The Ungrateful Governness

something.

She would not think of it, she decided, until the morning.

Or of Lord Rutherford.

Or of his lovemaking and the consummation she had missed.

Jessica tossed and turned on the bed for what remained of the night.

4

The Dowager Duchess of Middleburgh was seated at the escritoire in the morning room of her house in Berkeley Square when her grandson was announced. She was in the process of writing to one of her many old acquaintances scattered throughout the country and farther afield. She peered at him over the spectacles she had affected several years before, though the same grandson was in the habit of telling her that from the windows of her house she would be able to see an ant crawling over the Chinese roof of the pumphouse in the middle of the square if she felt it in her own interest to do so.

'Never tell me you are up and abroad already, Charles, m'boy,' she said. 'Can't be more than ten o'clock. Must be in love. With the Barrie chit?'

'Quarter past, to be exact,' Lord Rutherford said, crossing the room and bending to kiss the wrinkled cheek offered for the purpose. 'And no and no.'

'You did look her over, though?' she asked sharply. 'Not a beauty, I take it. But wealthy, Charles, and of good family. You could do worse.'

'I suppose I could,' he agreed. 'I suppose I could get leg-shackled to a poor girl of bad temper and total absence of character. The thing is, Grandmama, that I don't need the blunt. I don't gamble, you know, and have only one expensive habit. And I have quite a sizable income. Papa is as rich as Croesus and you are said to have moneybags stuffed behind every wall in the house. And who else does either of you have to leave it all to but your favorite son and grandson?'

'You are our only son and grandson. And don't be impertinent with me,' his grandmother said, laying down her pen and blotting her half-finished letter carefully. 'Why are you here?'

'I am your grandson,' Rutherford said. 'And I have just returned from a journey you sent me on. I thought you would be interested to know that the girl will not suit. She turns me decidedly green.'

'Nonsense,' the duchess said. 'You can't expect a gel of good family to jump between the sheets at a snap of the fingers, Charles. Gave you the cold shoulder, did she? Your trouble is, m'boy, that you know only one type of wench and think they must all be the same.'

'Grandmama,' he protested, 'I do not live all my life in the gutter or in the boudoirs of actresses, I would have you know. I have met one or two ladies in my time. You and Mama, Faith and Hope, for example.'

'What are we going to do with you, then?' she asked, frowning. 'I refuse to die until you have got an heir, Charles. I'm not having anyone emptying out my walls on my death for the sake of what's-his-name. Henry? Theodore? Never can remember which one is next in line. The chinless one, anyway.'

'Theodore,' he said. 'Grandmama, I promise to try my best not to pop off until I have done my duty in the nursery line. In the meantime I have a favor to ask.'

'I knew it,' she said suspiciously. 'You did not rush over here the morning after a long journey because of filial loyalty, Charles.'

He grinned. 'I want you to help one of my failed oats, Grandmama,' he said.

'A wench?' she asked sharply. 'And failed, Charles? She's not in the family way? I don't intend to start providing for your bastards, my lad. I always told Middleburgh the same.'

'I don't ask you to,' he said. 'My own purse will stretch to providing for all two hundred and thirty of them. No, this is a girl after your own heart, Grand-mama. She wouldn't have me. Twice. I unleashed all my not inconsiderable charm and skill on her, but she would have none of me. I, of course, consider her remarkably foolish.'

'And you want me to help her, Charles? Ring the bell, boy. You will join me for some coffee. Nothing stronger. Too early in the day for you to start drinking. You probably do it for all the rest of the day anyway.'

'Coffee will be welcome,' he said, settling himself into a chair beside the fire and stretching his boots toward the blaze. 'It is deuced cold outside today.'

'It often is in November,' she said.

'Miss Moore was a governess with the Barries,' Rutherford said, 'and I somehow caused her to be dismissed. She had rejected me cold, I would have you know, but because she was caught barefoot in the library with me, she was dismissed as a loose woman quite unfit for the charge of the Barrie chit. Oh, she was also wearing a sack of a nightgown and had her hair loose all down her back. And it was midnight or thereabouts.'

'Hm,' she said. 'The chit was asking for it. I should help her to a whipping.'

'Nonsense,' he said. 'She was looking for a book to put her to sleep.'

'A man more like,' his grandmother said.

'If that were so, she would not have refused my invitation, would she?' he asked reasonably.

'Did you ever consider that perhaps you were the wrong man, Charles?' she asked, peering at him over her spectacles again.

He laughed. 'Grandmama,' he said, 'you will always keep me humble, I'm afraid. I met her on the road two evenings ago and failed again, I am sorry to say. Very sorry! But I feel responsible, you see. I gave her your direction and assured her that you would help her find employment.' He smiled disarmingly.

'Did you indeed?' she said. 'And as what, pray? As a chambermaid in this house so that you may molest her at your every visit? And I suppose I could expect you to grace me with your company twice daily?'

Rutherford's smile became more rueful. 'She is refined, Grandmama,' he said, 'and virtuous. A lady in everything but fortune, I believe. You must know someone who needs a governess. You know everyone in the kingdom, I sometimes think. But one thing. You must get her away from London. Far away. I really have no wish to meet her again.'

The dowager duchess regarded her grandson steadily for a few silent moments. 'I begin to like the gel,' she commented. 'It takes a rare one to discompose someone as jaded as you, m'boy.'

'Jaded?' he said, eyebrows raised. 'And discomposed, Grandmama? You mistake the matter quite.'

'Don't come haughty with me, Charles,' she said, quite unperturbed. 'If it comes to haughtiness, I can give you lessons. You liked the gel, eh?'

'As I have said, Grandmama,' he said, 'I could have put her to good use. But she chooses to be an impregnable fortress. I have given up the siege. There are willing females enough.'

'Go to it then, lad, but not to be driven in Hyde Park,' his grandmother said. 'That was a disgusting display.'

'I behaved with the utmost respectability, Grandmama,' Rutherford protested. 'I did not come anywhere near you or even dream of trying to present the, er, female to you. I think you were secretly chagrined that I did not bring her close enough for your inspection. I know better than to do any such thing, my dear.'

'About this gel,' the duchess said. 'She may come here. I shall see what I can do. If I like the look of her, I shall find her something. But barefoot in the library at midnight, Charles! Not at all the thing. She should know better. She is something of a beauty, I take it?'

'A little gray governess actually,' Rutherford said with a smile.

'Hm,' his grandmother said. 'Except when she is barefoot in the library, I gather. Well, and about time, Stebbins. I thought perhaps Cook had had to send to South America for the coffee beans. Now, Charles, let us change the subject. Tell me more about Barrie and his gel.'

It was at a somewhat more respectable hour of the following morning that Jessica was shown into the salon that led off the main hallway of the house on Berkeley Square. The hour was almost noon. She had come after some hesitation. Perhaps now she was in London she should not rely on the promised help of the Earl of Rutherford. Berkeley Square was a very exalted location from which to expect help. There seemed every chance