A Governess for the Brooding Duke(26)

“Yes, I have no doubt. She is coming to the church to attend the children, as is proper. No doubt the young woman was a keen attendee of Sunday services wherever it was she came from.”



“Wherever it was she came from?” Lady Cynthia, who had been about to take a sip of her sherry, halted with her glass mid-air and sat forward in her seat in order to peer closely at her nephew. “Surely you know where the young lady hails from, Nephew?”



“Not entirely. I daresay it is somewhere in London, for that is where the servants’ registry is.”



“Tell me, why do you choose a registry in London? Are there not plenty in Oxfordshire?”



“Indeed, there are, Aunt Cynthia,” he said and smiled at how easily his aunt had distracted herself. “The registry in London is not far from my house in St James’s, and I rather think there are many more young women registered there than there are in and around all of Oxfordshire. After all, I can quite imagine that London produces far more well-bred young ladies for the role of governess than Oxfordshire does. More people per square inch.” He smiled at her.



“Fortuitous, I daresay since you seem to be in need of rather a constant stream of well-bred young governesses.” So, Lady Cynthia had by no means distracted herself from her main aim. She had simply found a rather smart way of going about things.



“Well, I daresay the role is not for everybody,” Hamilton said in an attempt to brush off her remarks.



“That is hardly pertinent, Hamilton. After all, well-bred young ladies do not choose to work as governesses; they are forced into the role by financial penury, are they not?” The blue eyes had now narrowed and were fixed upon him, almost as if she were a bird of prey ready to swoop down from the clear blue skies, dig her talons into his flesh, and fly off with him. “Perhaps it is not the role that does not suit them, Hamilton, but rather the atmosphere.”



“You obviously have something to say, Aunt, and I think it would be quicker and quieter if you simply got on with the thing. You shall not goad me into tripping into some sort of admission or whatever else it is you seem to be seeking from me at this moment. Just say what you have to say and have done with it.” Once again, Hamilton could feel his patience evaporating.



“Hamilton, I mean no insult by it. I just wonder if there is not more that could be done to ensure that this current governess stays. My concern is only for the children. It cannot be good for them to form attachments to these young ladies only to watch them disappear just weeks later. Truly, it is not fair.”



“Then perhaps you ought to be having this discussion with the governess herself. Perhaps it is a discussion that I ought to have had with the previous three. Is it not clear to you that each one of those young ladies has simply walked away from this house without a backward glance nor a single thought for the children you are so dreadfully concerned about?”



“What I cannot believe, Hamilton, is that you yourself are not concerned for them. They are your flesh and blood, and yet you act as if they are interlopers in this house. You act as if they have no right to be here, and I often think that you cannot bear to set eyes upon them. It breaks my heart to see it, truly it does.”



“Then all I can suggest, Aunt Cynthia, is that you stop looking. Why do you not simply turn your attention to some other little question and think along some other little avenues for a while? You seem quite obsessed with the thing, and I rather fear that you are upsetting yourself quite unnecessarily.”



“For goodness sake, Hamilton!” Lady Cynthia finally let her annoyance and frustration show. “How can you have hardened your heart so to them? Did you hate her so much that you are allowing your hatred to wash over two innocent little girls? Have they not lost enough in this world?”



“I am going to insist that you keep your opinions on the matter to yourself from this point forward. I have no intention of making myself accountable to you in anything, least of all the raising of two children sent here under the terms of their mother’s will. I took them in, just as she requested. Let that be enough to satisfy you. I did not refuse, as I had every right under law to do, nor did I waste any time whatsoever in opening the doors of Draycott Hall to them. I have done everything that she asked of me, have I not?” Hamilton wanted the conversation to be over.



He wanted to hurt his aunt enough that she would choose to leave the room of her own volition, and yet he did not want to hurt her so much that she would never return to Draycott Hall. Hamilton knew that his feelings for her were great; she was so like his own dear mother. And yet, she carried all of that good woman’s traits, including not knowing when to let something alone.