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“I’ll return the book to the shelves.”
“Please don’t. Just...” He held out his hand. “I’ll dispose of it. It’s of no consequence now. It’s in the past.”
Yet the past wouldn’t stay buried.
It stared at him accusingly from Adele’s eyes.Sophie’s eyes.
Not good enough for husband.
Not good enough for father.
She handed him the slim volume and he set it on a table.
“I gather your late wife, er...” Realizing she’d made a blunder, Miss Perkins paused. “I mean to say, your late—”
“Mistress,” Edgar supplied, though he knew it was unforgivably rude to speak of such sordid topics.
He half expected her to make a hasty retreat, but she remained, standing close enough for him to touch.
“I gather she was French?” she asked.
“Her father was from Paris, and her mother from Casablanca, in Morocco. I attempted to find her parents after Michel and Adele came to live with me. I thought they might want to meet their grandparents, but both of Sophie’s parents are now deceased.”
“The children do have a grandmother here in London, I hear.”
“The dowager and I are estranged.”
She waited for him to say more, watching his face. He wasn’t going to touch that subject.
“After she bore the twins, Sophie left them in France and traveled first to Morocco, then to India, on a quest forpoetic enlightenment, whatever that is.” He tried to keep the rancor out of his voice and failed.
He waited for her to make some comment, perhaps of censure.
The other governesses had been quietly appalled at the notion of illegitimate children being raised in the manner of heirs and heiresses.
The subject didn’t seem distasteful to her. She listened thoughtfully, with a small furrow of concentration between her delicate brows.
“I’ve said enough.” He tugged on his shirt cuff. “I don’t normally speak of these subjects. You may leave now, Miss Perkins.” He gestured toward the door.
Her smile was quick and playful, and it made him want to smile back. “Haven’t you discovered by now that I’m not easily dissuaded or dismissed, Your Grace?”
He wanted to discover so much more about her. For instance, why was such a bright, lovely woman relegated to the role of governess?
And then there was the burning question of whether her apron was tied with a knot... or whether the bow would come undone with one tug.
He gave himself a mental shake. Neither one of those questions would ever be answered.
“Take your books and leave me in peace.” Leave him to sit in the library alone, beset by ghosts and dark memories.
“I’d like to know more,” she said softly. “It will help me to understand the children better, and find ways to ease their minds.”
He knew it wasn’t a good idea, knew he should insist that she leave, but now that the memories had risen from the dead, he found he didn’t want to be alone with them.
A few moments of conversation couldn’t harm anything, he told himself. It was only so that she could better understand the children.
Not because he was lonely. Or because the sympathy in her eyes warmed him like coal feeding a furnace.
“Sit with me, then,” he said gruffly. “If you dare.”
