Especially not Beth. Gerard couldn’t begin to describe the rage he felt when he saw his daughter strike Beth. He had to fight it back to stop himself shaking sense into Hermia.
She had gone too far.
Knowing that he was too angry to deal with Hermia on his own, Gerard held onto her arm to prevent her from running while he waited for Radcliffe and Samuels. Hermia kept trying to get away, screaming that Beth deserved it, and she didn’t have the right to touch her. Gerard did his best to ignore her. Beth hadn’t done anything wrong except try to keep things normal and calm.
Hermia didn’t know what calm meant anymore.
Radcliffe and Samuels came hurrying out after a short while, and between them they escorted Hermia back into the house. Hermia was arguing, even after all that, threatening to run away, and Gerard wouldn’t know where she had gone. Gerard ignored these threats; Hermia had threatened it before, and the furthest she had gone was the bottom of the garden. She wouldn’t do it.
Although after what she had just done, he wasn’t so sure now.
Hermia was escorted to her bedchamber, and Gerard summoned Mrs Marley. One of the upstairs maids was going to sit in with Hermia, who was now confined to her room for a week. She was to take meals in her room, and she would have her schoolwork sent to her. If she argued about it and refused to do the work, Gerard would extend her confinement for an extra day. He didn’t want to go down this route, but Hermia had crossed the line and attacked Beth. That was unacceptable, and she had to understand that.
Once Hermia was in her room and the maid, a burly, matronly woman named Deborah who took no nonsense off anyone, was with her, Gerard dismissed Radcliffe and Samuels. Then he headed towards the servants’ quarters when he was sure no one was watching. His main concern could be focused on.
Hopefully, nobody was going to see him go this way and that would get the rumours going even more. Gerard didn’t want to deal with that right now.
He found Beth’s room, one that she had on her own on the far side of the wing where the servants slept, and knocked gently on the door. A moment later, Beth answered.
“Who is it?”
“Lord Rossdale. Can I come in?”
There was a moment of silence.
“You shouldn’t be here, Your Grace.”
“Am I not allowed to see how one of my employees is doing after my daughter attacked her?” Gerard sighed. “Please, Beth, let me in.”
For a moment, he thought that Beth would refuse. Then the door opened, and Beth appeared. She was looking pale, her lip swollen, and there was a cut in amongst the swelling. It looked like it had just stopped bleeding.
Just seeing her like that had Gerard feeling anger again. Hermia shouldn’t have done that. It was despicable what she had done. Gerard wanted to draw Beth into his arms and not let her go.
Maybe getting into her room on their own was not a good idea. But Gerard pushed that aside and stepped into Beth’s small bedroom. He was close to not caring about anything other than Beth’s welfare.
“How bad is it?”
“It’s sore, but it’s stopped bleeding.” Beth closed the door, gingerly prodding her injury. “I’ll live.”
“Let me see.”
Beth approached him and lifted her face to his. Gerard cupped her chin in his hand and inspected the wound. It wasn’t as bad as it looked, he was sure. It had stopped bleeding, and the swelling would go down. Definitely not the time to kiss her.
Why was he even thinking about kissing her after that?
“I cannot believe that Hermia did this. I did not raise her like that.”
“I know you didn’t.” Beth shifted away from him, pulling out of his hold. “She’s just lashing out, quite literally.”
“Can you forgive me for this, Beth?”
Beth fixed him with a cool stare.
“It’s not you I need to forgive.”
“I know. But Hermia is my daughter. I’m responsible for her.” Gerard rubbed his hands over his face. Barely mid-morning, and he was worn out already. “She’s refusing to apologize to you.”
“I can wait for it.” Beth smoothed her hands down her skirts. “As long as she knows the consequences of her actions.”
Gerard was going to make sure that Hermia did know. She was losing any type of privilege until she understood. Hopefully, Hermia would realize what she was doing was futile by the time she turned eighteen. It wouldn’t look good on them if she was still confined to her room when she was preparing for her first Season in Society. If Gerard allowed her at all.
“Do you want her in your lessons after she’s hurt you?” he asked.
Beth nodded.
“Yes. Once she’s been punished for this, I want her back. She needs to learn that I won’t back down and punishing her each time is just going to make her double-down. I just need to learn to verbally joust with her.”
“That’s going to be interesting.”
“I have a sister. I’m used to a war of two sides.”
“Did it ever get physical?”
“Nothing like this.” Beth touched her lip with a wince. “This isn’t as bad as when I was mugged, though. It hurts, but nothing compared to that.”
Gerard could imagine. And he didn’t want to think about that part. He only wanted to remember those few moments where he was with a woman he desired, not what preceded it.
He needed to get his mind settled. Seeing Beth bleeding after being hurt by his own child had shaken Gerard more than he expected.
“Look, Your Grace …”
“Gerard,” Gerard said abruptly.
“I beg your pardon?”
“When we’re alone, it’s Gerard. Remember?”
Beth’s face went bright red, and she backed away.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate, even when we’re alone, Your Grace.”
“I insist.”
Beth didn’t look happy about that. She took a deep breath and moved away, sitting on the bed. She kept her back straight, shoulders back, with her hands in her lap. Her mask was coming back on. Gerard had to admire her composure, even when he wanted that gone.
“I understand that all your daughters miss their mother, Your Grace.” Beth fixed him with a cool gaze. “But from the way she’s behaving, it appears that Hermia is the most affected by your wife’s death.”
“She and Allegra were close. They had a bond that you couldn’t break.”
“Is that why she’s so determined to make sure no one will replace her mother?”
“Partly.” Gerard rubbed his hands over his face. “And I think part of it is due to guilt.”
“How do you mean? What does she have to feel guilty about?”
Gerard hesitated. Then he moved to sit beside Beth. Beth stiffened, but she didn’t pull away. Gerard rested his elbows on his knees, staring at the floor.
“Hermia was unwell the night we went out. Allegra was desperate to get back to her. She didn’t care if we were going too fast; she just wanted to be with her daughter. As a result, we ... well, I’ve told you about that already.”
Going over it again was a little easier than before, but it was still hard. And from the way Gerard had worded it, it did sound like he was blaming Allegra for the accident. In a way, she was responsible. But she didn’t deserve to die for that. Any mother would want to be at their child’s side when they were unwell.
“Hermia thinks it’s her fault that her mother died because you were coming back for her,” Beth murmured. “She thinks if she hadn’t been ill, then you wouldn’t have hurried and ended up in an accident.”
Gerard nodded. Hermia would never admit it out loud, but he had a feeling that this was driving her recent behaviour. None of this was Beth’s fault. Only in Hermia’s mind did she see a threat.
Was Beth a threat? Gerard didn’t think so. Not to Hermia, anyway.
“She’s not always been sullen and argumentative, believe me. She was once a very sweet, kind girl.”
“I did
n’t think you would tolerate it if this was a regular thing for her,” Beth said. She didn’t sound reproachful. “But you have given her a bit of leeway regarding her behaviour. Maybe for a bit too long.”
“You think I should be firmer with her?”
“It might help. Draw a line in the sand and tell her she’s not to cross it under any circumstances. She needs to be re-taught where her limits are.”
“You think I haven’t been doing that? It’s not working.”
“But are you consistent? Because consistency works.”
Gerard stared at her. Beth stared back with an unblinking gaze. Gerard wanted to protest, but everything seemed to falter whenever Beth was looking at him like that. For all her nerves and her slight awkwardness, she was a level-headed woman. Logical.
“Since when did I hire you to advise me about my parenting?”
“You didn’t.” Beth shrugged. “I’m an outsider looking in. It’s just how I see things. But if it’s over the line, I’ll stop.”
“Only in public.” Gerard shifted around and leaned towards her. “In private? Maybe I need some counselling of my own.”
Perhaps it was a bad idea coming in here. Now they were alone, Gerard was very much aware of Beth’s presence and how close she was to him. Every time Gerard looked at her, touched her, he was reminded of that day in Vauxhall Gardens. And that kiss had stayed with him. He wanted more.
A lot more.
For a short moment, Beth looked like she was going to lean towards him. Her features had softened, and her eyes were starting to close. But then her eyes widened, and she jumped to her feet, almost darting to the other side of the room.
“You need to go, Your Grace.” She hurried to the door, keeping her back to him. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“It’s my house.”
“But it’s not your reputation at stake if someone sees you leaving or we’re caught doing something we shouldn’t.” Beth opened the door, still not looking at him. “Please, Gerard. Just go. I don’t want to prove to your daughter that she was right.”
Gerard loved it when Beth said his name. It stirred something in his gut. The urge to pull her into his arms was great. But she was right. He couldn’t be seen here, and it wasn’t far on Beth. He had more respect for her than satisfying his own needs. Getting to his feet, Gerard approached her. Beth still wouldn’t look at him, focusing at a button on his shirt. Gerard wished she would just look at him.
Even though he knew he should leave, Gerard still hesitated on the threshold.
“I’ll tell Isabel and Rosamund that you’ll be back shortly. If you think you want to carry on for the day?”
“Of course.” Beth swallowed hard and looked up at him. “You hired me for a job. And I’m going to do it.”
She was strong. Gerard admired that. He admired a lot about her. Not a lot of that admiration was something he should be feeling. There was a line firmly drawn between them, and while Beth was determined to stay on her side, Gerard found himself wanting to step over to join her. But he wouldn’t. Not now.
He leaned towards her and kissed her forehead. It paled to what he really wanted to do, but Gerard found he couldn’t walk away without just touching her. Beth started, but he didn’t pull away. Gerard gave her a small smile and then he left her room, taking the back stairs and ducking into the library before anyone saw him.
It was only then that he sagged into a chair and waited for his heart to stop pounding.
#
Beth went to Isabel’s desk and looked at her sums.
“That’s good, Isabel. Very neat. Just remember to get the fives and the threes around the right way.” Then she turned to look at Rosamund’s handwriting. “Your writing is getting much better, Rosamund. But that’s meant to be a ‘b’, not a ‘d’.”
“My apologies, Miss Campbell.” Rosamund looked a little crestfallen. Beth smiled and stroked the girl’s head.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. These little mistakes are perfectly normal. You just need to keep practising.”
Rosamund still looked a little sad, but she rewrote the sentence in her slightly shaky writing. This time, she got the letters around the right way.
“There we go. You’ve got it.” Beth kissed her head. “Now you just need to remember which way round the letters go.”
The last three days had passed by quietly and pleasantly. Beth’s lip had stopped throbbing by the end of the first day, and while it was still a little sore if she prodded her injury, she barely noticed her wounds. Hermia had one vicious swing, that was for sure, but it was nothing Beth couldn’t handle.
From what Beth was told by Mrs Marley after she went back to the schoolroom, Hermia had been confined to her room, and she wasn’t to come out. Her schoolwork would be sent to her, and if she didn’t get it done, she would be confined for longer. Beth didn’t approve of the way Lord Rossdale was going about it, but she wasn’t Hermia’s parent. She couldn’t get involved with how he punished her.
It did make teaching Isabel and Rosamund much easier, though. Both girls were eager to learn, and it was refreshing to see such delightful little children lapping up everything around them. Beth could teach them just a small thing without Hermia snorting or rolling her eyes. She liked to disrupt her sisters as well as her own learning.
It was a shame because Hermia was clearly a very clever young woman. And unfortunately, she knew it.
Even though Beth didn’t want to see an upside to this episode, she was glad that she could devote her time to children who genuinely wanted to learn. Isabel and Rosamund were like a breath of fresh air.
The door opened, and Beth turned, expecting to see one of the maids or Mrs Marley in the doorway. Since Hermia’s outburst, the staff had taken to looking in on the schoolroom, mostly Mrs Marley. It was like they were checking that Beth was all right, as if they suspected Hermia of trying something else. Beth didn’t think that would happen, but she appreciated people looking after her welfare.
But it wasn’t Mrs Marley looking into the room. It was the dowager duchess. And she was signalling for Beth to join her. Beth felt a little cold. Something was wrong. Was it about Hermia? Surely not, because Lord Rossdale would come and talk to her. So what was it the dowager duchess was so concerned about that she was calling Beth out of her granddaughters’ lessons.
Beth turned to Isabel and Rosamund. Rosamund was still writing out her sentences, but Isabel was watching.
“You two carry on with the work on the board. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Isabel nodded, still watching Beth as she crossed the room and joined Lady Rossdale. The older woman stepped out into the hallway, and Beth followed her, closing the door behind her.
“Your Grace. Is there something wrong?”
“Not exactly wrong.” Lady Rossdale looked uncomfortable. “But I am worried, Miss Campbell.”
“Have I done something you don’t approve of? I know things with your eldest granddaughter aren’t the best …”
“It’s not about Hermia.” Lady Rossdale shook her head. “It’s about my son.”
What A Wicked Duke Demands (Historical Regency Romance) Page 18
