But what infuriated Gerard so much was that Hermia’s accusations of him desiring Beth was a little closer to the mark than he wanted.
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Beth woke up and got ready for her usual day of lessons. She was optimistic that this was going to go well. After lunch and she found out that Hermia had been confined to her room for the rest of the day, the afternoon had been very pleasant. Isabel and Rosamund were eager pupils, and they lapped up everything. Both sweet girls and it was hard not to fall in love with them.
Hermia was another story. It was going to take time to win her over. If she managed to do it at all. Hermia seemed very set on driving her out.
Beth had had her dinner with the kitchen staff shortly after the children had gone to bed, and then she found out what was going on with Hermia and why she had been banished to her bedchamber. She had accused her father of having Beth as a mistress. The kitchen maids were giggling over it, asking if it was true. Beth had to tell them that it wasn’t, and that made them look a little downcast. They had been hoping for some gossip.
Beth wasn’t going to give that to them when it had never happened.
It was ridiculous, being Lord Rossdale’s mistress. Beth knew it wasn’t uncommon for a nobleman to be in an affair with a servant, but Rossdale was not like that. He was a very respectable man.
She said that, and yet she had committed a scandal kissing him on a secluded path where anyone could have caught them. That was as close to pushing it as Beth could think. Days later, he had hired her as a governess.
Maybe Hermia was right, in a sense. Rossdale wanted her as a mistress and hired her to keep her close. And Hermia was a clever girl; she would suspect something. Perhaps that was why there was so much anger and dislike towards her.
That didn’t quite square up with her behaviour towards the other governesses who had attempted to teach them, but Hermia was set on this line of thinking. She wanted Beth out and her father not to look at another woman. In her mind, that was disrespectful to her mother’s memory, and she hated the fact that her father was finding another woman attractive.
Beth wanted to deny that there was something between them, assure Hermia that she would never enter into such an affair. But she had already tasted him. Had already been in his arms. And Beth would be a liar if she said she hadn’t thought about being with him more than just a kiss.
Especially after dancing with him, seeing him interact with his daughters. Lord Rossdale did keep himself a little withdrawn from his children on occasion, but when he was around them, it was clear that he loved the girls. They adored him, too, even Hermia. Isabel and Rosamund might be happy if their father moved on from their mother, but not their sister. She wanted things as they were before.
Beth wanted things as they were before. Then she wouldn’t be a governess working for her money. She didn’t mind, but if her cards had stayed the same, she wouldn’t be here. Life didn’t work out as people wanted it to, and Beth was feeling it. Hermia felt it, too, and she was desperate to have it back. Unfortunately, that wasn’t how things worked.
Beth got herself washed and dressed, eating breakfast in the kitchen before going up to the schoolroom. She went over things in her head, setting things out in a row. Maybe if she spent some time alone with Hermia, then they could get to know each other more. If they could just talk it all out like grown women, perhaps Hermia would agree to a truce. She was almost a grown woman, and she was being treated like a child. If someone spoke to her like she was a woman, maybe she would change her attitude.
Beth wasn’t entirely sure that would happen, but one could hope. And Beth was determined to try.
She set the schoolroom up for everyone, ready for it to go for the day. Beth was looking forward to discussing the kings of England and Great Britain, something Isabel had asked about before. It was a subject Beth loved to explore, and she hoped that Isabel, Rosamund, and Hermia would be just as eager to look at their monarchy.
At precisely nine in the morning, Isabel and Rosamund were brought in by their nursery maid. The woman gave Beth a smile and a nod before withdrawing. Beth turned to the girls.
“Good morning, Isabel, Rosamund.”
“Good morning,” Isabel replied, sitting down at her desk.
Rosamund didn’t reply, but she did give Beth a beaming smile as she climbed onto her chair. Beth could still see something in her mouth. Clearly, she hadn’t finished eating her breakfast, merely grabbed the last lot of food before leaving the nursery. Beth couldn’t scold her for that; at least she wasn’t talking with her mouth full.
Beth turned to the door, expecting to see Hermia standing there with a scowl on her face, the usual sight every morning. But the girl wasn’t there. Beth sighed. She was probably sulking outside the door and refusing to come in. Beth had needed to practically pull her into the schoolroom a few times, only for Hermia to scream at her and say she was being assaulted.
Which resulted in Beth having to get one of the footmen or even the nursery maid, a placid but formidable woman when she wanted to be, to drag her in. It was a headache, and it sounded like she was going to be a headache today.
But Hermia wasn’t out in the hallway. Beth couldn’t see her anywhere. She turned to Isabel, who was watching her.
“Where’s your sister?”
“I don’t know.” Isabel shrugged. “She’s not in her room, and she didn’t come into the nursery for breakfast.”
Hermia had a separate room to the nursery, but she always ate her meals with them. Hermia had complained about it as she was too old for it, but was always overruled. Beth secretly thought Hermia was too old for it. However, that wasn’t her place to say so if Lord Rossdale agreed to it.
He needed to stop treating her like a little girl. Then maybe Hermia would grow up and be able to act like a young woman.
“Maybe she’s run away again,” Rosamund suggested loudly, having finished her mouthful.
“Is that something she does often?”
“When she’s angry, she goes to hide,” Rosamund said, and Isabel nodded. “So, we can’t find her.”
Beth sighed. Just great. She had to go and find a child who didn’t want to be found. If it had been up to her, Beth would leave the girl alone and let her come back when she was ready. But she remembered what had happened with Rosamund. While she wasn’t in bed with one of the other servants, Beth didn’t want to jeopardize her job by sitting back and letting something happen to Hermia, even if the girl was driving her mad.
She spied one of the upstairs maids coming along the hall, carrying some sheets from one of the bedchambers. Beth beckoned her over.
“Hettie, would you mind keeping an eye on Miss Isabel and Miss Rosamund for a bit? I’ve got to see the duke.”
“I would, Miss Beth, but Mrs Marley wants me to get the sheets into the washroom.”
“I’ll take them.” Beth took the sheets from the young woman. “It’ll only be for a bit. I’ve got to find Hermia.”
Hettie’s expression changed, and she nodded.
“Ah. All right, as long as you let Mrs Marley know.”
“I will.” Beth wondered how much of a regular occurrence it was for Hermia to disappear. She leaned back into the schoolroom. “Girls, I want you to go through the sums on the board. Rosamund, yours are on the left and Isabel, your sums are on the right. I’ll come in and check on them shortly.”
“Are you going to find Hermia?” Rosamund asked. “She won’t like that.”
Beth exchanged a look with Hettie, who shrugged and went into the schoolroom. Beth headed towards the stairs. Hermia was just going to have to get used to being searched for. She wouldn’t bow down to a child who wanted her own way.
Mrs Marley was coming along the hallway from the kitchen and the washroom when Beth found her. The housekeeper stopped and looked surprised at her presence.
“Miss Beth? Is everything all right?”
“I’m not sure. I’m just bringing these from Hettie.” Beth gestured a
t her arms full of sheets she had almost tripped on down the stairs. “She’s just watching Miss Isabel and Miss Rosamund right now. Miss Hermia’s gone again.”
“Oh, I see.” Mrs Marley sighed and took the sheets from her. “Give them here. I’ll see to them. But don’t be too long. We’ve got a busy day, and I need Hettie at work.”
“It’ll just be a few minutes.”
Beth hoped that was the case. She didn’t want to end up running around all day trying to find Hermia on her own. This needed to come to Lord Rossdale’s attention. Beth wasn’t about to become responsible for her disappearance. If that was Hermia’s intention, to get her into trouble, Beth wouldn’t allow it.
Rossdale was in his study when Beth knocked on his door, bidding her to come in. Beth took a deep breath and wished that her pulse wouldn’t skip a few beats when she heard his voice. That she didn’t need right now. Especially after what she had heard from the other household staff regarding Hermia’s accusations.
This wasn’t a good idea, being alone in a room with him. But Beth needed to let him know the situation.
Rossdale was sitting at his desk, a huge ledger in front of him. He looked up and paused when he saw Beth. He lowered his pen.
“Beth.” Beth had to wince when he said her name. The door was still open. “Is there something wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Beth closed the door. Then she opened it a little before approaching the duke. “Hermia’s not turned up for her lessons. And her sisters say she’s not in her room.”
“She’s not?”
Rossdale looked surprised. Beth swallowed. She hoped this didn’t mean she was getting into trouble.
“I was wondering if you knew where she might have gone,” she hurried on. “This place is a bit of a maze, and Rosamund says she goes into hiding often.”
“I’m afraid she does,” Rossdale said grimly. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “When she’s really angry, she shuts herself off from everyone else and hides. My wife left her to stew in those times. Said Hermia would wear herself out getting angry over something silly, that she would come back when she had got it out of her system.”
“And she always came back?”
“Always.” Rossdale sighed. “It’s been happening more and more lately.”
“I take it she’s angry at me for giving her a punishment.”
“I think she would be angry at anything regarding you.”
Beth had come to that conclusion herself. She understood that not everyone had to like her, and that was fine. But this was something else. Beth hadn’t experienced anything like it before.
“I didn’t realize she could have such animosity towards me.”
“Well, that’s Hermia for you. Very passionate.” Rossdale stood and came around the desk, leaning back on it with his arms folded. “She sees you as replacing her mother. In what capacity, I’m not entirely sure, but she’s got it into her head that you’re not just here as a tutor.”
At least the rumours the kitchen maids had been giggling about the night before were true. Beth was still shocked at it. She never saw herself as a threat.
“I would never replace Lady Rossdale,” she murmured. “Never.”
“Try telling that to my daughter.” Rossdale paused. “I know where she might be. But I’d better come with you.”
“You don’t need to. I can handle a young woman with anger problems.”
But the duke was shaking his head.
“It’s best that you have a witness.”
Beth was confused about that. Did he actually think Hermia was going to attack her and then play the victim? Hermia was passionate and angry, but she wouldn’t try to do that, would she? It was just ridiculous, like a little child throwing their toys around because they didn’t get their own way. Surely, this was just a child lashing out.
From the way the duke was acting, it was clearly more than that.
Beth was even more confused as Rossdale led her out into the garden. It was a beautiful day, and the garden was in full colour. Beth could see herself getting lost in this place, and the children loved to play out here. Even Hermia. She seemed to find some solace in the quiet parts of the garden, refusing to let her sisters come anywhere near it.
Perhaps she had a special place out in the garden where she went for some time on her own. The house was always bustling. Even if you were in a room on your own, there was always someone close by to bother you. The garden was different.
There was a large tree at the far end of the garden, the branches casting a huge amount of shade from the sun over the grass. They even spread over the back wall. In the middle of all that, it would be like having a little hideaway during the summer.
Beth could see someone on the other side of the low-hanging branches, sitting at the base of the tree. She couldn’t see their face, but it had to be Hermia. There was some sniffling coming from the tree. Was she crying?
Rossdale signalled Beth to stay back and then he ducked under the branches, moving into the little space.
“Come on, Hermia. This is getting ridiculous.”
“Go away, Father!”
Beth heard Rossdale sigh.
“Do you honestly think this is going to help anyone?”
“I won’t go and do as that little witch says!” Hermia shouted. “I won’t!”
Beth was not going to let that slide. If Hermia wanted to have a tantrum, she could do that, but she wasn’t going to start calling her names.
“That little witch isn’t going anywhere, Hermia,” she said loudly. “And I’m not here to tread on anyone’s toes.”
There was a moment of silence. Then Hermia started shrieking again.
“You brought her here? How could you, Father?”
“Hermia, stop this and get out here right now,” Rossdale growled. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you hired her!” Hermia shot back.
There was some rustling of leaves and then Hermia was storming out, Rossdale just behind her. She swung around on her father, squaring up to the duke.
“I hate you,” she hissed. “I hate you so much.”
Beth saw the flash of pain across Rossdale’s face. Hermia could have just slapped him and that wouldn’t have the same effect. She reached out and touched Hermia’s arm.
“Come on, Hermia, let’s leave your father …”
Hermia spun around, her arm coming up. Beth wasn’t aware that she was close enough to be hit until she felt Hermia’s fist catch her in the mouth. Pain exploded, and Beth stumbled back. Her first reaction was to start crying – before that day she had been mugged, no one had hit her before – but Beth fought back the tears. Hermia was breathing heavily, looking like she was about to attack her again.
“Don’t touch me,” she snarled. “You never touch me.”
“Hermia!” Rossdale grabbed her arm and hauled her to his side. He glanced at Beth, his jaw tightening. “Beth, go and get Radcliffe and Samuels. Tell them to get here now.”
Beth wasn’t about to argue. She hurried away, still fighting back the urge to cry. Her lip was throbbing. It hurt a lot. As she ran, she could hear Hermia shouting at her father.
“She deserved it, Father. She deserved it!”
Chapter 14
Gerard couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Never had Hermia lashed out at anyone, not even him. She just kept it as angry words and stomping around. Never did he think that Hermia would actually hit someone.
What A Wicked Duke Demands (Historical Regency Romance) Page 17
