Turning the corner to the corridor leading to Lilian’s new bedroom, he saw the pale, flustered-looking governess standing outside one of the doors. Two nursemaids stood whispering behind her, several heavy cloth bags lying at their feet.
“Oh, Your Grace,” Miss Osborne gasped with surprise and more than a little concern. “We did not expect to see you up here this morning.”
“Well, I have come to see my daughter,” Nathaniel said shortly, coming to a stop beside the three women and looking at them questioningly. “Is Lilian in there?”
“Yes, Your Grace,” the governess answered hesitantly, reminding him more than ever of a wilting daffodil.
“Shall we all go in, then? I wish to speak with her, but that should not keep any of you from your work.”
Confusingly, all three women remained rooted to the spot.
Impatiently, Nathaniel stepped forward and reached for the door handle.
“Lady Lilian has locked herself in,” one of the nursemaids blurted out just as he discovered this fact for himself. “She will not unlock the door.”
“Why has she locked herself in, Miss Osborne?” Nathaniel demanded, rattling the door, more with bafflement than displeasure.
“I cannot say, Your Grace,” the governess replied weakly. “I told Lady Lilian that she might have ten minutes in her bedroom and that we would then go to the schoolroom for lessons. When I went out to fetch Maisie and Ellen to arrange her clothes, she locked the door.”
“Has she fallen asleep?” Nathaniel pressed with a frown.
His question elicited a smothered snort of laughter from one of the maids.
“Lady Lilian is certainly not asleep, Your Grace,” Maisie explained when his eyes turned to her. “Not two minutes ago, she told Miss Osborne that she was a?—”
“That will not be necessary, Maisie,” the governess cut her off, two red spots now visible in her cheeks. “Lady Lilian has addressed us several times, but refuses to open the door, Your Grace.”
“This won’t do at all,” Nathaniel muttered, before rapping firmly on the wood. “Lilian! Open this door, please. I wish to talk to you. Lilian!”
“Go away!” shouted an angry little voice very close to the other side of the door. “You never want to talk to me!”
“But I do,” Nathaniel protested. “I have come up here specifically to talk to you because… because I care about you.”
“No, you don’t,” Lilian yelled back at him. “You don’t care about anyone or anything. You’re a horrid father!”
Nathaniel blinked and raised his hand to knock again. How did he manage to upset his daughter so much every time he was at Greyhaven Park? Lilian had not even seen him yet today and was already furious. She must be just as angry about his absence downstairs this morning as Cecily had been.
He knocked more gently on the door this time and tried not to sound impatient.
“Lilian, I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to meet you earlier. I… overslept, I suppose. I’m here now, though, and we could spend the morning together if you wish.”
“You always sleep until late, and then you leave and go to London without me,” she accused him. “I hate you!”
The force of feeling in those last words struck him like a physical blow. What on earth was he supposed to do now? Breaking down the door would hardly endear him to his child.
“Shall I go downstairs and fetch Mrs. Barnes?” Maisie asked, looking from him to Miss Osborne and back. “She always knows what to do with Lady Lilian.”
“Yes,” Nathaniel agreed, stepping back from the door, defeated for now. “I think you should.”
* * *
“How did it go?” Cecily asked when he returned from his long morning ride.
Had she been waiting for him in the hallway? Her appearance at his side took him by surprise.
“It’s wonderful weather for riding. You ought to come out with me one morning. There’s a fine bay mare that would suit you in the stable, I believe.”
“No, how did it go with Lilian?” she responded impatiently, waving away talk of horses. “I thought you would come back to tell me. I do want to build a good relationship with her, but she will accept me more easily through you, I think.”
