by Abby Ayles
“I mean to say that she is out of bounds. I won’t have another governess corrupted by you. Not this time.”
“What is it about this one that is so special?” Christopher asked. “Does my brother have affections of his own to give?”
Edmund glowered at him. “Our siblings are quite enamoured of her, and it would break their heart if she had to go away.”
“Ah, and that is the only reason,” Christopher said, nodding sagely.
“Listen, boy,” Edmund said, drawing himself up to his full height. He had had quite enough.
“If you so much as touch a hair on Miss Warrick’s head I will string you up for it. Do you not think that the wellbeing of our brother and sisters is more important than your stupid need to show off? You’re supposed to be courting a Duchess’s third daughter or something along those lines, anyway, from what I have heard.”
“They speak of me in the City?” Christopher asked, leaning forward with more interest. “Fascinating. What do they tell you?”
“Only things that make me blush with shame at being your relation,” Edmund said.
“Well, they tell you nothing, then,” Christopher said, and sighed. “As it happens, the third daughter of a duchess no longer has any interest in me.”
“So it is true? All of it?” Edmund snapped.
He had indeed heard tales which made him worried indeed, though he always waved them off as mere rumour and speculation when others asked.
“Not all of it, I’m sure,” Christopher said. He hooked his knee up onto the window seat, looking down into the garden again. “In fact, it was not as scandalous as you may wish to believe.”
“Then tell me,” Edmund said, exasperated. “How am I supposed to trust what you say if you tell me nothing?”
“Lady Juliana Reffern and I met last summer,” Christopher said. “At a ball, naturally. I started courting her soon after. You remember – I spent some weeks in the countryside.”
“We live in the countryside, Christopher,” Edmund snorted. “You mean you went further south.”
“Yes, well. We spent some agreeable time there. Her father was most accommodating, and there was quite a crowd of us. At any rate, Lady Juliana and I got along quite famously.”
“All in the eye of chaperones?” Edmund probed.
“Yes, of course,” Christopher said, as if offended. “Although, alas, there was an incident with a fountain which was quite regrettable.”
“The fountain story was true!” Edmund exploded, taking a step towards his brother in anger.
“Be calm, brother, and let me tell my tale,” Christopher tutted.
“Lady Juliana is quite a beauty, you see, so she had many admirers. Still does, I am sure. That is why I resorted to purchasing small items of jewellery in order to demonstrate my affections.”
“Hm,” Edmund tossed his head. “I recall those fripperies.”
“And then Lady Juliana appeared at a ball in London, where I was invited along with half of the officers in my barracks, and she was on the arm of some third-rate Lord with an estate out in Devon. That was how I learned that she had been betrothed,” Christopher said, punctuating his final words by plucking a loose thread from his breeches and breaking it with a bitter expression.
Edmund felt a stirring of pity. So, Christopher was suffering from a broken heart – was that it?
“If you’re in need of some advice,” Edmund began, thinking that he should at least step in the way that a big brother ought to.
“I would ask Father,” Christopher snapped. “And I mean that literally, because he will still be more help than you even in the grave.”
Edmund regarded him for a moment. Perhaps Christopher was feeling vulnerable after spilling his heart like that, but it was no reason for him to evoke such harsh thoughts.
“If you’re going to be a spoiled brat, you will continue to receive less help from me than you think,” Edmund said. “I will withdraw my support entirely if you aren’t careful.”
“Oh, tosh,” Christopher snapped, before turning him an eerily cheerful grin that was clearly false. “You wouldn’t do that to your beloved brother.”
“I mean it, Christopher. This time I’m really serious. Keep your trouble-making away from our door.”
Christopher gave him an amiable smile. “Of course, dear brother,” he said. “I agree to your terms. Might my head remain on my shoulders now?”
Edmund sighed. “For the moment, at least,” he said, and left the room.
It was a shame that Christopher would not accept help, or even allow himself to admit to having feelings of the sort that clearly troubled him. Edmund could not do a thing to aid him if he would not even admit it.
After that last exchange, Edmund could not help but feel a creeping sensation that he may have only served to stoke the fire of his brother’s mischief.
If that was the case, then he knew he would come to regret ever attempting to interfere – for he could not risk losing the governess.
And with his capricious moods, who knew if Christopher might see such a simple conversation as this as a reason to disrupt the stability of the household in any way that he could.
Chapter 20
The summer brought with it a haze of joyful days spent teaching the children under a bright blue sky.
The weather was so delightful that every day seemed tailor-made for playing outside, and she even took them down to the lake on more than one occasion to explore certain lessons there.
It was Christopher, however, who proved to be the most interesting new visitor – not the sun.
His presence, as always, provoked a testiness within Patience which would not permit her to pay as close attention to her lessons as Joanna would have liked.
More than that, his attention, too, was focused on Joanna herself – something that she found mildly unsettling at best.
“Miss Warrick,” he announced, finding her outside the kitchen after she had dined with the other servants. It could hardly have been a coincidence that he was there, since there was no other reason for him to be in this part of the house so late in the evening.
“Lieutenant Hardwicke,” Joanna said, bowing her head slightly.
She wished he would let her past; she had thought of retiring to her room with a book and reading a few chapters before sleeping.
“I was out in town this morning,” he said.
This was no news to her; she had heard all about it from Patience, who wanted desperately to go with him and had been ordered to stay at home.
“I found something that was completely out of place. It should have been here, all this time.”
Joanna frowned, puzzled by his words, as he held out a closed fist. He turned it over and opened it to reveal two slim blue ribbons, made of shining satin.
“How pretty,” Joanna murmured, not quite sure yet what the significance of his gesture was.
“I am glad you think so,” Christopher said. “I knew they would match that day dress of yours completely. They will make a jaunty look if you twist them through your hair.”
It took a moment longer still for Joanna to realise that he was making her a gift.
“Oh! My lord… these are for me?”
“Yes, indeed,” Christopher said, flashing her a brilliant and amused smile. “Are you so unused to receiving gifts? I fear you have been badly treated here.”
“Forgive my manners,” Joanna said hurriedly, blushing at being caught out. “What I mean to say is thank you, my lord. It is a very thoughtful gift.”
“Take them, please,” Christopher urged, chuckling at her.
Joanna reached out and took the two ribbons from his open palm.
As she touched them and was about to draw them away, his hand closed lightly all of a sudden, his fingers dancing over hers.
Joanna gasped out loud, almost dropping the ribbons in surprise.
Christopher laughed louder then, and released her, stepping away. “I look forward to seeing what co
lour they bring to your eyes, Miss Warrick,” he said, with a twinkle in his eyes.
He drew away down the corridor then, leaving her standing, feeling quite stupid, as she watched his retreating back.
She stood there a moment longer, looking down at the ribbons in her hand. They were warm with the heat of his body, and she could not quite shake the feel of his fingers from her skin.
How lucky it was that no one else had been walking by to see it. They might think her quite improper.
She had no interest at all of a romantic nature for Christopher, and she was quite startled that he should think to bring her a gift like this.
What was his meaning behind it? Could he be quite serious? Or was it some trick to humiliate her further on down the line?
At any rate, she did not wish to risk the displeasure of her employer. She would wear them in her hair on the morrow, she decided as she went up the stairs towards her chamber.
Of course, she mused as she placed the ribbons on her bedside table and began to undress, there was one good thing about Christopher Hardwicke: his last name.
Becoming the wife of Christopher was not an idea that appealed to her, for he was boorish and headstrong, and altogether too brash. But to become Lady Joanna Hardwicke – well, that was another thing again.
She lay back in bed, feeling the thin covers under her hands as she dreamed about it.
Yes – to be a wife. Not solely for the sake of becoming a lady again, though that would have suited her fine. No; it was the children she thought of.
For if she were his wife, she would not be a governess who might be dismissed or grown out of. She would be a part of their lives forever – a surrogate mother of sorts, even.
That would have enough sweetness to endure the sour heart of even a man like Christopher.
But she reminded herself, it was all a fantasy only. Whatever Christopher’s intentions were, they certainly could not be honourable.
Most likely, she decided to herself, it was all a plot to anger Edmund – and that was something she could not be part of.
***
Christopher stayed for the rest of the week, even if his presence was a clear annoyance to Edmund. When Joanna sat by his side to help him with his letters, every day he seemed surlier and worse-tempered. He even scolded her several times, with an air of impatience which warned her not to test him.
She had regretted immediately wearing the blue ribbons in her hair the next day, when Edmund had praised them and how they matched her dress. He had even asked her about where she got them from; she had given a vague answer about the market in town, knowing that it was not a full lie if that was indeed where Christopher had purchased them.
But it was the night of the proposed ball that was to push things to their fullest limit, leaving Joanna with no choice but to intervene as best as she could.
Joanna had been tidying up the schoolroom and found a loose pink ribbon – exactly the kind that she knew Patience had been wearing in her hair that day.
It was a fact that was made all the more obvious to her by the unavoidable truth that it was exactly the same kind of ribbon that Christopher had bought for her – simply a different colour.
Patience was rather particular about her belongings, especially those that related to fashion or beauty. Joanna decided with a sigh that she would return it to her immediately.
The rest of the household had retired already – Joanna had only been staying up late to tidy because she was unable to sleep, for thinking about Esther and her baby.
No matter. Even if Patience was already sleeping, Joanna reasoned that she would be able to slip into the room and leave it on her dresser without waking her. That should be a simple enough task, and it would prevent panic in the morning when Patience thought her ribbon was lost.
She hurried up the stairs, then slowed down to creep as quietly as she could to Patience’s door.
With a measured care, Joanna reached out for the door handle and turned it slowly, pushing through as smoothly as possible so as not to make a noise.
She moved over to the dresser in the dark room, navigating by memory rather than sight in the gloom. She had left her candle out in the corridor in case the light might wake Patience.
She placed the ribbon down gently and was just turning to go when she realised that the curtains were hanging open about the window.
She ought to close them; the sun might wake Patience too early when it rose.
As Joanna started to approach them, the moon moved out from behind a cloud in the sky, shining a soft light right into the room.
It was as good a demonstration as any that the curtains were needed, for the whole chamber was now bathed in enough light to see by. Joanna turned to glance at Patience, hoping that she was not waking already, but was soon stopped in her tracks and forced to look again.
The bed was empty.
Patience was simply not there.
Joanna felt her heart pounding, but tried to push away the encroaching sense of panic.
Patience could not get far at all on her own, so it made sense that she would at least be somewhere in the house. The question was, where would she be hiding at this hour?
Joanna swept up her candle, being careful to close the door behind her so as not to raise alarm for anyone else that might be wandering the corridors.
She headed first downstairs, to the sitting room where the pianoforte sat silent and no guests lounged on the sofas or comfortable chairs near the fire.
The other reception rooms downstairs were likewise empty and cold, the fireplaces all having been extinguished for the warm summer’s days. That left only the upstairs rooms, where the family stayed, and the servants’ quarters.
It was not likely that Patience would be fraternising with the servants. She had no interest in them, and barely even spoke to Mary or Jenkins unless she was asking for something.
With that in mind, Joanna reasoned that she might be in another room.
Perhaps she was with Amy or Samuel? If either of them had already woken earlier in the evening with a nightmare, perhaps, they might have gone to their sister, looking for help.
It was not totally implausible, and so Joanna crept up the stairs once more, repeating her routine in an attempt to keep from waking anyone.
With her candle shielded by one hand to shed only the barest light that she could manage, Joanna peered first into Amy’s chamber and then Samuel’s, and found them both soundly sleeping – and alone.
There was no sign that they had been disturbed at all since being put to bed, and another check of Patience’s room confirmed that she had not yet returned.
But where else could she be?
Joanna did not want to look in on the two men of the household – after all, it would be improper. But this was becoming something of an emergency, and she was increasingly worried for Patience’s safety.
The girl would not wander off alone into the night, would she? There had been no indication yet that she walked in her sleep as some were wont to do.
Yet if she had strayed out there in just a nightgown, she would be in great danger for her health. The night was clear, and it was the height of summer, but that did not mean she would not catch a cold if she were out there. That thought drove Joanna on to be sure.
She hesitated outside Edmund’s door, then turned away.
Perhaps she could leave him until last. After all, she would need to wake him to join in the search if she was not able to find Patience.
The thought of creeping into his room at night while he slept was almost unconscionable, too. She would not do it unless it was forced.
So, that left just Christopher.
Joanna hesitated outside of his door again, trying to steel her nerves. It would not be particularly within the bounds of decent propriety, to be discovered alone in the room of this young Lieutenant in the night. Even more so, given his reputation. But Patience’s safety was at stake, and that was enough to push Joanna onwards.
<
br /> She cautiously opened the door, as quietly and slowly as she had ever done before, stopping and catching her breath to listen for a single noise in the darkened room. She heard nothing – not even the sound of breathing.
A suspicion came over her, and she lifted her candle.
Joanna saw that this bed, too, was empty – and still made neatly, as if it had not been touched at all since the morning before.
Christopher was gone.
