The duke tapped his fingers on his knee. “But Xander and Helen are going back to Belgium. And you aren’t going with them?”
Even theword‘Belgium’ was starting to make Letty’s pulse flutter with anxiety.
“I am not,” she said. “I plan to remain in England.”
“Why?” he asked with the blatant entitlement of a man who thought himself privy to everyone’s personal histories.
She gave him a thin-lipped smile.
“Because that is what I wish,” she said, not bothering to soften the cut of the words.
The duke was smiling now, but it was a dangerous kind of smile, one that should not have looked so handsome upon his face.
“You,” he accused gleefully, “have secrets.”
Letitia felt the last of her temper slip from her grasp.
“So do you,” she returned sharply. “I have known your cousin for quite some time. I didn’t place your name at first, but now that I have, I know that you aren’t married. So...” She lifted her chin. “Why do you need a governess?”
He regarded her for a long moment. Surelynowhe would throw her out.
But he didn’t.
“I like you,” he said.
“What?” she demanded. Was it possible that this man was insane? The Lightholders were all a bit odd, granted, but it was mostly in a pleasant sort of way, like how all the men were so tied up in knots over their wives. But this seemed potentially like genuine madness.
“I like you,” he repeated, as if the issue was that she had not heard him clearly. “And I have no problem staying in England. In fact, I plan to stay in London. So, I see no reason why we should not move forward with our discussion. I will remind you, however, that everything we discuss here is a matter of the utmost confidentiality.”
“What?” she repeated, this time even more incredulous. He could not possibly still be considering her.
“Tell me,” he asked, this time ignoring the question, “what did you do before you were with Clio?”
Her bewilderment was swept away by a wave of panic.
“I... I was with her twice,” she said. She felt very cold all of a sudden.
“Yes.” The duke was watching her far too carefully. “But between those two roles. What did you do?”
She wouldn’t answer that. She could not. Not without risking… everything.
“Your Grace.” The title came out choked. “I have given you my letter of reference, but I am certain that we both agree that this interview has not gone particularly well. You do not trust me with your secrets; that is fine. However, we need not keep up this charade. Let us just accept that this was a failed experiment, and go about our way. I am sure we will have no reason to encounter one another again.”
There. Enough was enough. She stood and smoothed her skirts briskly.
“Secrets…” the duke repeated again, apparently to himself. Then, his gaze sharpened. “And what will you do, if not work in my household?”
“I have another offer,” she said primly. She should have just accepted that. That would be the first place she went after she left here. If this whole escapade wasn’t a lesson in asking for more than she was due, she didn’t know what was.
“With whom, might I ask?”
Letitia wanted to snap that no, he could not ask, but there was some level of ingrained manners that she just could not quite shake.
“I have been offered employment in the home of Lord and Lady Bassett,” she said through clenched teeth.
“No.”
The word was like the crack of a whip. Letty felt her eyes go wide.
