An Unexpected Pleasure

by Candace Camp

  “Mr.—I mean, Lord Raine. How do you do?”

  “I’m doing quite well—now,” he replied, uncrossing his arms and coming forward into the room. “I am pleased to see that we did not scare you off.”

  “I assure you, it would take more than what I saw the other day to scare me off,” Megan replied tartly, annoyed by the fact that she even noticed how handsome the man was.

  The acerbity of her statement seemed to bother Moreland not at all. His grin only grew. “Ah. Plucky to the end, I see. I always like that.” He turned his attention to the housekeeper. “Mrs. Bee, you’re looking as lovely as ever this morning.”

  “Get on with you, now,” the housekeeper replied, but she blushed a little with pleasure and smiled as she said it, clearly not immune to Moreland’s charm. “I can always tell when you’re wanting something from me.”

  “Mrs. Bee! You wound me,” he replied, laying a hand on his heart in a mock-dramatic manner.

  “Same as when you and Master Reed were little and coming around trying to sweet-talk me out of a cookie.”

  “And here I was about to offer to take a task off your hands,” Theo retorted. “I was going to show Miss Henderson up to the nursery for you.”

  “Were you now?” Mrs. Brannigan said, shooting him a speculative look. “Well, then, I’ll take you up on that offer. It’ll save a bit of wear and tear on these old joints, and that’s a fact.” She turned toward Megan. “The footmen will bring your trunk up later, miss. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

  With a bob of the head toward Moreland, she turned and walked out of the room. Megan, left standing alone with Theo Moreland in the middle of her bedroom, felt suddenly ill at ease. She could not remember when, if ever, there had been a man other than her father or brothers in her bedroom. It seemed far too intimate a setting.

  “I, uh, thank you, but I feel sure that there is no need for you to escort me to the nursery,” she told Moreland stiffly. “I can doubtless find it on my own.”

  “Doubtless you can,” he admitted easily. “But it would scarcely be gentlemanly of me.”

  “Certainly I cannot be responsible for that,” Megan retorted dryly.

  He extended his arm courteously to her as he had the other day, and Megan could think of no way not to take it without being rude. But she could not help but wonder why Theo Moreland was doing this. Employers did not customarily offer their arm to an employee any more than they put themselves out to show that employee to their workplace—certainly not when there was another employee around who could do it just as well.

  She did not think that she was being conceited in thinking that Moreland was expressing an interest in her. But why? Megan could not help but feel that same breathless fear that somehow Theo Moreland was onto her, that he knew who she was and was looking for some opportunity to trip her up.

  Megan told herself that she was being foolish. An employer flirting with someone who was not much more than a servant usually did so for the obvious reasons. Megan was not unaccustomed to men flirting with her—or even making quite unwarranted and improper advances. She knew that the plain businesslike shirtwaist and dark skirt she wore could not completely conceal her curvaceous figure, and her face, while not classically beautiful, was lively and appealing. And there was something about a woman on her own that seemed to all too often call forth the basest desires in men.

  In all likelihood, she reminded herself, it was merely that sort of desire that impelled Theo Moreland to seek her out. He was undoubtedly the loathsome sort who used his position of power to impose his desires upon the women who were unfortunate enough to work for him. It was a little surprising, perhaps, that he would do so right under his own mother’s nose, but, then, she thought with a mental sniff, why would she expect even that much gentlemanly reticence from the man who had killed her brother?

  Well, she thought with some satisfaction, he would find out that she was not some helpless female whom he could seduce—or force himself on—with impunity. Megan Mulcahey was well able to take care of herself.

  She laid her hand on his arm, pleased that not the slightest twitch betrayed her nervousness at doing so. As he led her down the hall and up the main staircase—rather wider than the servants’ stairs that she and Mrs. Brannigan had climbed earlier—she remarked on the other halls that sprouted off from the main passage and all the rooms that lined them. Broughton House was enormous. She could see that the task of searching it would be almost overwhelming. Even the fact that she had gotten some faint idea of what she should be looking for made it very little easier—a pendant was a rather small item to find in this house.

  “I can see why you thought I would need a guide,” she said lightly. “There are an awful lot of rooms here.”

  “You should see Broughton Park,” Theo responded wryly. “Some of its wings are a veritable rabbits’ warren.”

  “Broughton Park?”

  “The country seat,” he responded. “My parents generally spend most of their year there. They only come here for the season. I can’t think why, as neither of them likes it.”

  Good heavens, Megan thought with an inner sigh, there was a whole other house in which this “precious” object might be hidden. She had to wonder how she would manage to hold up this charade of being a teacher long enough to explore everywhere.

  As they neared the nursery, Megan could hear the sound of laughter, not only the childish tones of the twins, but also a deeper masculine chuckle and the lighter, higher notes of a woman. Theo’s eyebrows went up, and he moved at a faster clip down the hall.

  “Reed!” he exclaimed as he turned into the schoolroom. “I thought that was you I heard. And Anna! What a wonderful surprise. When did you get in?”

  “This morning.” The man who was seated on one of the desktops, his long legs stretched casually out in front of him, rose with an easy grace and came toward them, stretching out his hand to take Theo’s in a firm shake. “I promised Anna a season.”

  He cast a warm look back toward the cluster of desks, where a well-dressed, attractive woman sat between Con and Alex. She stood up and came toward them, too, smiling at Theo a little shyly.

  “Hello, Theo.”

  “Hello, Anna.” Theo took her hand and leaned in to lightly kiss her cheek. “You look radiant. It’s hard to believe that you have been traveling.”

  Anna chuckled. “We have been up since five o’clock. We are still on country hours, you know.”

  She turned toward Megan, her wide gray eyes resting on her for a long moment. “Hello,” she said, extending her hand. “I am Anna Moreland. You must be the new tutor.”

  “Why, yes, I am,” Megan replied, faintly surprised.

  “Anna always knows things,” Alex told Megan in explanation.

  “I beg your pardon?” Megan looked at the boy in confusion.

  “She sees things,” Con added matter-of-factly. “I mean, things other people don’t see.”

  An icy finger ran up Megan’s spine.

  “Con! Alex!” Anna scolded, casting the two boys a dark look. “Stop. You’ll make Miss Henderson think I am some sort of witch or something.” She turned back to Megan, smiling. “I’m sorry. Con and Alex sometimes exaggerate a little. They had described their new tutor to me. That is how I guessed who you were.”

  “No, I am sorry,” Theo put in. “You should not have had to guess. I am lax in my introductions. You are correct, Anna. This is Miss Henderson, the newest sacrificial lamb on the altar of the twins’ education. Miss Henderson, please allow me to introduce my brother, Reed, and his wife, Anna.”

  “How do you do?” Megan smiled politely at the tall man whom she thought she would have guessed was Theo’s brother even without any introduction. Though he was not quite as handsome as Theo and his eyes were gray rather than green, his square-jawed face was similar enough to Theo’s to mark him as a relative.

  The woman beside him was quietly attractive, with thick golden brown hair and large, intelligen
t gray eyes. She was a trifle taller than Megan and slender, and there was about her an air of calm that drew one to her. Megan liked her immediately, and she sensed that if she had met this woman in any other situation, they would have become friends. As it was, she knew that she could not afford to let herself become close to anyone in this household.

  “Is this your first day with these rapscallions?” Reed asked, smiling, reaching out to ruffle Alex’s hair.

  “Yes, it is,” Megan replied. “I am looking forward to teaching them.” Looking forward with trepidation, if the truth be known, Megan thought, but she wasn’t about to let anyone see that fact.

  “I hope you still feel that way by this evening,” Reed joked.

  “Stop it. You and Theo both,” Anna scolded her husband, shooting him a fierce look. She turned toward Megan, saying earnestly, “Con and Alex are really quite wonderful boys, and I am sure that you will enjoy teaching them. Their brothers simply like to tease.”

  “I am sure that I will have no problem with Con and Alex,” Megan agreed, casting a smile at the boys. “We have already worked well together, haven’t we?”

  “Oh, yes,” Alex agreed emphatically. “We told Anna what you did. It was just what she would have done, wasn’t it, Anna?”

  “Exactly,” Anna said, and smiled at Megan. “I think it is time that we let you get down to work with your charges, don’t you? We haven’t even visited with the duchess yet. We came straight up here when we arrived.”

  “We knew these two would be the only ones in the family already up,” Reed added. His hand slipped around his wife’s waist, and he smiled down at her as he went on, “Come along, love. Mother will be very put out if she is the last to hear.”

  Reed and Anna nodded goodbye to Megan and started toward the door. Reed paused, glancing back at his brother. “Coming, Theo?”

  “Yes, of course.” Theo turned back to Megan. “I must take my leave, Miss Henderson.” His mouth quirked up in a smile, and Megan felt an odd warmth rush through her.

  She stiffened unconsciously and straightened her shoulders. “Goodbye, Lord Raine. Thank you for showing me to the nursery. I trust in the future I will be able to find my own way.”

  “No doubt you will.” His green eyes danced, and Megan was aware of a sudden traitorous urge to smile at him.

  He bowed slightly toward her before he turned and followed his brother and sister-in-law out the door.

  Megan watched him go, then realized what she was doing and turned quickly back to the twins. She looked at the two lads, who were gazing back at her with interest.

  Panic gripped her for a moment, and she was suddenly sure that the boys would realize in only moments that she was not really a teacher.

  “Well…” Megan forced a smile. “I guess it is time for us to get down to work.”

  “All right. What do you want us to do?” Con asked. She was almost sure it was Con, anyway.

  “What do you usually do?” Megan stalled.

  The twins looked at her a little oddly, then Alex said, “Well, you know, our lessons. Which one we do first just depends on the tutor.”

  “What’s your favorite subject?” Megan went on.

  “Science,” Alex replied promptly. “That’s easy. It’s the interesting stuff.”

  “Math, too,” Con added.

  “What’s your least favorite?”

  There was no doubt in that regard, apparently, for the boys chorused, “Greek and Latin.”

  “Ah.” Megan nodded and smiled. “I never much liked them myself.” The truth was, she had never so much as seen a word of Greek, but she had hated laboring over the Latin texts at the convent school, and Greek sounded even worse. “Then which shall we tackle first? The best or the worst?”

  The boys gaped at her.

  “You mean—you’re asking us? Which lesson to do first?”

  “Why not? You are, after all, the ones doing them. Personally, I like to take the hardest thing first and get it over with, then end the day with what I like best. That makes it easier to get through, don’t you think?”

  “Sure,” Con agreed.

  “Then why don’t we all sit down and draw up our schedule?” Megan suggested. It seemed to her the most rational way to go about the matter, though she felt sure that the nuns who had taught her would probably be horrified at the idea of the students choosing any part of their studies, even the order in which they did them.

  Alex and Con grinned at each other.

  “Wizard!” Alex exclaimed. “I knew you were going to be the best tutor.”

  “Good. And I expect that you will be the best pupils,” Megan tossed back with a grin, and started toward the desks.

  The boys quickly followed her, and they settled down to the task of mapping out their days.

  * * *

  REED MORELAND TURNED to his wife as they walked away from the nursery and down the stairs. “You saw something when you looked at her, didn’t you?”

  Anna shot him a look. “No. I did not see anything.”

  “I was watching you,” Reed retorted. “There was something about the way you looked…”

  “Miss Henderson, you mean?” Theo asked, frowning and turning to look at Anna. “What are you talking about? Anna, did you have one of your visions?”

  Like all the Morelands, Theo knew about the horrifying events that had occurred at Winterset, Reed’s home in Gloucestershire, a few months earlier, before Reed and Anna were married. There had been a series of grisly murders in the area, and Anna had experienced eerie, terrifying moments during which she had envisioned the murders that had just taken place. The twins and Kyria, along with her husband, Rafe, had been visiting Reed at the time and had been there for part of the ordeal. But even they did not know the full extent of the shattering visions Anna had seen, visions that had made her doubt her very sanity. Reed had confided the whole story only to his older brother and closest confidant.

  “No,” Anna told Theo now, grimacing. “Really, you two are as bad as the twins. You would think I went about seeing things every time I met a person. I did not have a vision. I didn’t ‘see’ anything about Miss Henderson.”

  “But…” her husband said encouragingly.

  “But I felt something,” Anna admitted, frowning a little. “I—it was very vague. But I—I felt a little fear.”

  “Fear?” Theo’s scowl deepened. “You mean you felt that Miss Henderson was afraid?”

  “No. I don’t think so. There was just a…a sense of turmoil, of…oh, I’m not sure what,” she finished disgustedly. “It was very vague. I think it was more a general sense of fear—maybe something frightening looming in the future. Really, it was nothing to base anything on.”

  “You think that perhaps she is in danger? Or will be in danger?”

  “Perhaps,” Anna said somewhat reluctantly. “Please, don’t speak of it to her. I am quite unsure about it, and I wouldn’t want to frighten her. I quite liked her. And lately, well, the things I feel have been different. Ever since…” She cast a glance at her husband, a faint smile playing on her lips. “I—I feel things more easily now, more quickly, and I’m not entirely sure how much to trust my ‘feelings.’”

  “Ever since what?” Theo asked.

  Anna glanced at him, a blush starting in her cheeks, and Theo’s eyes narrowed speculatively.

  “Are you saying—Reed?” He turned his gaze to his brother inquiringly, a pleased smile starting on his face.

  Reed grinned. “Yes. Anna is—we are going to have a baby.”

  “Congratulations!” Theo reached out to shake his brother’s hand, then turned to Anna. “My very best to you. I know how happy this must make you.”

  Anna smiled a little shyly. “Yes, I am very happy.”

  Theo knew from what Reed had told him that for several years Anna had believed that she could never marry and have children, and he felt sure that her pleasure at expecting a baby was even more than most women felt.

  “Have you to
ld the others?”

  “No. We’ve seen no one but Alex and Con yet,” Reed replied. “They were the only ones up and about when we arrived—well, except for Thisbe and Desmond, and they were already ensconced in their laboratory. We are going down to tell the duchess now. It is why we decided to come for the season. We would have stayed at Winterset, otherwise. There is still a great deal to be done there, getting the house in order, but Anna has never had a season, and once the baby is here, it will be much more difficult to come to London, so we thought that we must make it this year.” He smiled lovingly down at his wife. “She has promised me that she will not overexert herself.”

  “I feel wonderful,” Anna assured him, her gray eyes shining. “You needn’t worry about me at all. Truthfully, I think that I will feel nothing but happiness the whole time. It is so much more than I ever hoped for.”

  “We are hoping to tell the whole family,” Reed went on. “Are Olivia and Stephen in town? I am sure that Kyria and Rafe must be here.”

  “Oh, yes. Olivia and Stephen arrived a day or two ago, and Kyria and Rafe have been here for two weeks. Kyria isn’t likely to miss a season.” He turned to Anna with a smile. “I can assure you that you will have your fill of parties. If Kyria does not host it or go to it, then a party is generally not considered worth going to.”

  “Yes. I shall have to warn her not to wear you out,” Reed agreed with some concern.

  Anna chuckled. “My dear, I am quite capable of knowing whether I am about to be ‘worn out.’ I think it will be delightful.”

  Anna had lived a quiet life in the country, forced by circumstances to forego a London coming out when she was young, and clearly she was determined to attend as many of the glittering parties as she could.

  “Come, let’s go downstairs. I am sure that Mother and Father must be at breakfast by now,” Theo said as they started down the stairs. “They will be so pleased by your news.” He cast a grin at his brother. “And it will take some of the family pressure off me.”