Page 40 of The Governess’s Carnal Temptation

“Miss Haddington?” Charlotte’s voice drifted into the fog that had clouded her thoughts all morning. “Miss Headington?” The girl’s voice was now a long whine, and Lydia finally looked up. “I finished.” She stood with her hands on her loose-fitted blue shift dress and pointed at the blackboard. “I wrote them all out.”

Lydia got up and stared at the blackboard, taking a moment before the words made sense. She’d asked Charlotte to write down the ten new French words she’d requested her to learn yesterday, and she’d done as requested.

“Good, very good. Now, copy them into your book,” she instructed and walked to the window.

“Why? I know them already,” Charlotte complained, but Lydia did not reply. She found sometimes it was easier not to respond to Charlotte and let her stew. Today, though, the reason for her silence was something entirely different. Her thoughts drifted back to Nicholas and their too-close-for-comfort encounter the night before.

When she closed her eyes, she felt his body pressed against hers, his heat enveloping her. Lydia’s hand wandered to her collar, and she tugged, allowing the cool air to graze her skin. Lydia pulled her fan from the reticule dangling around her waist and snapped it open. Charlotte looked up and frowned.

“Are you warm?” she asked her question as though Lydia had gone quite mad.

“A little.” Lydia bit her lip and spun. “Charlotte, what do you say we go for a walk? The weather is lovely, and my head is pounding a little. I think taking the air shall help me.”

Charlotte’s eyebrows rose, and she blinked dramatically. “Miss Haddington, I dare say you must have a fever. It is not lovely at all. It is breezy and cold, and my skirt will surely be blown up around my ears.”

Lydia sighed, but deep down, she did not mind the child’s reluctance. “Very well. I am going for a walk. You may stay here and read your French study book. I shall ask Mrs. Funny to sit with you until I return. Read chapter two and translate what you can into English. The words you do not know, write down, and we will look at them later.”

Lydia rushed past her pupil, who was about to protest, but she had no time for it. The air was oppressive inside the classroom. The same was true in the hall and her own chamber. The entire house was weighted down by what had transpired the night before. Wherever she looked, there was a reminder of Nicholas and her. She rushed along the narrow hall where she’d so recently wandered with Nicholas and dashed out of the back door, grabbing an apple from a basket as she went.

She walked with determination, seeking the stiff breeze to chase out her thoughts. She stopped only to ask Mrs. Funny to see to Charlotte, which she did at once, and then she rushed out.

Lydia dashed outside and stopped near the tree where Charlotte had tried to chase her away not long ago. Although the bee's nest had been removed, she still felt uneasy whenever she got too close to it.

Where the bees stung her, her skin itched. Even weeks later, her wounds hadn't healed properly, and reddish spots remained on her feet and hands, though they were fading over time, much to her relief.

She shivered as she walked past the tree, not only because of the memory, but also because Charlotte hadn't been wrong. There was now a chill in the air. She pressed on, pulling her sleeves down as far as they would go. The fresh air and peaceful atmosphere were a welcome change from the stuffy classroom and the troubling events of the night before.

Lydia walked the length of the lake to an alcove where wych elm trees blocked her view of the water. Charlotte liked to hide there when they played hide-and-seek. In the dim light of dusk, the elms could appear frightening and, from a distance, like people, reaching out with their long branches to snare one. However, in the early morning light, they were eerily beautiful.

She sat in the grass, noting the clouds moving in from the south. She’d been here long enough to know the weather was prone to turning rather quickly, and it would be wise to return to the house. Yet, she did not want to. The house was increasingly filling with unpleasant memories, and she found it difficult to write cheerfully to Caroline when she attempted it. Usually, she wrote to her sister and father weekly, but of late, she’d needed to work on it. She’d found it impossible to be honest with Caroline; thus, she’d never told her that her employer was the boy they both knew so well.

She knew Caroline would have cautioned her to return, warned her off and Lydia would have listened. Caroline had seen her at her weakest when Nicholas’ actions had wracked her and left her a crying mess, unable to exit her bed.

A splash ripped her from her thoughts, and her head snapped so fast that heat emitted from her neck muscles, stained by the sudden motion. Ripples appeared on the water’s surface where something, or someone, had emerged and then disappeared again. Lydia jumped to her feet to see what sort of animal might have caused such an effect when he gasped and stumbled backward.

It was no animal at all but a man! He burst through the water, stood, and bent at the waist before snapping upward. A stream of water ripped through the air and rippled onto the lake’s surface like a sudden burst of rain. Lydia’s lips parted as she watched, and then, she gasped in recognition as the man walked out of the shallow end.

Nicholas.

And he was entirely disrobed. Lydia could not avert her eyes quickly enough to avoid a closer look at his fine shape. Her cheeks flushed red, and her body tingled in places she had not thought of for a very long time. She clasped her neck, mortified, and excited by what she’d seen.

She ought not to be thrilled, of course. He was her employee now, nothing more. Affected, she walked forth, desperate to put distance between the unexpected sight and herself, but she got only a couple of steps before his voice boomed from behind.

“Lydia!” It was one word, yet the sound of his voice was like a force she’d never felt before. She stopped, unable to walk on as if his very will had frozen her in place. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and her skin tingled as he followed. She could not see it, but she felt his energy coming nearer. Her fingers twitched, and her toes curled with anticipation.

Then, he was in front of her, still entirely nude. She looked the other way out over the water and wondered what the servants might say if they saw them. There would be no sufficient explanation, but Nicholas didn’t appear bothered. From her peripheral, she saw he held his clothing in one hand but didn’t bother to dress. Instead, he smiled when she dared to glance at him.

“Well, Lydia. Are we to talk with you turning your head away, or will you look at me?”

She gulped down her embarrassment before raising her head to see nothing but his face.

“If you wish to converse with me, you ought to dress. It is only proper.”

Nicholas chuckled and let his eyebrows dance; last night’s behavior seemingly forgotten.

“Very well,” he agreed, and she turned her back to him. The sun sat at such an angle to cast a shadow on the lawn in front of her, and she watched Nicholas’s shape move as he worked to put his pantaloons back on, followed by his shirt. She made out his strong muscles and broad chest and saw the strength in his legs from years of riding.

A yearning to touch him overcame her. How would it feel to run her hands along his body? To taste his skin?