew my fascination with caves long ago and that one is hardly worthy of the name. It is disappointingly shallow.’
‘But I have never been inside a cave before. You cannot expect me to pass up such an opportunity, Dolph.’
Dolphinstone grinned, shaking his head at Hinckley. ‘You never cease to amaze me, George.’
Hinckley strode away across the beach, leaving Dolphinstone with Leah, who wondered if he would deliver another reprimand following that jibe about the boys’ noisiness and excitement. In the ensuing silence, she reflected that if Dolphinstone should prove a harsh father it would make leaving the boys even more distressing for her, although at least it would counteract any physical attraction she felt for him.
It had been many years since that part of her nature had stirred, not since she had fallen for Viscount Usk’s silver-tongued compliments and cajolery. That, as well as Peter Bennett’s false courtship to gain favour with Papa, had been a harsh lesson to learn, but she had learned it well.
‘I apologise for my earlier remark, about Steven and Nicholas running wild.’ Dolphinstone’s voice broke into her thoughts, sounding strained, his expression, in profile, somewhat grim. A gust of wind caught his hat, and as he grabbed it, one end of his scarf was blown from around his neck. He rammed his hat back on his head and held it secure with one gloved hand. ‘I can see they are not. They have clearly thrived under your care.’
‘There is no need to apologise to me, my lord.’
‘There is. I... I do not care for this place, but that is no reason to take it out on you.’
Leah gripped her hands together against her natural instinct to touch him in sympathy. To offer comfort. As she would do for anyone, male or female, in distress. But she had already succumbed to an inexplicable urge to touch him, last night...so tempted by that glimpse of hair at the open neck of his nightshirt that she had laid her hand against his chest to propel him away from the boys’ door. Her fingertips tingled at the memory. That was a boundary she would not cross again.
She would be leaving here within the next few weeks, however, and she was emboldened to touch upon subjects she might otherwise avoid.
‘I understand,’ she said. ‘It must bring back painful memories.’
His gaze raked her, his expression inscrutable. ‘It does. Tell me, do the boys ever talk about their mother?’
‘They do. Especially Stevie. Being that bit older, he remembers more, and he still misses her a great deal.’
‘Remembers...? He does not know about...about...what happened?’
‘He knows she had an accident, but he knows no details. That is why this beach is still a happy place for the boys to come and play—I did not think there would be any benefit in them knowing the location.’
‘No. That is true. I should have thought...’ He folded his arms across his chest as his words faded. He stared out across the water. Then he visibly swallowed. ‘I was not thinking rationally when I left. But I should have thought of that and left instructions. You made the right choice in not telling them more. Thank you. I count myself fortunate it was you who answered my advertisement—Mr Pople has told me how good you have been. As you said last night, I did not even wait to ensure you were capable, let alone kind. I should never have left as I did.’
He fell silent. His claim of not thinking rationally echoed what Philippa had said to Leah several times, in defence of Dolphinstone’s abandonment of his children. Leah had still found his behaviour hard to excuse, however. The wind had dropped a little, and Dolphinstone used the lull to wrap his scarf securely around his neck again. ‘This wind is chilly. But, then, it is the first day of February. It is to be expected.’
Leah deduced from the change of subject that the confidences—and the apology—were over.
‘Do not blame yourself too much, my lord. You were distraught. But it is in the past now. They—’ she gestured to Steven and Nicholas, who were trudging back up the beach, while Wolf investigated the rocks at the base of the cliff ‘—are what is important now. Them and Matilda.’
Dolphinstone’s lips quirked. ‘You may continue to call her Tilly. And I shall even endure Stevie and Nicky for my sons. For the time being. I have no doubt they will be called far worse things when they go to school.’
The thought of either boy being sent away to school was unbearable, even though Leah would be long gone by then. The fact of her imminent departure from this place and from the children she loved hit her all over again, as it had done at unexpected times throughout the morning even though she tried to ignore any thoughts about her future while she was with the boys. At those times she felt herself gripped by the fear and uncertainty of giving up her life here, and the worry she would fail to find a man who might fall in love with her...a man with whom she could be happy. Whenever she thought of the Season to come, her stomach tied into knots, for she would be competing in the marriage stakes not only against all the young ladies making their debuts this year, but also against Aurelia and Beatrice, both of whom would match her fortune and both of whom were far prettier, and younger, than Leah.
And now she had the worry of meeting Lord Hinckley—let alone, God forbid, Lord Dolphinstone—in London to add to her fear of seeing that rat Lord Usk again.
‘Miss Thame?’
Leah came to with a start.
‘Wool-gathering again?’ His Lordship asked, dryly. ‘Is this a habit of yours...a quirk I must become accustomed to?’
She was spared from reply by Nicky, who reached them ahead of Stevie and now held out his hand to show them something.
‘Miss Thame! Look what I found. It’s sea glass like you showed us before. The sea’s made it all smooth. Here.’ He handed it to Leah. ‘It is a present.’
‘Why, thank you, Nicky. It is beautiful. I shall treasure it.’ Her throat thickened with emotion.
‘Good afternoon, Father.’ Stevie halted about three paces from Dolphinstone and bowed.
So solemn and correct... Leah’s heart went out to him. He’d taken his position as the oldest—he was now seven, to Nicky’s five—so seriously in the time she had been here, and now he stood before his father, unsmiling, like a little soldier presenting himself for inspection. She willed Dolphinstone to do, or say, something to help the boy relax, but a glance at the man revealed his indecision, and she recalled his awkwardness with his sons yesterday. But how could she help them when this was a moment strictly between father and son?
As it happened, she was saved from having to intervene by Wolf, who, unlike Stevie, was absolutely convinced of his welcome. He barrelled up to them, tongue lolling, tail wagging furiously. He stopped midway between Stevie and Dolphinstone and shook himself vigorously.
* * *
Dolph flinched as ice-cold drops of sea water showered over him. Stevie and Nicky both shrieked with laughter, dancing away from Wolf, and the strained atmosphere eased. Suddenly, it seemed easier to know how to act with his sons. He knew what he didn’t want—he didn’t want his son to bow to him or to be
stiffly formal. Despite his jibe at Miss Thame earlier, he preferred to see them as they had been on his arrival at the beach. Running around, playing, having fun. She was right—they had worked hard, and they deserved a chance to run off their excess energy. And he wanted them both to feel as relaxed with him as they were with their governess, who, at this moment, was laughing with the boys as she attempted to restrain an overexcited Wolf. Her unfettered laugh was musical. The joy on her face warmed him. And that she could have fun with the boys as well as teach them effectively was a definite bonus. The affection between them all was clear to see.
‘Here. Allow me.’ Dolph reached around Miss Thame to take hold of the dog’s collar. His gloved hand closed over hers. He heard her sharp intake of breath, and he loosened his grip. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I hope I didn’t hurt you. I know how strong Wolf is... I have difficulty in holding him myself if he is determined to go.’
She turned her face to him. She was close. Too close. Her deep turquoise eyes fathomless like the ocean, framed by thick, auburn lashes and straight, no-nonsense eyebrows. Countless light brown freckles danced across her nose. Freckles that seemed far too frivolous for such a straight nose and for a prim, proper and practical governess. Her scent mingled with the sea breeze—soap, with the merest hint of lavender. Her lips were parted in surprise, and the urge to kiss her grabbed him. It took hold of him deep inside, squeezing until he felt breathless.
The Rags-to-Riches Governess--A Cinderella Regency Romance Page 6