Page 23 of Love and Other Disasters

The governess looked at him. “Where’s the mother? Downstairs at your party?”

“No friend of mine should have brought her child to my party.”

“For a moment there, I thought you were different.”

Jasper put his hands on his hips. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Rakes never want reminders of their scandalous ways once their fun is over, do they? I should have remembered that.”

“That is not my child,” he declared, pointing at the ball of misery on his bed.

Sophie sighed. “You should treasure something so precious.”

“Me? How is this my responsibility?”

“She’s on your bed so clearly she must be yours.”

“The only thing clear to me is my bed is occupied by a loud-mouthed brat that interrupted an exceptionally good kiss between us. That does not make her mine. I do not even have a lover at present. I haven’t for a while.” The wailing intensified, and Jasper put his fingers in his ears. Sophie went to the bed to look down at the small being who refused to be comforted by their mere arrival. “Radcliffe, will you do something about the noise?”

Sophie grimaced. “What makes you think I know what it needs?”

“You’re a governess, aren’t you? Mother it the way you do the other pair. They never cry when you are around.”

Sophie drew back from the child, fingers twisting together at her waist. “Your nephews were told to like me.”

“Well, I can do that for you, too. Child, this is Sophie. Do as she says,” he demanded. “There now, it’s easy. You can pick her up and all will be well.”

“And how should I do that?” Sophie asked, eyes overly wide.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Here, let me show you how it is done.” On occasion, Jasper had cause to pick up his two nephews when they were young, even younger than this child seemed to be. They were weak and wriggly, especially when they were crying. He made sure to get a firm grip before he hoisted the child into the air. The child turned into his chest of its own accord, and Jasper held her against him, relieved that the noise subsided to mere hiccups.

“It seems she knows her papa,” Sophie said, stepping away from him.

He scowled at the woman. The governess had tricked him into holding the child—and was about to abandon him. He couldn’t have that. They had a kiss to discuss.

“Children sense competence, not ownership,” Jasper insisted, following Sophie. “Bounce them around a bit and they’ll coo and gurgle next. See? It’s a simple problem to solve.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Sophie warned.

“Nonsense. I used to do this with my nephews all the time.” He brought the child closer to his chest. “It’s perfectly all right.”

The child burped, and Jasper felt a sudden splash of warmth hit his chest. He jerked the child away from him and stared at her. The child had stopped crying, but a bit of drool dangled from her lower lip in a revolting way. He glanced down at his shirt and cursed roundly to see it soiled. The child had cast up its accounts over his cravat and the shirt beneath, too. The excess rolled downward toward his favorite waistcoat even as he watched.

Jasper shoved the child at Sophie blindly, desperate to strip away the soiled garments and the smell. Thankfully, Sophie grabbed the infant as he fled into his dressing closet to change.

When he emerged minutes later, refreshed, the child had been placed back in the center of his bed. “What are you doing? Don’t leave it there.”

Sophie turned her gaze on him. “What do you expect me to do?”

“I don’t know.” He set his hands on his hips. “Take her.”

“I’m sorry, my lord, but I am charged with caring for two children, not three. This child is obviously your responsibility.”

“Why do you keep saying it’s my child?”

“Because she is.” The governess held out a scrap of paper toward him. “This was tucked into the shawl she was wrapped in. Isabelle is addressed to you,” Sophie said, glancing down at the bed with a sad smile on her face now.

Jasper snatched up the paper. The front bore his first name, the inside said take care of our Isabelle. “It’s not signed,” he protested immediately, unable to believe his eyes.