How Not to Chaperon a Lady--A sexy, funny Regency romance

by Virginia Heath

  ‘Senhora Carris.’ His voice was bitter. ‘Do not tell me you seek a position as governess.’

  She smiled uncertainly. ‘I am afraid your butler jumped to that conclusion. I—I am Miss Pearson now. You—you have children, then?’

  Did she think he’d had time to procreate? She knew how long the war had lasted.

  ‘They are not mine.’ He had no intention of explaining further. ‘You deceived my butler?’

  ‘I did not intend to deceive him. He asked me if I was seeking a position as governess, which I am—seeking a position, that is. But I did not know before I came that you needed a governess.’

  ‘Enough.’ He held up a hand. ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘I—I would not have come—would never have asked you—’ She faltered. ‘I need help.’

  The timbre of her voice pulled at him. Like a Siren’s song. How could that male part of him still respond to such allure?

  He made himself glare at her. ‘Why not ask your husband for help?’

  She lowered her gaze. ‘My husband is dead.’

  Grant gave a bitter laugh. ‘Truly this time?’ Throughout their affair she’d lied, saying her husband was dead. Grant despised lies, perhaps above all things.

  ‘He was killed. His family believes I killed him.’

  ‘And you did not?’ The woman he’d foolishly let himself love would have been incapable of such a thing. Except she’d been a mere illusion.

  ‘Certainly I did not!’ Her eyes flashed. ‘But—but they all believe I am to blame.

  By God, this felt familiar. Denying what everyone else said was true. At any rate, what had this to do with him?

  Grant steeled his heart against her. ‘If you are hoping I will vouch for your character, I am afraid I will be no help to you at all.’

  She took a step forward. ‘I am desperate, Grant. My husband’s brother is searching for me. To take me back—’

  For imprisonment? Hanging? Grant stood stiffly behind his desk.

  She faced him from the other side. ‘I know I have no right to ask you. I did not know anyone else—’ Her voice cracked, but she seemed to pull herself together again. ‘I need a place to stay—or money to pay for one—just for a month or two. By then my old headmistress will have found me a position and I can disappear.’

  ‘A position?’ Was she really looking for employment?

  ‘Governess. Companion. Teacher. Any of them will allow me to disappear.’ Her tone was earnest. Panicked.

  ‘You expect me to believe that the wife—pardon me, the widow—of a Portuguese baron’s son searches for paid employment?’

  She gave him a direct look. ‘I expect nothing. I ask for your help and I await your answer.’

  He turned away from her and glanced out of the window. The snow was now so thick it had turned the shrubbery into mere shadows.

  Fate conspiring against him again.

  He spoke. ‘If you hurry your carriage might still make it to the village. There is an inn there.’

  ‘I have no money for an inn. Or a carriage. I walked from the village.’

  He glanced at her shoes, which did appear to be soaked through. As they would be if she’d walked seven miles. In snow.

  He turned back to the window. The snowflakes swirled in wayward gusts of wind, as if mocking him. A caustic laugh burst from him. How ironic that she should arrive at this exact moment—he could not send even a dog out in such weather.

  She moved forward once more and leaned across his desk. Her voice was filled with emotion. ‘I vow to you that I did not have anything to do with my husband’s death—’

  He swivelled back to her. ‘You vowed to me before.’

  She did not falter. ‘Yes. I did. Because I had nothing to do with the spying—’

  ‘You took those papers from my coat.’

  ‘I did not!’ Her voice rose. ‘I never knew of such papers. I told you then.’

  He’d had papers detailing Wellington’s plans for the winter, documenting areas of weakness along the Lines of Torres Vedras, the fortifications against French attack. He’d stopped to see Lillian, to spend an hour with her—an intimate hour—after which he’d discovered the papers missing from his coat—the coat she’d hung over a chair, out of his sight.

  He glared at her. ‘Who else had the opportunity?’

  He’d left her and immediately sounded the alarm. Fate had been kinder to him in those days, and the papers were intercepted on their way to Marshall André Masséna, commander of the French Army of Portugal. The crisis had been averted.

  His anger smouldered with the memory. ‘The messenger caught with the papers said you gave them to him.’

  She acted surprised. ‘But I did not. You must believe me.’

  He had once believed in her.

  ‘From what I heard later, you were a known agent of the French.’ He’d realised then that she’d involved herself with him purely to gain information. It had been said that her suddenly reappearing husband had begged everyone to forgive her and promised to control her. It had been all too convenient. The husband’s absence and subsequent return must have been part of the plan.

  She met his gaze. ‘I was never an agent of the French.’

  He waved her words away. ‘Why would I ever believe you again?’

  Their gazes held and for a moment Grant heard the Siren’s song.

  He turned away and gestured to the window. ‘Obviously I cannot send you out in a blizzard, tempting though that is.’ He was not such a monster. ‘You may remain until it is safe to return to the village. But stay out of my way.’

  Her voice became very quiet. ‘Thank you, Grant.’

  Her words struck him like a sabre thrust. As if they were genuine.

  He sat at his desk and pretended to look at his papers. ‘Return to the hall and ask Thompson to come and see me right away.’

  He heard her walk to the door, the tumult inside him threatening to explode.

  * * *

  Lillian’s knees were shaking as she crossed the threshold, walked through the anteroom past the ornate staircase with its gilt balusters, and back into the hall.

  Her handsome Grant. The mere sight of him had made her errant body come alive with desire. He was every bit as tall and muscular as she remembered, with his dark curly hair and lean face. His expressive brows framed changeable hazel eyes that appeared grey this day, like storm clouds. At least he’d not smiled. His smile, like sunshine on a crisp spring day, would have been impossible to resist. He’d always been smiling during those wonderful days when they were together.

  Still, she yearned for that smile.

  Deep inside, she hoped he’d realise the truth, that he would welcome her, not despise her after all these years.

  His anger hurt like a knife in her breast, adding to the still open wound of his believing she would lie to him, steal from him, betray him.

  The butler stepped forward at her appearance. She noticed right away that he—or one of the servants—had wiped up the puddles her clothing had dripped onto the patterned marble floor.

  ‘He wishes to see you,’ she managed.

  ‘Very good, miss.’

  As soon as Lillian heard the door of the library close, she hurried to the front door and opened it. A flurry of snow stung her eyes and clung to her skirts. She retrieved the portmanteau that contained everything she now owned from where she’d left it outside the door. When she closed the door again, a pile of snow had blown in, at least an inch deep on the beautiful marble floor. She’d offer to clean it up. What else could she do?

  The hall was a wonder. Not even the hall at the Palácio da Anunciada in Lisbon rivalled it. The walls and ceiling were adorned with carved plasterwork, stark white against pastel blue and beige. The circular plasterwork on the ceiling echoed the pattern on the floor. She found
the hues and the symmetry calming. And she was in very great need of calm.

  The library had been adorned with similar colour and plasterwork, but with Grant glaring at her nothing could have been calming in there.

  She glanced back at the snow, now melting into puddles. Where would she find a rag to mop it up? She did not wish to do anything to further displease Grant, if his enmity for her was not already at its upper limit. He had offered her safety, though.

  At least for today.

  She’d fled from Portugal to her old school in Reading, the only place she’d been able to think of to find help. She had no family to run to—only her mother, who remained in Brazil, where she and her new husband had fled during the French invasion.

  Not that her mother would have helped her.

  Lillian’s former headmistress, though, had welcomed her with open arms. She’d felt safe until Dinis, her husband’s brother, the Baron de Coval, had arrived. Looking for her. Vowing to make her pay for her husband’s death.

  He’d been at her heels ever since. She’d run from coaching inn to coaching inn, but twice she’d seen him and his servant arrive at the inn just as her coach was pulling out. She’d needed a place where no one would look for her. When the coach she’d hopped on happened to pass through the village near Grant’s estate she’d impulsively alighted—no one would dream she’d run to the man who believed her a liar and a traitor. Would they?

  All that might be moot now. Grant would likely banish her and she had no money to keep running. Dinis would find her.

  But she could not think of that now. Grant had given her time to rest, to think of what to do next.

  The wail of a child sounded behind her. She whirled around.

  A young boy burst from a doorway. ‘She’s hurt! She’s hurt! She fell down the stairs!’

  Lillian followed him through a doorway to what must be the servants’ stairs. There on the wood floor rocked an even younger girl, clutching her leg and wailing.

  ‘Help her!’ cried the boy, bouncing from foot to foot and pulling Lillian towards the girl. ‘Help her!’

  She squatted down to the child. ‘Where are you hurt, dear one?’

  The little girl, her blue eyes red with crying, clambered into Lillian’s arms. She was given no choice but to hold her.

  ‘Shh...shh...’ She rocked the child gently and patted her blonde curls. ‘You will recover. Tell me where it hurts.’

  ‘All over!’ the little girl wailed. ‘My leg!’

  The boy pulled on Lillian’s dress. ‘Do something!’

  She turned her face to him. He had the same fair skin as the girl and the same huge blue eyes, but his hair was as dark as hers was light. Their clothing was too fine for them to be children of servants. These must be the children who needed a governess.

  ‘Let’s bring her into the hall, where we can see better,’ she said.

  The little girl clung to her neck as she carried her to the hall. The boy followed so closely he nearly stepped on her heels.

  Grant and his butler appeared from the anteroom.

  ‘What have you done?’ Grant accused.

  She gaped at him. Did he think she was in the habit of harming small children? ‘She fell down the stairs.’

  Grant crossed the hall to her. ‘How badly is she hurt?’ He reached for the child.

  The little boy cried. ‘Leave her alone!’

  Grant stepped back.

  Lillian turned to the boy again. ‘He was not going to hurt her. He wants to help.’

  The boy, looking sceptical, retreated behind her skirts.

  At that moment, frantic footsteps on the stairs sounded from the anteroom. A maid, no more than twenty, rushed in, out of breath. ‘I have been searching everywhere! I was only gone a moment and they disappeared!’ She spied the little girl in Lillian’s arms. ‘Oh, my goodness! What now?’

  ‘She fell down the stairs,’ Lillian responded.

  The child still whimpered, her face buried in Lillian’s shoulder.

  ‘It was not my fault!’ the boy cried, though no one had accused him. ‘She just tripped.’

  Lillian turned to Grant. ‘May I take her somewhere to see if she is injured?’

  He looked frazzled. ‘Yes. Yes. Up to her room.’ He turned to the maid. ‘Show her the way, Hannah.’

  The maid gestured for Lillian to follow through the anteroom. ‘This way, miss.’

  Lillian carried the child up the ornate stairs she’d passed before. The stairs turned halfway at a small landing and Lillian could see they led to an arched hallway of the same blue and beige of the hall, but with less elaborate plasterwork.

  The maid glanced back at her. ‘Are you to be the governess, then? I warn you. They are unruly children. I’ve never seen the like.’

  Not waiting for an answer, the maid led her to a door on the right into a hallway, even more plainly decorated. The nursery hallway, no doubt. The bedroom they entered was spartan. It had two beds.

  The maid gestured for Lillian to lay the girl down on the closest one. ‘I would not put it past her to have broken a leg.’

  That set off a new wail from the child, who clung even closer to Lillian.

  Lillian spoke in soothing tones. ‘Here, now. I’m sure it is not as bad as all that. Why don’t I put you down on your bed and take a look?’ She pried the girl from her neck to look her in the face. ‘Will that be satisfactory?’

  The child nodded, taking ragged breaths.

  Lillian placed her gently on the bed. ‘Now, show me where it hurts the most.’

  ‘Here.’ She pointed to her knee.

  ‘May I take your stockings off?’ Lillian asked.

  The girl nodded.

  The leg looked normal, except for a bruise starting to form on the knee. Lillian gently felt all around it, but nothing seemed broken.

  The boy stood next to Lillian, nearly glued to her side. ‘Is it bad?’

  Lillian shook her head in reply. She crouched down so she could be at the little girl’s level. ‘I think you had a very big scare and you fell on your knee. You’ll have a big bruise there tomorrow, but you’ll be right as rain in no time.’ She stroked the hair off the child’s face.

  ‘Will I be able to walk again?’ the girl asked.

  Lillian smiled. ‘If you want to, you can walk right now.’

  She stood, and the child bounded off the bed and carefully tried her hurt leg while the boy watched intently.

  As the girl walked back and forth in the room, limping on her hurt leg, Grant appeared in the doorway. Almost immediately the girl began to walk normally.

  Lillian looked over at Grant. ‘No serious injuries.’

  He nodded and backed away.

  Before she could think of why he stood there, the little girl skipped over to her. ‘I can walk!’

  Lillian smiled. ‘Of course you can.’

  All she knew about children came from her days at school, and her school had not had students so young. It seemed to Lillian that these two were as hungry for attention as she’d been that first day in Reading. What a lifesaver it had been to be embraced by the headmistress and the teachers.

  Confirming this impression, when she sat on the bed both children sat next to her, the boy a little farther away than the little girl, who was again plastered against her.

  The boy regarded Lillian with a hopeful expression. ‘Are you our new governess?’

  He so clearly wanted her answer to be yes, and she did not have the heart to disappoint him. ‘That would be lovely, would it not?’ she responded. ‘I am Miss Pearson. May I know your names?’

  The little girl responded in a formal, adult-like tone. ‘I am Miss Anna Fielding and my brother is Master William Fielding.’

  Lillian answered in kind. ‘I am very pleased to meet you, Miss Anna, Mr William.’ Sh
e was dying to know how they were connected to Grant and why they were here needing a governess. ‘Is there anything that would make you feel better after your ordeal?’

  ‘Biscuits,’ Anna immediately replied.

  ‘Biscuits and milk, perhaps?’ Lillian asked. Her stomach rumbled at the mention of food.

  Anna nodded. ‘Some for William, too.’

  ‘Of course.’ Lillian smiled. She turned to the maid, who hovered in a corner. ‘I have not introduced myself to you. I am Miss Pearson. And you are...?’

  ‘Hannah, miss,’ the woman answered.

  ‘Hannah,’ she acknowledged. ‘Would it be possible for the children to have biscuits and milk? And—and perhaps some tea for me?’

  ‘It is only an hour or so until their dinner,’ the maid responded disapprovingly.

  The children frowned.

  ‘I believe we need milk and biscuits now.’ Lillian used a more commanding tone, as if she really were the governess—or perhaps the lady of the house, as she used to be.

  The maid curtsied. ‘Very good, miss.’

  Lillian helped Anna put on her stocking and shoe again. ‘Where will she bring your milk and biscuits?’

  They led her to another room on the hallway, furnished with a table and chairs and cheerful paintings on the walls. Lillian gratefully sat down. Her feet were aching from her wet half-boots and her clothing chafed her skin, but at least she was in a warm, dry place. And at least two little people of this household seemed to welcome her.

  She’d rather taken over their care, ordering the maid about. Would Grant be angry at that?

  Well, let him be angry. These children needed a bit of fussing over. Besides, she could hardly make him more disapproving of her.

  At least with the children she did not feel so alone.

  * * *

  Lillian stayed with the children through their dinner and until they were tucked into bed. When she stepped into the hallway, she had no idea where she was to spend the night.

  Luckily the maid, who’d mostly left the children in her care, reappeared. ‘Are they sleeping, then, or only pretending to?’

  ‘Sleeping,’ Lillian responded. ‘Do—do you know what room is to be mine, Hannah?’