Breaking the Governess's Rules

by Michelle Styles

  The woman shook her head and her blonde ringlets bobbed about her plump face. ‘I can’t stay in Newcastle. I keep thinking that somehow they will know about what I have done and they will whisper about me. They say that it clings to your skirts. I am willing to work, but who will hire a wicked woman for honest work? I have no references.’

  Louisa closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of hopelessness.

  ‘They won’t. They are more interested in selling tickets. Think about how many hundreds of people go through that booking office.’ She paused, trying to get her thoughts in order. ‘Is it the expense you are worried about it?’

  ‘I have money. Me mam guessed what I was on about and she slipped me some money when me da wasn’t looking. One of my aunts—well, she was in difficulties when she was young. Left high and dry, like.’ The woman twisted her handkerchief. ‘Me da warned me that I would come to a bad end, just like she did, and on no account to come back if I left. He will turn his back on me and cast me out, if I go back.’

  ‘Have you ever thought about going back? Perhaps they will have a change of heart. Blood counts for something.’

  The woman wiped the tears from her eyes and appeared to consider the request. ‘No, I can’t do it. Not with me da. He uses his fists and asks questions later. I met a woman a while back and she said if I was to get in trouble that I could go to her. She might find me a job. She used to work at the castle and looks after pretty doves. She appeared to be a kind sort.’

  Louisa pressed her lips together. The young woman was naïve. She knew exactly the sort of job that kind elderly woman had in mind—selling the young woman’s body.

  ‘Shall I go in with you?’ Louisa offered. She could not do much, but a little advice could go a long way. ‘You know, I discovered that it is best to actually see where you are to work before you do. Sometimes people try to trick you and you end up having to do things that you did not bargain for.’

  ‘They do?’ The woman’s nose wrinkled, but her eyes grew wide with astonishment. ‘I never thought of such a thing. She seemed such a nice person, but now that I think on it, she kept touching my cheek.’

  ‘Do you have enough to purchase a return ticket?’ Louisa continued. ‘Just in case the job is not what you think it is. They might take your money, but a ticket is easier to conceal.’

  ‘That’s a bonny idea. I wish I were clever enough to have thought of that.’

  Helping the woman to purchase her ticket took no more than a few moments, but it brought back so many memories. Louisa gritted her teeth. How she wished someone had taken the time to help her. But she had survived on her own and she would do so again. This time, though, she refused to run. She would fight for her life and her future.

  ‘Ah, here I find you. You were true to your word about the chemist.’

  Louisa controlled the sudden race of her pulse. Jonathon. And it was not a coincidence. She pasted a smile on her face. He might have bested her in the first round, but she would refuse to give in.

  ‘Miss Daphne needs her tincture. After this morning’s excitement, Miss Daphne requires rest. I lost Miss Mattie earlier this year and I do not intend to lose Miss Daphne.’

  ‘You care about her.’

  ‘Of course I do. It is the only reason I returned to England. Miss Daphne is family.’ Louisa brushed Jonathon’s hand from her elbow. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, you must find someone else to spy on. I have a tincture to purchase.’

  ‘I was not spying on you. I was visiting a pawnbroker.’ He nodded towards the shop where a trio of gold balls hung. A variety of items were displayed in the window.

  ‘Are you let in the pockets?’ Louisa gaped at Jonathon. There was nothing about him to indicate that he was short of money—quite the opposite. His expensively cut frockcoat, silver-topped cane and the intricately tied neckcloth screamed discreet wealth.

  ‘Hardly.’ The faintest hint of a smile touched his lips. ‘Chesterholm has suffered a series of thefts in recent months. Several of the items turned up in Newcastle. I have been visiting other pawnbrokers in the area to put the word out.’

  ‘Have you caught the thief?’

  ‘He and his accomplice have escaped so far.’ He frowned. ‘I will catch the thief in time. Whoever it was will regret tangling with me.’

  A small shiver went down Louisa’s spine at the determination in his face. ‘I have no time for those who steal. Even when I was starving and could find no work, I never stole.’

  ‘How did you survive?’

  ‘I sold my hair.’

  ‘You did what!’ The colour drained from his face. ‘Your hair… You considered it to be your crowning glory. You were determined to have it as long as possible. Cutting your hair would weaken you.’

  ‘Foolish notions vanish when faced with reality,’ Louisa said quickly before she lost her nerve. Jonathon had to understand what she had gone through and how she would never have voluntarily cut her hair. ‘Selling my hair was preferable to selling my body. Without references people were not willing to take a chance on a governess.’

  ‘But you went back to my stepmother. She paid for your passage to Italy. Did you sell your hair there?’

  ‘In England. It was only after the money was gone that I went back seeking your whereabouts and your stepmother paid my passage to get rid of me. She did not want me disrupting your impending nuptials.’ Louisa hugged her arms about her waist. It was as much of an explanation as he deserved.

  Jonathon stared at her in astonishment. ‘You are joking. Your hair is long now. You have it done up in a crown of plaits.’

  ‘I would never joke about the matter.’ She gave a mental sigh. Jonathon probably did not even remember how proud she had been of her hair. ‘You should have seen me with short curls. It was quite fetching, very Roman in a way. The summer is so hot in Italy that short hair helped a great deal.’

  There was no answering smile from Jonathon. If anything, his face became more creased and concerned. ‘Did it hurt you very much?’

  Louisa blinked rapidly. He did remember. He was not supposed to remember the little details. She clutched her reticule tighter to her bosom. ‘Having your hair cut does not hurt, Lord Chesterholm.’

  ‘Once you thought otherwise.’ A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. ‘When I cut a lock of your hair for a keepsake, you yelped.’

  ‘And then you kissed me to ease the pain,’ Louisa whispered. The corners of her mouth tingled with anticipation.

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’ He looked down at her. His eyes softened and deepened, glowing with a warm light. The crowds faded to background noise until it was the two of them standing there, just looking at each other.

  Louisa blinked and dragged her mind back from that moment, forced herself to remember the afterwards part rather than the spun-glass bubble dream.

  ‘It was that kiss that gave us away. Or so your stepmother claimed. Her maid, Lily, spotted us.’ A bitter laugh escaped her throat. ‘Even if I had not gone with you that day, she had planned to dismiss me. We were living on borrowed time. But your stepmother was correct—I had betrayed her trust.’

  ‘That was never its intention,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I weathered the storm.’ Louisa kept her head up and ignored the great hole opening up inside of her. She was not going to cry. It was somehow worse having Jonathon being kind. ‘My hair grew far quicker than I could have imagined. They would have cut it anyway when I had the fever in Naples.’

  ‘You were ill?’

  ‘For a while. It was how Miss Mattie discovered me and took me under her wing.’

  ‘Kindness itself.’

  ‘Yes, she was. I need to get Miss Daphne’s tincture.’ Louisa drew her shawl tighter about her body, aware suddenly of how close he was and how comforting his arms could be. And how she’d vowed over her daughter’s body that she’d never need him again. ‘She will worry if I am gone too long. She depends on me.’

  He put his hand on her shoulder and th
e warmth radiated outwards, but it also held her in place. ‘What were you doing in the booking office? It seems a strange place to purchase a tincture.’

  ‘Doing my good deed for the day.’ Louisa pointed towards where the young woman stood patiently waiting for the coach. ‘Helping that woman purchase a ticket to safety.’

  Jonathon’s entire body tensed as he turned his head.

  ‘Thompson! Thompson!’ Jonathon called and a heavy-set man appeared at his side. He gestured towards the woman. ‘I believe we have found Sims’s missing daughter. You know her better than I, but she reminds me of the girl.’

  ‘Yes, master. It is the young person.’

  ‘Then she is alive and well and not at the bottom of the Tyne as you predicted. Her parents will be relieved to see her again.’ Jonathon pointed to the woman. ‘Whatever you do Thompson, keep her from getting on that mail coach. We want her to go home voluntarily.’

  The man hurried off towards the woman and spoke to her, gesturing towards where Louisa and Jonathon stood.

  ‘What are you doing, Jonathon?’ Louisa caught his sleeve. ‘You have no right to prevent that woman from getting on that coach. I will not allow your man to abduct that woman.’

  ‘Annie … Annie Sims!’ Jonathon called out and the woman turned. Her ruddy complexion burned scarlet, but she quickly dropped a curtsy. Louisa sucked in her breath. Perhaps she was wrong. Perhaps Jonathon did know her. ‘Stay there! Wait for Thompson.’

  The woman obediently moved out of the queue. Louisa let Jonathon go, but to her surprise, he stood there watching as Thompson moved in between the carriages. ‘What with one thing and another that woman has caused me a great deal of trouble over the past few weeks. Hopefully now Sims will begin to shoe horses properly again.’

  ‘You know her?’ Louisa stared at Jonathon in surprise as the burly Thompson caught up with the woman and began an animated conversation. After a few words, Thompson handed her a handkerchief and Annie burst into noisy sobs. He then led her away. ‘Where he is taking her? It is against the law to abduct a woman.’

  ‘I am doing what is best.’

  ‘If a hair on that woman’s head is harmed… I should call a parish constable! You are not in Chesterholm now!’

  ‘Thompson is my valet. He is trustworthy. You need not worry. Annie is safe. She will be amongst friends. She does not belong with this filth of humanity.’

  ‘But what is your connection with Annie Sims?’ Louisa crossed her arms. Jonathon might be able to act in that high-handed fashion on his estate and with his employees, but not with her. ‘What right does your man have to take her anywhere?’

  ‘Annie is the only daughter of my farrier, Matthew Sims. Home is Chesterholm village.’ Jonathon stared down at her, his eyes serious. ‘Her parents are sick with worry about her, so much so that her father has been unable to shoe horses properly and I have three lame race horses as a result. I promised them if I should discover her in Newcastle that I would bring her home.’

  ‘When did she leave?’

  ‘Annie vanished in the night several weeks ago, about the time of the latest thefts. Her father swears she was not involved, but—’

  ‘She left because of a man,’ Louisa interrupted. ‘It is an old story.’

  ‘Yes? Where is this man of hers?’

  ‘He is married with children, so she left. A depressingly familiar tale. It will be just a coincidence about the theft happening at the same time.’

  ‘But she has money to take a mail coach.’ His face showed his scepticism. ‘Or did you give that to her?’

  ‘Her mother slipped her some … in case. But she does not want to return home. She is afraid of her father’s fists,’ Louisa explained slowly.

  ‘Matthew Sims would not harm a hair on his daughter’s head. He worships the ground she walks on. She …’ He sighed. ‘Come with me and speak to her if you don’t believe me.’

  Jonathon led her over to the inn and a small private room where Annie and his valet sat in close conversation.

  ‘Got her, my lord!’ Thompson called out. ‘She’s going home! We will have runners in the Hexham Plate after all.’

  ‘I suppose you are pleased. Horses must come before what a woman wants,’ Louisa said as a self-satisfied smile crossed Jonathon’s face and the tension appeared to flow out of his shoulders.

  ‘A thoroughly satisfactory outcome.’ He straightened his hat and sobered. ‘It is one item off my list. I promised her father that if I encountered Annie in Newcastle that I would bring her back. I would have done this even if my horses were not involved.’

  ‘Are you ready to go then, Mr Thompson? I’d like see my mam as soon as possible, now that his lordship has said it is fine.’ Annie pushed her glass away from her and then gave a quick gasp of pain. ‘Oh, no, someone left a splinter of glass on the table. I have cut my wrist. Stupid, really. It shows what my day is like.’

  Louisa watched in horror as several dark red spots appeared on Annie’s wrist.

  ‘Here.’ Jonathon withdrew a snow-white handkerchief from his pocket. ‘Bind it up with that.’

  ‘I couldn’t possibly.’ Annie protested. ‘It belongs to your lordship. I could never—’

  ‘Do it!’ Jonathon ordered.

  Annie bound her wrist up. ‘Your lordship is very kind. I hadn’t expected—’

  ‘I look after my own, Annie. Remember that.’ Jonathon patted the woman’s shoulder. ‘Go with Thompson. He will see you right.’

  Louisa stared after the pair.

  ‘She trusts you? She was adamant before … that she’d never go back.’

  ‘Some people do, Louisa, as surprising as it seems to you.’

  ‘And when she gets back to the village. Will you keep her safe then?’

  ‘Sims knows what will happen if he crosses me. The entire village knows it. I once beat a man who tried to steal one of Sims’s horses.’

  ‘You beat someone.’ Louisa stared at Jonathon. She had always considered him more of a lover than a fighter, someone who avoided unpleasantness.

  ‘All those pugilist lessons came in use that night. I developed a mean upper cut. The man deserved it.’

  ‘And do you really think she had something to do with the missing cameos? She did not even want to take your handkerchief.’

  Jonathon shrugged. ‘Whoever took the cameos had a great deal more knowledge about the security in the house than Annie. They knew the combination for the safe and where they were stored.’

  ‘Could her lover have been involved without Annie’s knowledge?’

  ‘I will obtain a description of the man she ran away with and see if any of the servants were seen with him.’

  Louisa listened with growing surprise. The old Jonathon had never known anything about the servants, let alone servants’ gossip. But he appeared to know about this woman, what she did and who she associated with. ‘It is good that Annie has someone looking out for her.’

  A muscle jumped in his jaw. ‘You have nothing to fear when you and Miss Daphne are guests in my house. Once you trusted me…’

  ‘And if I have grown beyond needing your protection?’ Louisa asked and forced a warm curl from her insides. Jonathon had not changed, not really. He remained the same sort of man that he had always been—self-absorbed and concerned only about those things that affected him. He was speaking about her surrendering her independence and she had no intention of becoming a clinging vine, running to him for every little thing as she had done before.

  ‘It is still offered.’ He reached out and tightened the shawl about her shoulders. ‘The rain is starting. You do not want to catch a chill.’

  ‘I know what to do.’ Louisa kept her body stiff and away from his touch. ‘I learnt my lesson a long time ago.’

  ‘Louisa, I look forward to welcoming you to Chesterholm, to my home.’ He tilted. ‘Will Furniss be travelling with you?’

  ‘He is Miss Daphne’s nephew.’ Louisa gave her brightest smile. Here finally was a chanc
e to show Jonathon that she did have other beaux. ‘He is very attentive to his great aunt. It has been most refreshing to see.’

  She strode purposefully away, resisting the temptation to see his reaction.

  * * *

  ‘You returned.’

  ‘You seem surprised.’ Louisa carefully retrieved the tincture from her reticule and set it on the table in front of Miss Daphne. She shook the raindrops from her shawl.

  ‘It did cross my mind that you would book your passage to Sorrento and go. You were flustered when you left. You forgot your umbrella.’ Miss Daphne’s eyes narrowed. ‘First time ever.’

  ‘It was not raining when I left.’

  ‘This is Northumberland, rather than Sorrento. It rains.’

  ‘I know where I am,’ Louisa replied carefully as she poured a scant measure of the liquid and handed it to Miss Daphne. ‘Why are you asking me?’

  ‘Because you have returned with bright cheeks and sparkling eyes and the wrong sort of tincture. That is the one I used to take, the one Mattie complained always made me too merry in the evening. It has gin in it. Lots of gin.’

  Louisa stared down at the label and gritted her teeth. She had been positive that she had chosen the correct tincture. But in her haste and confusion, she must have asked for the wrong one.

  ‘You met Lord Chesterholm while you were out.’ She leant forwards and her smile widened. ‘Deny it at your peril, Louisa.’

  Louisa pretended to take an interest in replacing the stopper on the tincture bottle. Carefully she explained the incident. ‘It was the purest chance. He thought I might be running away as well, but, Miss Daphne, I stopped running years ago. Miss Mattie taught me that problems were to be faced. Everything is possible if one holds true to one’s ideals.’

  ‘Mattie was always liberal with her advice, but rather less inclined to take it in her own life.’ Miss Daphne waved her hand, dismissing the reference. ‘Did you run the first time?’

  ‘I had no choice. Mrs Ponsby-Smythe—’

  ‘Piffle, you always have a choice. You simply chose not to use it. You were young. You were pushed.’ Miss Daphne put down the book of poetry that she had been reading. ‘You have a second chance.’