Page 37 of The Governess’s Carnal Temptation

“I need not know a thing about her. Although I will thank you for inviting me to the ball and for the gown,” she blinked and raised her head to look him in the eyes. Her gratitude was palpable, but something else had seeped into her voice. Something bitter and unpleasant. “It is, in part, what made Mr. Gilbert speak to me.”

“Oh?” Was all he managed to say as his throat grew thick with envy at the mere mention of his suddenly emerging rival’s name. Indeed, up until recently, he’d not even truly understood he wished to be with Lydia again. The idea had been there in the back of his mind and hidden in the depth of his heart, but he’d known it could never be.

Only now that he was with her, so close he could feel her muscles move beneath his hands with each turn, did he truly understand how much he still wanted her.

“He is interested in astronomy. In fact, he is building a telescope of his own. Can you imagine? A telescope so very close to your estate. When he saw the stars on my gown, he decided to come up to me to strike up a conversation, to see if I, too, possess knowledge about the heavens.” She smiled though the smile was directed at the gentleman who danced past them with Lady Evelyn just then.

“I see,” he croaked, chiding himself for his weakness and his inability to speak up and tell her what he truly felt.

“Indeed, he has asked me to call on him one of these days, so I might see it.”

“No,” Nicholas burst out. Seeing her bewilderment, he calmed himself. “That would be inappropriate. A young lady cannot call on a gentleman without a chaperone. It would be improper.”

“I know,” she said slowly as though he were a foolish child who knew nothing about the world. “His mother would accompany us or one of the maids.”

He swallowed down the rising anger, though quite without meaning to his fingers dug deeper into her as they danced.

“I still would rather you forwent such an invitation. You are here to teach Charlotte not to frolic with gentlemen callers,” he inhaled through his nostrils as his jaw clenched.

Lydia’s eyebrows rose, and her nose twitched in the way it always had when she was on the verge of having a rather significant outburst. An eruption he would deserve. He shut his eyes for a second, chiding himself for letting his temper get away from him. All his life, Nicholas had struggled with his temperament; his moods – happy and as sad – always governed how he conducted himself. Over the years, he’d grown better accustomed to having to rein it in, but with Lydia, he’d lost all control.

The thought of her alone with this stranger she’d just met, looking at the stars, burned a hole into his heart.

“Lady Charlotte is doing quite well with her studies. Besides, I did not know a governess was expected to tend to her charge all day long. Was it not your intent to spend more time with her?” The bite in her tone surprised him.

“I did. I only meant it is not good for you to be seen with him,” he tried again, switching to reason.

“And who will see? And if they saw, then so what? I am a single woman, and he is a bachelor. There is nothing wrong with it. After all, you are not entirely unattached either, as it turns out.”

“I can explain,” he said quickly, but the music waned, a fact that had eluded him up until now due to the intensity of their talk.

“There is no need,” she replied, let go of his hand, and turned, disappearing into the crowd.

“Lydia,” he called and dashed after her when his path was cut off by a pair of gentlemen who looked him up and down. They were significantly older than him, with white hair, beards, and skin marked by decades of burning sun, freezing wind, and hardship. Nicholas’s stomach tightened when he recognized them.

“Lord Hardy, Lord Barnwell, I did not know you were here,” he said, surprised to see his grandfather’s old compatriots. They’d called on him when first he assumed the title, but the conversation had been unfortunate, to say the least, and ended with him ejecting both from the manor.

“We were not invited,” Lord Hardy said in a cutting tone. “But we thought we would call anyhow to see how you are. Judging by what has come to our attention you are doing your dearly departed friend a disservice.”

“I beg your pardon?” Nicholas said, his attention now entirely on them.

“No heir? No wife? And only a daughter who is of such poor temperament you cannot retain a governess?” Lord Barnwell chimed in. It was clear these two fellows had come to make him miserable and nothing else. He wanted to throw them out of his house, but he knew he couldn’t. He was quite trapped. If he had them ejected once more, there would be no other topic at the ball, and all the scandal sheets would speak of nothing but this. If he allowed them to stay, they’d make his evening so miserable a stint on the surface of the sun might be more enjoyable.

“My child is not of your concern; neither is my estate. I will have you know it flourishes now more so than it ever did under my father,” he fired back but kept his voice low so as not to attract attention.

“Is that so?” Lord Hardy replied scornfully. “I hear you’ve been having a hard time making your mark on society. Perhaps due to an unfortunate habit of over-indulgence?”

Lord Barnwell chuckled. “We had high hopes when you married that young lady, but I suppose it wasn’t to be. You can take the heir out of the gutter, but the gutter will always remain a part of the heir, eh wot?”

The two men shared a laugh while Nicholas’ lips vibrated with suppressed rage. His right hand itched, for he wanted nothing more than to plant a facer on each of them. He would have given in to his impulses, too, if not for the sudden gentle sensation of a gloved hand on his arm.

“I cannot help but overhear, gentlemen, that you are about to make yourselves the laughingstocks of all of society,” Lady Evelyn said in a smooth, unaffected voice accompanied by a small smile.

“Excuse me?” Lord Hardy growled, but his friend elbowed him hard and bowed.

“Lady Evelyn, I did not see you there,” he said rather red-faced. Lady Evelyn meanwhile slipped her arm around Nichola’s, leaving no doubt as to their closeness.

“Did you not? If you had, would you have said what you did about my future husband?”