Ruined (To Love a Governess Regency Short Story)

The characters, places and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead,
is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Ruined

Copyright © 2011 by Jane Charles

Cover by Lily Smith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without written permission.

Chapter 1

Edinburgh, Scotland

Audrey Rutledge paced in the front sitting room of the Downing Employment Services
,
 
her
nerves taut and stomach in knots.
 
She glanced around the room tastefully decorated in peaches, muted green and cream. She hadn’t known what to expect of an employment agency, but a well-maintained household was not it.
 
Even the servants were no different than one would come across in a proper household owned by anyone in society.

 
“Mrs. Downing will see you now.”
 

Audrey took a deep breath and stepped forward to follow the butler.
 
He led her to an office at the end of the hall.
 
Audrey entered the warm room, decorated in lavender and cream.
 
Mrs. Downey sat behind a delicate cherry wood desk and motioned her to the chair. It was hard to determine her age, but she must have been in her thirties or maybe forties. The only
hint of her being older were
the lines at the corners of her pale blue eyes and at the corners of her mouth. The rest of her skin was as smooth as a debutante’s. There wasn’t even a hint of white in her dark brown hair.

Audrey grasped her reticule tightly and settled into a carved, wooden chair before her future employer.
If the woman would have her, of course.
She kept her posture erect, shoulders back, chin straight and level.

“Roseanna has written of your situation.”
 

Audrey nodded. She had met Roseanna when she’d attempted to become an actress. Audrey quickly learned she did not have the talent for the stage, or the nerve.
 
Roseanna had suggested the Downing Employment Agency because it would allow Audrey to leave London and start afresh.

“What type of position most interests you?”
 
The woman arched an eyebrow and her light colored eyes speared Audrey, as if trying to see into her soul.

“Governess,” Audrey answered without thought.

Mrs. Downing pushed the papers together in a stack and set them aside. “The ladies we place in homes as governesses and companions must be virtuous. I understand there are some who have found their way here due to unpleasant circumstances. However, I still strive to find employment for those who remain above reproach, regardless of a fallen status. A young woman who wishes to practice flirtations and attract gentlemen need find employment somewhere else.”

“I understand. I promise all I want to do is work in a household teaching children.”

“Ages?
Gender?”

“I’d prefer to teach younger children, those without older brothers.”

A smile pulled at Mrs. Downing’s lips. “I understand that is how you lost your last position.”

Audrey’s face heated and she nodded.

“Roseanna explained.”

Thanks goodness; Audrey did not want to repeat that experience again.
 

“If I place you in a home and there is a similar circumstance, report it to me before anyone else.
 
I will not see you harmed, nor will I place another young woman in such a household.”

Audrey inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. There was finally someone who could help protect her, and others. “I am ruined in London because of that incident, and because of my father.
 
Am I not ruined in Scotland?”

Mrs. Downing laughed.
 
“Many families from here
don’t venture to London
—
or do so rarely
.
 
If you are recognized, the parents will have the option of hiring you or not.”
 
She picked up a stack of papers and rifled through them before she looked back up at Audrey. “I am sorry but we do not have any governess positions available.”
 

Her heart sank and Mrs. Downing went back to reviewing the documents.

 
“I am afraid at the moment we only have maid, nurse
—
”
 
Mrs
. Downing glanced up. “They wish for someone much older.
 
There is also seamstress.”

“I suppose I could be a maid.”
 
If it was her only chance at employment she would take it.

“Not a seamstress?”
Mrs. Downy quirked an eyebrow.

Audrey cringed. “I can’t sew. I can’t even do needlework.”

“Yet you wish to be a governess?”

“I’d hoped to get around that one small issue.”

Audrey held her breath and waited for Mrs. Downing to dismiss her. What kind of governess could not teach needlework?

Instead she laughed and put the papers aside. “I don’t have the patience for needlework, either.
 
And, you are not suited to be a maid. We will simply have to wait for a position.”

Alarm shot through Audrey, causing her to lurch forward in her chair. “I can’t wait. I am out of funds and have no place to stay.” Tears welled up in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She traveled all this way, hoping and praying that she could find a job, and there wasn’t one to be had. “Is there another employment agency I could go to?”

Mrs. Downing relaxed back in her chair. “Please, calm down. I am not about to turn you out.”

Audrey took a deep breath.
She out to work better on controlling her outbursts.
 
  

“You will be a valuable employee to someone. We just need to wait for them to make the request. In the meantime, I have
rooms
above-stairs, which young women share until they find a position.”

“That is very generous, Mrs. Downing.”

“I do what I can to help.” Her smile was gentle and warm.

“May I ask why, if I am not being too intrusive, the agencies in London do not take such an interest?”

“I found myself in your position a long time ago and I do not want to see other young ladies forced into unpleasant situations.”

* * *

Lord Alec Winters stomped into his library after visiting his cousin and slammed the door behind him. “He promised.”
 
He threw his riding gloves on the forest green settee without a care.

James Jordan pulled away from the fireplace mantel he had been leaning against and wandered over. “Who promised what?”

Alec looked up at his closest friend since Eton, surprised to find him here.
 
“My cousin, Fairfield,
had
promised to return to London for the Season.”

“But?”
James took a sip of the wine cradled in his left hand.

“He still has not found a governess for the girls so he doesn’t know how he can manage to assist me.”
 
Alec marched over to the sideboard and poured himself a glass of brandy.
 
“What is wrong with the bloody nurse?”

“I thought he had a governess.”
 
James lounged back against the desk and crossed one foot over the other.

“He married her,” Alec snapped. “The next one he hired married before she could even begin her duties.”
 

“I don’t know why you need Fairfield’s assistance to begin with.
 
You have me.”

Alec looked up over the rim of his glass.
 
He trusted James when it came to horseflesh or gaming hells, but never concerning ladies.
 
“I am looking for a wife, not a doxy.”

James laughed, not the slightest bit insulted.
 
“I’ve always thought a doxy would make a better wife than any well-bred lady of the
ton
. At least they know how to pleasure a man.”

“So would a wife, if her husband bothered to have a care for her.”

James snorted before he took a deep drink.
 
He drained the contents of his glass and placed it on the desk. “You are set that marriage is something you must do?”

“It is.”
 
It was time, he knew it was time, and he wanted it to be time.
 
He was tired of enduring Season after Season and not finding a lady he wished to marry.
 
Alec had hoped to find love, but there had only been one glimmer of hope, last year. But the lady was already betrothed, and then she disappeared.
 

Why lie to
himself
? It was more than a glimmer. She was the one he’d wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
 
And even though he could not have her, Alec tried to be as close to her as he could. He danced with her as often as possible, but not so much as to bring attention.
 
There were even shared kisses, passionate kisses in the darkness of gardens that led to intimacies he had no right to take.
 
Her father chose her betrothed and they were helpless to change anything.
 
All other ladies paled in comparison, so he was now resigned to make the best match he could and hope for happiness.
 
He just wished he’d had a chance to experience the obvious affection Fairfield and his wife felt for each other.