"See you in a minute. Don't let the boys play with the secateurs."
The Dowager pointed to them, safely out of the way of tiny fingers. She waved at Simon, and off he went upstairs.
But when they got up to the nursery, there was no one about. "Oh dear, Adeline. It's the servants' half holiday."
"Icky. Wet." She pouted miserably.
"We'll have you fixed up in a trice." He promised. It made no sense to leave the child soaked when he could do it in an instant. "Do you know where your clothes are, sweetie?"
She nodded and took him by the hand and led him to her little chest of drawers. He got out some small underthings and a dress and stockings, and a clean pair of shoes.
He was just finishing tying her garters and laces and making a jolly game of it when Margaret the nursery maid came in and started screaming.
"You're disgusting! Get away from her!"
"Wha-?" Simon gasped, completely at a loss.
Margaret snatched up the child, squeezing her hard enough to make her scream. She continued shouting foul accusations at the top of her lungs until the child was hysterical, not so much by the words, as the fury in them.
Simon's head spun. None of it made any sense.... He felt sick with terror that he had had a black out or seizure and really had done something wrong.
Even more confusing, he could hear some of the other children's crying echoing in his head. He was sure it was some dreadful flashback from the war and his head began to pound like the sound of the surf against a cliff. He cowered in a low chair with his head down and his hands over his ears, trying to get a grip on his reeling world.
Randall came tearing in, only to find his daughter bawling and the maid snarling like a rabid dog. Margaret was still screaming that Simon had tampered with and hurt the girl, and was calling him every foul name she could think of.
For a moment, he saw red, but it soon became apparent to Randall that his daughter was certainly not seeking to be rescued by Margaret, but rather, to escape from her.
"Let me go!" Adeline insisted, trying to struggle away from the maid's grasp."I want my fwend Simon. You hurt him."
Randall stared.
"No, you can't go near..."
Adeline wriggled with all her might and broke free. Margaret tried to snatch her back, but she ducked and dodged around the chair and table to evade her. "No! Go away. I want Simon. I want Simon!"
Randall gripped the maid's arm hard. "Leave her be. Let's see what she does."
Margaret looked about to rebel, so Randall shook his head. "That's an order. Leave her to do as she chooses."
Once Adeline saw she was no longer being pursued by the nasty maid, she hurried to her friend's side.
"Please don't be hurt, Simon," the little girl pleaded to him in a touching voice. She reached up to stroke his head, and then tugged until his hands away from his eyes so that she could pat his cheek and kiss him.
"Betta now?"
"Much better, dear," he said with a wan smile.
"If you're betta, can we go back down and play some more?"
Margaret looked livid and began to accuse him again. But her jaw dropped when little David and Edward came out from where they had been hiding.
They had frozen in terror at the inexplicable commotion. They had been in the room the whole time, hiding behind Simon in the corner, whispering to each other, and wondering when he would spot them.
They had been continuing the game of hide and seek, or so they had thought, and had followed him up to the room. The young men told their tale in firm tones.
"There were no maids here. It's their afternoon off. He didn't do anything other than change her. They were tying her garters and laces and playing pat-a-cake when Margaret came in and started yelling at him for no reason."
"Show me," Randall ordered.
Adeline untied her garters, then tied them again proudly. Then she held up her hands to Simon and smiled winningly, begging to be picked up.
The boys nodded. "That's all that happened. She was muddy, he changed her and taught her how to tie her things herself. We were here the whole time. He didn't do anything wrong at all. She was the one who squeezed her and made her cry."
"Mean, nasty," Adeline said, recoiling from Margaret as she tried to explain.
Simon swallowed hard to quell the emotions of love and pride that surged in his chest as he listened to the stout defence of his character and actions by the two lads. Now the little girl began to stroke his shoulder with her tiny hand. "There, there," she said as though she were her grandmother. "You're fwine now."
Her face was wreathed in smiles once more as he patted her head.
"Me do it again! Look!" She yanked her laces open and retied them slowly and carefully.
"You see, Simon didn't do anything bad. Margaret hurt Adeline and Simon, and we don't like her," the eight-year old David stated now in a very grown-up voice.
"That's right. She's mean. She slaps and pinches," Edward asserted with an angry look.
Margaret lost her temper then. "It just goes to show you how much he has them under his spell!" she accused. "It's not normal or natural for a man to take so much of an interest in children. Especially little girls. It's disgusting, I say."
Simon ducked his head as though he had been slapped.
Gabrielle, who had been standing at Randall's elbow, unable to get into the room without pushing past him, now moved further into the nursery to hug his shoulders.
He laid his head against her bosom and held on tightly.
Randall looked at the devastated couple and glowered at Margaret. "The only thing disgusting in this house is you."
He dug into his waistcoat pocket and flung some money at her. "I want you out of this house, now. Take your things and go. I don't know what possessed you to try to ruin a perfectly harmless man and defile perfectly innocent relationships. You revolt me utterly. I've never encountered anything so spiteful and vindictive in my life. You will get no references and..."
Margaret quailed in the face of his towering rage. "All I wanted was for him to pay attention to me," she said tearfully. "But he never did. He's a servant, just like I am. Why couldn't I have a good decent man in my life?" She pointed lividly at Gabrielle. "What does she have that I don't?"
Simon looked up at her with a pitying shake of his head, shocked that that was what the whole scene had really been all about. "You can't possibly even begin to imagine. But I can tell you one thing. Gabrielle has all my love. For all time. There has never been and can never be any other woman in the world for me. I'm sorry you deluded yourself into thinking you could win me over somehow with your charms. You've tried often enough since we arrived, and I have told you every time that I was not interested, and meant it. I wasn't being coy. Gabrielle is my whole life. There's no one else in the world I could ever love as I do her, except possibly our own children one day."
Margaret looked completely dismayed, and with a last resigned sniff she muttered an apology for lying and left.
Randall took the boys to the door of the room. "Can you bring your sister outside while I talk to Simon and Gabrielle for a moment?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, Papa," David agreed. "You're not mad at them, are you?"
"No, not at all," Randall reassured him firmly. "Now off you go."
Simon was still embracing Gabrielle, but he stood now that he could trust his legs to hold him up. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. I think given the circumstances that perhaps I should leave..."
Randall shook his head. "I'm going to have to be even more careful about the servants I hire. This is the second person who didn't have the children's best interests at heart. But you do. The boys especially could do with a good firm hand. I want you to start teaching them from now on."
"Me? But..."
"It will mean a greatly increased salary, of course. I would also like to speak with you about your future plans with Gabrielle, if you don't mind."
He looked wounded anew.
"Plans? Well, if you want us to move out, you have only to..."
"No! Not at all," Randall insisted, patting him on the shoulder. "I simply meant that your little nest egg is growing thanks to her, and now your own money-making efforts will not be inconsiderable. So I thought you might like to start making arrangements regarding some decent investments with this money."
This was music to Simon's ears, for of course mathematics had been his greatest love.
"Yes, I would very much like to ensure that Gabrielle and I are independent. Though of course I would never forget the huge debt of gratitude I owe to your entire family for making me feel so welcome and having faith in me."
"Nonsense..."
He looked Randall straight in the eye. "Tell me the truth. Did you suspect me at all of, well, what she said?"
Randall met his gaze with equal candor. "Not for one single second."
Simon offered his hand and the two of them shook warmly. "Come, let's go back down to the study and go over a few papers together, all three of us."
Simon was now in his element, and it showed. He took the papers which Randall offered him, cast a glance over them, and named three stocks he was sure were going to do well based on past performance.
Randall stared at him. "But how can you tell so much from just a five-second glimpse?"
Simon shrugged. "It's something I was always good at," he said modestly.
Gabrielle hugged him and beamed at Randall. "Thank you."
"Yes, thank you for this chance. I won't let you down."
"I know you won't, Simon. You haven't thus far. Thank you both. I'm so glad you're here."
She glanced up at her cousin's deep lapis eyes, and was certain he meant every word he said. And thanked the gods for it.
She heaved a sigh of relief. Once again, they had narrowly averted disaster. She only hoped their luck would continue to hold. For now she could see that enemies could lurk anywhere, at any time, for motives best known only to themselves... She would just have to be even more vigilant in protecting her new little family and pray all would be well.
Chapter Twenty-four
Randall got the surprise of his life a couple of days later when a more bold and confident Simon offered to help with the estate's account books.
"It's just that..." He hesitated for a brief moment and then took the plunge. It was the principle of the thing, after all.
"Well, I didn't mean to pry. It's just that I was in here checking the stock prices, and the book was open on the desk."
Randall raised his brows. "Yes?"
"Well, I couldn't help but notice that Mr. Ventnor has not been entirely accurate."
He frowned slightly. "Oh? Where?"
Randall looked at the several examples Simon provided him with, and could see what he was saying only with great difficulty, and some degree of dawning horror.
"Is he cheating me on purpose, do you think?" he asked after a time.
Simon shrugged. "It's not for me to say. They're either really basic errors, in which case he's not competent, or he's skimming money off the top for himself, and is therefore a thief."
Randall sat down by his side and within half an hour, Simon had identified all the errors made in the last quarter, the rents collected versus the sums entered in the book, and found a considerable number of ‘errors'. It was a very large discrepancy indeed.
Naturally Randall confronted his accountant, who was furious. And cornered.
Mr. Ventnor instantly turned on Simon and accused him of being an interfering liar. "You already got two other servants the sack. I'm damned if I'm going to be the third."
Randall scowled blackly. "You've got yourself the sack for trying to cheat me. For taking advantage of my trust. You too came highly recommended, and now I find I've been nursing a third viper in my bosom."
The Earl's eyes narrowed. "In fact, if I didn't know better I would say someone put you up to this. To have access to my affairs and cause trouble for me, I'll warrant. All of this is in complete disarray and will have to be redone. Starting from when you first arrived about six months ago."
"But sir, he's lying, the better to draw you in..."
Randall completely ignored his sputterings. "I shall not give you any notice, and you can consider yourself paid for all you've stolen from me. As for a reference. well, I shall not only not give you one, I shall make it clear that you are not to be trusted by any employer in England. So go back to whomever your masters are, and tell them they can't trip me up so easily."
In the end, Ventnor didn't even bother to deny the accusation. He simply scurried from the room with a last livid look at Simon.
When he had gone Randall said to Simon, "Thank you. Would it be huge imposition for me to ask you to..."
"I shall redo them. It will be my pleasure. Have we got any blank ledgers?"
"Yes, but this is going to take weeks," he sighed.
Simon shook his head. "If you can make yourself available and have Gabrielle come in here to help match up the files with the books, I shall first ascertain that the books were correct before he started working here, and take it from there."
Randall's brows knitted, but then he nodded. "All right, I shall order us some tea and fetch Gabrielle. The children will have to wait for their ride until tomorrow."
"So long as they know we wouldn't let them down if it weren't urgent."
"Quite." He patted Simon on the back. "I must say, you certainly are a good man."
Simon smiled slowly with evident pleasure. "You needn't sound so surprised."
The Earl gave a half-smile. "Not surprised. Envious. I wish I were half as good a man as you."
Simon shook his head ruefully. "Don't ever envy me anything, except possibly my lovely wife-to-be."
Gabrielle entered a short time later, aflutter at the news that there was a mild emergency.
Simon kissed her tenderly, and then explained to her what had happened. She immediately began pulling out the supporting files he requested, beaming with pride at her remarkably gifted man.
He really was a miracle, and each day they spent together made her fall in love with him even more deeply. She sat down next to him, smiled up into his face lovingly, and began.
By the end of the day Simon presented Randall with a completely new and flawlessly accurate set of books and records. Randall was stunned and pointed to them. He looked at Gabrielle almost accusingly.
"You never told me. All this time-"
She shrugged. "I wasn't sure you would want him to..."
Simon sensed a tension in the air and decided he would leave the cousins to themselves. He stretched and yawned as he rose from the chair.
"If you don't mind sparing me for a half an hour, I think I shall go see the children, and say good night to the little ones."
"Of course you may," Randall agreed readily.
Simon kissed Gabrielle warmly, then vanished.
As soon as he had gone she said in a low voice, "I would have told you. The truth is my knowledge of such complicated calculations is fairly limited. I didn't really know exactly how good he was. It's like everything else, he's just, well, dazzling. A genius.
"I also didn't want him to overtax himself. I mean, just think about him having been locked away for so many years with nothing to do, no one to speak with.
"I really wasn't sure that trying to integrate him fully into the family was the right thing to do. I didn't know how he was going to take going from complete solitude to living in a house that's like a coaching depot."
Randall acknowledged the legitimacy of her fears. "I take your point. But I think he's doing admirably."
She nodded. "So do I. But we can also never forget that he's not fully well. He still has nightmares and..."
"He seems very happy, though."
"Yes, yes, he does," she said with a winsome smile. "We are happy. Thank you."
"And the children and my mother adore him. I don't see the harm in giving him more responsibility."
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She shrugged one shoulder. "Well, the only person who can judge what he's capable of and willing to do is him. I don't want to be so overprotective of him any longer, really I don't. I know Simon feels keenly what he perceives as my having done so much for him. He actually thinks he's done nothing to repay me.
"He doesn't seem to realise that his love is all I could ever want or hope for. That and perhaps some children of our own one day, though I don't think either of us are ready for that quite yet."
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 6 Page 24
