“The duchess has given you an instruction.” Theodore turned to face the women. “You will heed it.”
The governess nodded, her eyes downcast as she gestured to Phoebe to join her and her daughter. Theodore noticed several leaves in the women’s hair and his frown deepened. Phoebe did not look up, nor did she look over her shoulder.
He turned to face Harriet and took a step closer to her. She did not back away. “Explain. Now.”
She lifted her chin towards him, her face sun-kissed and flushed with life. “I am your duchess, Theodore, not your staff.”
“Then you should behave like it.” His voice was harsh. “You are supposed to be a role model to Phoebe and yet in less than a day, you have her running around like a fishwife’s brat.”
Order. That is safety.Harriet’s eyes flashed and he saw white hot anger in them. “You mean I had her behaving like a child.”
He could still hear the giggles in his mind, but he shook his head. “She may be a child, but you are not. Three grown women running amok, shouting like fishwives and laughing so hard no one could even think to get any work done. If anyone had seen it, they would think you utterly mad.”
“Then I suppose it is lucky this is a private estate.” Harriet folded her arms over her chest.
“You know that it will not stop a determined trespasser. Demonstrably.” Theodore drew himself to his full height.
“And just what scandal do you think they would have seen? The new Duchess of Irondale playing with the ward of her estate? Oh great heavens above!” Harriet made a disgusted sound. “You asked me to act as a mother to Phoebe, and when I do, you scold me? She was having fun! She was laughing. When was the last time she laughed?”
“If her happiness was the only measure of success, perhaps that would excuse your behavior.” Theodore heard Phoebe’s laughter in his head, remembered the way her foot had snagged on the root of the tree. “But I have to think of her future. There are stains on her dress, and who knows what lies beneath?”
“Stains can be washed out.” Harriet’s brow furrowed.
“And if she had slipped and cracked her head on the ground? Would you be so cavalier then?” Theodore glared. “Or do you care so little for her safety that you think a few moments of laughter are more important than her life?”
Harriet’s eyes widened. “I would not do anything that would risk her life.”
“And yet you did.” Theodore countered, his voice cracked. “I saw her fall, Harriet.”
There was a long pause as Theodore looked in the direction of the tree. Harriet’s voice was soft, yet it pulled his focus back to her as though he were a piece of iron drawn to a magnet. “We all fall down sometimes, Theodore. And granted, sometimes we can be hurt, but we cannot live trying to avoid such things. It is not possible.”
Harriet’s eyes were like a summer’s meadow, full of warmth and kindness. “She is a child, not a porcelain doll.”
“She is my niece.” His words hung in the air between them.
He saw the fingers of her right hand flex, stopping a hair’s breadth from his own hand but not touching him.
“It will do her no good to be wrapped in cotton wool.” The gentleness of Harriet’s voice felt like a caress, yet her words cutat him like daggers, filling him with a sharp pain. “You and I both want to keep Phoebe safe. And I think we both want to see her grow into the beautiful and confident young woman we know she can be. But if we spend our lives trying to keep her from being hurt, trying to bring structure and order to every element of her life, she will wilt. At best, she will be a shadow of a girl and at worst…”
Theodore could feel the warmth of her fingers, not resting against his but so close that the merest movement would bring them into contact. Harriet continued. “Children need more than rules and routines. They need more than order and structure. They need to play, to laugh, to experience the world around them.”
“You know the world we live in Harriet, and we have a duty to make sure she can be a part of it.” He could feel the hardness around his heart shifting, could feel some part of him longing to give in.
He thought of his sister. He could not remember her laugh. Had it been like Phoebe’s? He could barely remember laughing himself.
Harriet’s knuckles brushed against his, her fingers closing around his own for the briefest of moments. Yet the touch sent fire coursing through his body. “All I am asking for is an hour a day. An hour where she can play and do something simply because she wants to. Not because it serves a purpose.”
Theodore clenched his jaw, but Harriet did not look away. She held his gaze, her lips pressed into a determined line. He could hear the question in her voice. It was not a command, but an entreaty.
He could not refuse her, even as he felt every bone in his body fill with cold. “Fine.”
Harriet exhaled, her warm breath tickling his skin. “Thank you.”
He hardened his heart. “One hour, Harriet. No more. And if her studies are affected or if it causes disruption to the staff, I will rescind my permission.”
“It will not.” Harriet canted her head towards him. “Perhaps you would feel less worried if you joined us on occasion?”
There was something in her voice that made him feel like he was being tested. It was as though she were a tight rope walker and he was the rope beneath her feet. His eyes went to her lips, drawn to the delicate but somehow challenging curve of her smile.
