The Duke and The Governess (15 page)

‘All of that gossip was wholly untrue and my sister-in-law has suffered enough at the hands of the
ton!
’ Anthony spat.

‘Gentlemen!’ The Duke said w
ith a harsh look at Norfolk for
not stopping this argument. ‘There will be no fisticuffs. I’ll cut dead any man that makes the wro
ng suggestion about Lady Carruthers
. I don’t particularly want my daughter to see you spill each others blood tomorrow morning. Now this is supposed to be a family party, lets try to leave London’s appalling manners behind us!’ He patted Anthony on the shoulder and left the table. But he didn’t take his attention off them until Viscount Boston retired to bed on the insistence of his wife.

~*~*~*~

Ne
x
t morning, while all the children were being breakfasted in the school room, Jessica sallied forth to spread the flowers of the treasure hunt. She took the box of flowers and started placing them around the public areas of the house.  She went into the main drawing room and opened the lid of the box. She took the first flower out, smiled to herself and then displayed it clearly on the mantle beside the
huge Ormolu
clock. She had already put the flowers in order, so her trip around the house wouldn’t take long
and as she turned from the mantle, she inhaled sharply as the Duke of Warwick was sitting in the corner.

‘Good morning, Lady Carruthers
.’ The corner of his mouth lifted in a knowing smile. ‘What delights do you have for the children this morning?’

‘Good morning, Your Grace.’ She replied calmly
as she dropped a slight curtsey
, although her pulse raced dramatically. She couldn’t stop herself from looking at the corner of his mouth where it was curled
and it sent her blood singing through her veins
. ‘We are having a treasure hunt today
.’ She fingered the flowered box
in her hands. ‘I was just putting the clues out for the children to find.
’

‘Allow me to accomp
any you.’ He said generously as he
stood up
and clasped his hands behind his back. ‘How many clues are there?’ He walked beside her to the dining room.

‘Your Grace! I couldn’t possibly tell you that!’ she smiled coyly as he opened the door for her. She walked to the dining table, lifted the lid of the box, took out another paper flower and managed to balance it in the huge candelabra in the middle of the table.

‘Jessica.’ The Duke said
quietly, making her turn her face towards
him as he stood beside her. ‘I’m sorry.’

She frowned. ‘Sorry for what?’ she asked puzzled.

‘About last night.’ He sighed. ‘I should never have kissed you so....deeply.’ he murmured.

‘You should never have kissed me at all!’ she said and turned for the door, but not before John caught t
he lift of her mouth in a smile and he rushed to catch her.
As she got to the door, John
placed his palm on it to hold
it
shut.

‘Are you laughing at me?’
he demanded, his ducal feathers becoming ruffled.

She looked up at him and the expression in her eyes made the breath go out of him. ‘No, Your Grace.’ She smiled gently. ‘But a less public place would be more appropriate for that kind of activity.’ She lifted the box. ‘May we continue?’

He removed his hand and opened the door. She turned for the back of the house. ‘Where exactly would be appropriate for that kind of activ
ity?’ he asked impertinently and
as she stopped dead and looked at him in horror, he felt a frisson of doubt.
Good God! I’m importuning her like a randy adolescent!
He berated himself.
Suddenly she laughed. It tinkled like chimes in a breeze and he was...
charmed?

‘What a question to ask a Lady!’ Jessica spluttered. ‘Maybe we should change the subject?’

At the conservatory, she placed the flower in a specially prepared pot. Old Bates, the head gardener, smiled at Jessica like a benevolent uncle. ‘Miss Jessica!’ he greeted her jovially.
‘I’ve got your pot just here, r
ight where the children will see it.’

‘Thank you, Mr. Bates. And can I tell you how lovely the topiary looks from my window this morning?’ She smiled brightly and the Duke was enchanted by her charisma with a member of staff. ‘Did young Ewan spend all
the
day
before
yesterday up a ladder?’
she asked as she adjusted the flower to catch the eye from the doorway.

‘He did, Miss Jessica. I was afeared he would topple out by the end of the d
ay. But he’s a good lad and a fine apprentice.’ He smiled proudly. ‘He’ll be a fine he
ad gardener when I’ve gone to me
maker.’

‘Tosh!’ Jessica said. ‘You’ll grow old together, just like that Yew Tree you planted when Master Christian was born.’

‘Do you still need a hiding place in the yard?’ Bates asked as he eyed the Duke and frowned.

‘Oh! Forgive me, Mr. Bates,
this is the Duke of Warwick.
His Grace was helping me spread the flowers.’ She laid a hand on Bates’ arm. ‘No. I don’t need another place now. Andrew has kindly arranged for Thunder to sport the last clue on his head gear.’ She smiled brightly. ‘I must get on, can’t let the grass grow.’

‘No, that we can’t. Miss Jessica.’ He almost doffed his cap, but he still eyed the Duke as if he would offer him out.

Jessica smiled and breezed out of the door onto the terrace, followed closely by the Duke. ‘I think I’ll need your protection.’ He muttered. ‘The fellow was positively protective of you!’ He smiled down at her amused face. ‘Might I have to summon seconds?’

‘Of course not, Your Grace. But I was very unsettled when I arrived and the
staff have
been very kind.’ She opened the box and placed a flower in an urn next to the steps down to the lawn. She closed the box and strode down the steps. ‘Tell me about Elizabeth?’ she asked as he caught up with her.

After a couple of minutes, Jessica was convinced he was as besotted with his daughter as any loving father could be. She stopped at a tree, just as he was explaining how the pout never worked.

Jessica put the box on the ground and lifted the lid again, this time the flower had long ribbons on it. She looked up at John and he was concerned for her expression.

‘Would you make me a promise
right here and now?’ she asked looking up at him, quite seriously and although his heart almost leaped out of his chest and pictures of her naked and under his hands blazed through his mind’s eye, he nodded solemnly. ‘If somebody on the
ton
spreads malicious gossip about her, will you try to prove it wrong, before you condemn her to a life of purgatory?’ She sighed. ‘Listen to her story first. If she pouts, you know she’s lying, if she doesn’t you know she’s telling the truth!’

‘How do you know that?’ The Duke demanded, shocked that she had already divined the purpose of the pout.

‘She’s a girl. Just like my sister Cecily in some ways, but less giggly.’ She smiled softly as she stood and tied the ribbons around the tree trunk. ‘She always pouted when she was found out in a lie.’

‘I’ll have to test that one.’ He
said
darkly. ‘I don’t like the idea of her telling lies.’

‘No parent does, but we all do it.’ Jessica said firmly, ‘and the worst ones are the lies we tell ourselves.’ She
picked up the box and started
walk
ing. ‘I’m sure my father believes he made the right decision, but all he did was turn me into a nurse for a cranky old man
who couldn’t wait to evict me from his house the moment his son was dead!’

‘Was it really that terrible?’ The duke asked innocently and she stopped dead and turned to him. He didn’t like the hard look in her eyes. She held out the box.

‘Would you hold this for a moment, please Your Grace?’ John took the box and she smiled at the confusion in his face. She reached down and rummaged under her skirt. When she straightened up there was a flash of silver and a dagger was almost at his throat. He stepped back in shock.
‘This was a present from Anthony my first Christmas at Dean.’ She turned the dirk so it was held gently between her fingers and pointing at the sky. ‘Do you see the blood on the blade?’ John had to look hard, but he could see a line of black on the blade. He nodded his head. ‘That belongs to the butler, Richmond. He called
me a whore the day I arrived, as did
the Earl
and
Anthony
had to insist that if I bore a child, it
would be my husbands and not Richmond’s
bastard!’ He could see the hate in her eyes. ‘I sliced this across his hand as I was leaving. If I ever return, I should imagine I would be raped and beaten. Richmond would consider it his right to have me.’ She sighed and put the knife away. ‘It was horrific, Your Grace. And I was actually relieved when the Earl sent me here. I eat better and now my clothes have arrive I can dress better.’
She picked up the box and walked towards the stable yards.

‘Anthony mentioned you were treated like a chattel, but I thought he was exaggerating!’ the Duke said softly.

‘No, he wasn’t. I wash
ed
, fed and cared for the old Earl until he
forced me to sign the affidavit about my virginit
y, at the same time as he told me
about my husband’s death and
threw two guineas at me before I left. I was told not to use the
Carruthers
name o
r
the style “Lady”. As far as I knew, until Anthony arrived yesterday, my marriage had been annulled and I was plain Miss Gordon again.’
She looked at the
fine lawn cushioning her feet
. ‘I don’t even know how he died.’ She whispered.

‘He was killed in front of the San Maria Fort.’ The Duke said softly and looked off across landscape. ‘His body was riddled with canister shot.’

‘How terrible.’ She said in a dead voice, as if his death literally meant nothing and then she frowned. ‘What was a Cavalry Officer doing in front of a Fort? I thought infantry attacked forts, not cavalry!’

John shrugged. ‘I have no idea.’ H
e
smiled then
.
‘So did you and Anthony....?’ he left the question hanging.

She stopped again and turned a frigid expression on him. ‘The Earl and I are friends.’ She said coldly. ‘Only friends. I have told him my troubles and he has told me his.
’ Her eyes lost focus as she recalled some of Anthony’s childhood memories. She closed her eyes when she remembered how he screamed in the night and the terror he felt most of the time at home. ‘Living with a dissolute father made him the epitome of a gentleman and he’s going to make some lucky woman a very good husband.’ She opened her eyes. ‘And he needs a very good wife, not some silly chit that wants his title!’ she finished with a snap.
She turned to look at him. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, Your Grace. I have some clues left to place.’ And she walked quickly towards the stable.

John followed her with his eyes as she headed
for an archway. He saw the tall,
burly
man, frowning at him as she arrived at the arch.
He was broad chested and was so tall he appeared to tower over Jessica.

‘Are you all right, Miss Jessica?’ Andrew
Gough
asked as she approached him in the Archway. ‘Are you having so
me
bother with the quality?’

‘No,
Andrew. The Duke and I were catching up on old times and he made the mistake of asking about my time at Dean.’ She said as she ferreted in the box for the last flower. ‘Oh! I should have brought a chair!’ she said suddenly and looked at the horseshoe over the archway. She reached up, but couldn’t even get close to the arch. ‘I’ll have to fetch so
me
steps.’ She murmured.

‘Allow me, Miss Jessica.’ Andrew took the flower and even he couldn’t reach.

‘Thank you for trying, Andrew.’

‘Not to worry, Miss. Do you think you can balance on my shoulder?’ he asked coyly.

‘I’ll try.’ Jessica said gamely and watched Andrew stand behind her. Andrew bent down and held his hands out.

‘Just let me grab your wrists
and I’ll lift you on my shoulder.’ Jessica nodded and squealed as Andrew put his shoulder under her buttocks and lifted her easily. Suddenly she was perched on his shoulder, his head right beside her hip. ‘There.
Can you tuck your feet against my stomach?’ which she did and Andrew released her hands and wrapped his left arm around her legs to stead
y
her balance.
Now
can you reach?’

‘You do realize that somebody will have to be available to lift the children?’ she said gaily, even as her cheeks flushed scarlet at the intimacy of the lift.

‘I’ll make George available, he likes children and will have lots of fun if he’s not polishing tack!’ Andrew said as Jessica attac
hed the flower to the horseshoe, before Andrew gently set her back on
the path
.