Andrea Pickens - [Lessons in Love 01]

The Defiant Governess

Lessons in Love

Book One

by

Andrea Pickens

Award-winning Author

THE DEFIANT GOVERNESS

Awards & Accolades

Best Regency of the Year, Nominee

RT Magazine (1998)

"Ms. Pickens delights us with a finely wrought love story featuring an irresistible pair of lovers who will melt every reader's heart.

~RT Magazine

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ISBN: 978-1-61417-415-8

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Chapter 1

The afternoon sunlight flooded into the drawing room, playing off the golden highlights of the Aubusson carpets, rich brocades and gilt furniture, as well as the honey-colored curls of the young lady seated at the pianoforte. She had left off her music for the moment and sat staring out the soaring mullioned windows, her chin cupped in her hand. Outside, manicured lawns and formal gardens were already hinting at the lushness to come, acre upon acre stretching out to where the home woods of ancient elm and oak separated the imposing stone manor house from the vast expanse of the estate's farmland and forest.

But her gaze seemed to take in none of the details of the view before her. It certainly took no note of her own reflection in the leaded glass panes, one that showed a young lady of above average height, quite slender, with well-defined features that indicated a certain firmness of character. They were perhaps too strong to be called beautiful in the soft, conventional sense, but combined with the restless energy that radiated from her person they created a striking picture. Below the slightly furrowed brow were eyes of the deepest sapphire, cloudy for the moment. The purse of her firm, full lips also betrayed a sense that her thoughts were elsewhere. But then she quickly gave a shake of her shoulders, as if to banish whatever was bothering her.

With a slight frown she turned a page of the music and began to play again. The lilting notes that filled the room bespoke of a more than ordinary talent, even though the piece was a difficult one. As she came to a particularly complex movement her fingers flew over the ivory keys without a moment's hesitation—bold, fortissimo—and the effect was mesmerizing right until the very end when a wrong note rang out.

"Oh, damn," she muttered as she brushed a stray lock from her face.

"That will never do in Town, my dear Jane," called a voice from the doorway. "You know very well it's not at all the thing for a lady of breeding to even
think
such a word."

Lady Jane Stanhope spun around, a guilty look on her face until she saw who had caught her. "Oh dear," she replied, trying to keep the smile off her lips. "I shall never take, shall I, Thomas, if I don't mend my outspoken ways."

Thomas, Viscount Mountfort, also struggled to suppress a grin. His features were as finely chiseled as those of his sister and most people wondered if they were twins, though she was a year younger, because of their obvious closeness.

"Never," he agreed. "You're a complete hoyden, I fear." Not, he added to himself, that her more than occasional unladylike behavior had kept a bevy of the most eligible bachelors in London from dangling after her during her first Season. Hadn't she rejected the Earl of Havesham and the Marquess of...

"Alas, I fear you have the right of it," she sighed, once again staring out through the leaded glass. This time the sunlight caught not just the richness of her hair and the gleaming blue of her eyes, but the stubborn thrust of her chin, a look Thomas knew all too well.

He moved quietly to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, "What's this? Feeling blue-deviled? I thought you were looking forward to another Season in Town."

"Oh, I suppose I am. It's just that, well..." A sigh escaped her lips. "In Town there are so many constraints on a lady's behavior. I must act as if I care for nothing but the latest fashions and
ondits
when I make morning calls with Aunt Bella. Then at night there are all the boring gentlemen who look as if they have swallowed a frog if I express a real idea or opinion." She looked up at him, as if searching to see if there was even a glimmer of understanding of what she was trying to say.