Hunting the Hero

by Heather Boyd

  Calista smiled ruefully, her eyes growing distant. “I know what that can be like. At least she didn’t name your girls after vegetables. Wouldn’t it be terrible to be named Lady Spinach Hunt?”

  An involuntary giggle left Willow’s mouth, but before he caught a glimpse of her face, all amusement vanished.

  Arabella smiled serenely. “So that settles it then. I must take my leave to pack for my sojourn in London. Miss Clark will return tomorrow to begin her duties?”

  Calista quickly handed the baby to him while he gaped. He wasn’t ready to let Calista go yet. She’d only just arrived. “She’s not staying?”

  Arabella’s smile grew rather devious. “Oh, no. Miss Clark has promised to dine with me this evening. There is so much information I must share with her about you before we part company. You may expect your new governess at nine o’clock tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 11

  “WELL, I MUST say that all went remarkably well,” Lady Farnsworth confided as the carriage rattled along the road to her neat little manor house, if a thirty-six room country home could be considered small.

  Meredith was not inclined to speak to her just yet. She felt rather foolish for how she had reacted to Grayling and the sparkle lighting up the lady’s eyes hinted she was well aware of her lack of indifference to the man. The fact that Meredith had been eager to see Grayling again was not in dispute. What troubled her most was the way she had lapped up his gorgeous warmth like an eager puppy.

  If they had been alone much longer she might have climbed onto his lap and curled contentedly into his strong arms. Leaving quickly had been imperative if she wished to avoid appearing foolishly sentimental. Tomorrow she would be the invisible governess and not needed for anything else. Meredith folded her arms over her chest. Grayling would regret that decision.

  “There is so much yet to do,” Lady Farnsworth said. “I wish Farnsworth hadn’t written. I hate London in the winter. Constantine is stubborn. Augusta often complained that he’d cut off his own arm rather than ask for help. He will take time to understand what you want. I expect him to make many mistakes. I’m just sorry I won’t be here to smooth things over should you quarrel again.”

  “We did no such thing.” Meredith glanced sideways at Lady Farnsworth. “But with friends like you to do his bidding, I’m sure he doesn’t need to learn the skills necessary for greater understanding.”

  Instead of taking offense, Lady Farnsworth merely laughed. “Nonsense. All men should learn how to better appease the women in their life. It’s their duty, in my humble opinion, to see we are happy. So many gentlemen fail.”

  At that, Meredith’s curiosity was stirred. “Lord Grayling’s children are rather quiet.”

  Their silence had been rather concerning. Children so young had no cause to be so restrained in the presence of a parent.

  “They miss their mother terribly.” Lady Farnsworth sighed. “She was their whole world. Gray wasn’t always so good with them and the eldest remembers. I’ve done all I can, but a succession of governesses coming and going hasn’t helped ease their grief. The girls need stability. So does Gray.”

  “They have you.”

  “Not really.” Lady Farnsworth frowned and looked out the window. “Everyone expected us to wed when he came out of mourning. I’m sure my brother-in-law did, or hoped to be rid of me. Yet while I’m fond of the children, Gray is more like a brother. I could never marry him.”

  With her stunning good looks, Lady Farnsworth could marry anyone she chose or none at all. It was a pity she didn’t have an easier time of it with her family. But wasn’t that the way of the world? Friends were often more reliable. “Grayling explained some of the difficulties you have with Farnsworth. Is there any way to be free? Or is there someone you want to marry so you may escape him?”

  A sad smile crossed her face. “No one comes to mind.”

  They were silent as the carriage drew to a halt before the large manor house. Meredith stepped out onto the front steps and looked around curiously. Lady Farnsworth’s estate, or rather her brother-in-law’s, was rather too neat for her taste. Not a leaf out of place and no color due to the time of year. Since Meredith had come to stay there had been few visitors for the lady. She must get lonely. “So you live here alone most of the year?”

  “At the moment I’m alone. Francesca, a lady whose husband deserved a sound whipping, has recently returned to her family in York. She stayed with me a few months while waiting for word from her brother that he would take her in. Farnsworth doesn’t much care for strangers living in his house, but what he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.”

  The butler, in the act of allowing them to pass inside, grinned widely. “Will you be needing the carriage again today, my lady?”

  It was clear the servant approved of their lady’s decisions to keep Farnsworth in the dark, too. How interesting.

  “Not until tomorrow for the journey to London,” she said. “We’ll dine informally tonight and then tomorrow you may close the house at your leisure. I won’t return for some time.”

  The butler nodded. “You’ll be very much missed, my lady.”

  Lady Farnsworth glanced left and right into the empty lower rooms, her expression pensive. Meredith never liked to stay in one place for long. She liked to have options. However, even she could imagine being summoned to London must seem like exile to a lady who liked her home.

  Meredith caught the lady’s eye. “Do you do that often? Take in strays like myself?”

  Lady Farnsworth linked arms with her and led her up the stairs, deeper into the house. “I’d hardly call you a stray, Meredith Clark. I was rather impressed with how you conducted yourself when we met. I wish I had your courage.”

  Meredith followed Lady Farnsworth into her dressing room and assisted in removing her pelisse to begin packing for the trip to London. “I’d say you already had enough courage of your own. Proper ladies do not visit bawdy houses to steal away a woman with my background, Lady Farnsworth.”

  “Oh please, it’s Arabella.” She returned her bonnet to a shelf. “And what exactly is your background? Your diction and grace belie the life you were living.” She wagged a finger. “There is something about you that tugs at the mind. I feel we have met before, a long time ago, but that cannot be, can it?”

  Assured no one would ever make the connection to her past, Meredith shrugged aside the question. She had covered her trail rather well. “You, my lady, have an overactive imagination. Why did you really bring me back here for another night? A servant could have fetched my meager possessions and brought them to Stanton Harold Hall.”

  “Ah.” Arabella sighed as she glanced over her shoulder, checked for servants, and then closed the door. “I’d like to take advantage of your unique expertise.”

  For a moment, Meredith couldn’t imagine what expertise she had of value until she realized that a lady, a widow, might have a keen interest in broadening her knowledge of the intimate arts. “With men?”

  Arabella nodded slowly, a flush of color sweeping up her cheeks.

  “But you’re a widow. Surely…” Meredith left the rest unsaid as she divined the nature of Lady Farnsworth’s marriage and her current level of discomfort with the subject. The frequent blushes and oddly stilted phrases about intimate relations had not been what she was used to hearing, but she’d failed to detect the correct level of Arabella’s experience. She might not be a bride anymore, but she was no experienced widow either. Meredith would bet her prettiest bauble on it. “You’re a virgin.”

  The lady glanced away, her cheeks turning a fiery red. “My husband already had two healthy sons from his first marriage and lacked only funds to keep him in life’s little luxuries. He wanted my dowry but not me. I’m eight and twenty and haven’t the faintest idea of what to do to correct the oversight.”

  To tutor a virgin, a proper lady, in the intimate arts would be the challenge of her life. She would have to only convey the most useful information and give her confi
dence enough to carry it out later. She had less than a day to do all that, yet there was nothing she liked more than to teach what she knew. Meredith caught Arabella’s hand in hers and squeezed. Men would crumble under such a delicate touch. “What is learned, discovered, cannot be unlearned. You may never look at a gentleman the same way again. Are you sure you are prepared for that?”

  “No. But I must.” Arabella shook her head. “I refuse to die a virgin. I saw how keenly Grayling regarded you. He did not want you to leave his home today. If I had not come back when I did I am sure he would have been rather more flustered. No gentleman has ever looked at me in such a fashion. I should like that at least once before I die. Can you teach me to be more like you, to capture a man’s interest?”

  Meredith felt the stirrings of sympathy. A life without intimate relations was a barren life. Meredith tried not to remember that she had agreed to such a thing, even for a little while longer in Grayling’s company. She paced the room, stopping to occasionally admire the extensive wardrobe of fine dresses around them while she considered the chances of success. Too many of them were too prim for her taste, but the colors were lovely. “Does this fellow have a name? The one you hope to seduce.”

  “He does, but I cannot speak it. In truth we’ve never spoken more than a few words, but I fear he will not be interested in a woman like me.” She scrunched her nose. “A bookish virgin. Never. He prefers women who frequent establishments such as the type you were living in recently and other women who have few morals.”

  Meredith turned that over in her mind. “He wouldn’t happen to be the gentleman entering the House when you came to visit me a few days ago?”

  Arabella nodded shyly.

  “Lord Parker.” Meredith sighed. There were days when she knew far more than was good for her. Parker disliked inexperienced talkative women, but he did like to spank his bed partners until they couldn’t sit easily. He would not be the best choice for a virgin.

  Meredith turned Arabella toward a mirror and began to unbutton her gown while she wondered how to warn her off that particular man. Given the lady’s willingness to court scandal for a friend, Meredith had to protect her from making a grave mistake. “Consider someone else. Please. He’s much more dangerous than he appears to be. Choose someone who will talk to you, too, and yet has the experience to make the tryst enjoyable. Surely there is another you know to be in London for the winter, or even the coming season. Even the most scandalous rake should have the skills to hold a conversation first. An unfeeling and selfish scoundrel is not for you. Parker thinks only of himself. You want… a man who can look at you and turn your legs to jelly. Do you know someone who fits that description?”

  Arabella nodded so fast her ringlets jiggled. “But he’s considered rather a rake.”

  Meredith laid the prim, expensive gown over a chair and worked on loosening the lady’s corset. “Is he intelligent?”

  “Yes, he’s rather eloquent on the topics discussed in parliament. When he speaks, he draws a crowd and not just ladies come to listen.”

  Meredith tossed the corset aside to cover her urge to laugh. Arabella sounded as smitten as any debutante. She hoped this fellow was as good as he sounded. “Is he handsome? Clean in his habits?”

  “He’s rather devastating when he smiles. Many a lady has ruined their reputations to be with him. Sadly, he rarely smiles in my direction.”

  Arabella could be describing Grayling’s unsmiling twin. Meredith shook herself. She’d done enough fantasizing about Grayling’s many charms to last a lifetime. “And you’d like this intelligent rake to look again?”

  A dreamy smile flittered over Arabella’s face, but then she glanced down at her hands. She twisted a ring on her third finger. “I would, but I doubt my chances. Perhaps I should forget about it after all. What would such a man want with me?”

  Meredith slipped her finger beneath Arabella’s chin and lifted her face to her reflection. “When I’m done, he won’t just be looking and smiling. With luck, you’ll have him eating from the palm of your hand and whimpering like a puppy for more of your attention.”

  She caught Meredith’s hand and peered at the ring. A wedding ring. That had to go first. “There is nothing more off-putting to a man than a reminder of the one who came before. Trust me on this. Leave the ring behind when you go to London.”

  “Are you sure?” Arabella worried at her lip as she tugged the simple gold band from her finger. She stared at it for a long time and then met Meredith’s gaze in the mirror. “I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I’m in search of a husband.”

  “They say rakes make the best husbands.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to be a wife again.” Arabella shook her head violently. “I’d just like to discover what every other bride knows.”

  The ringlets had to go, too. Too much like a debutante and too difficult for a man to take down in the heat of passion without ripping half her hair from her head. The one thing Meredith had discovered in her line of work was that the faster a woman could be divested of her embellishments, the better.

  “And I don’t want to be a mistress. What a pair we make.” Meredith slid the fine chemise from the countess’s body and stood back. Not an ounce of undesirable flesh anywhere. Arabella had a body any woman would covet and any man would crave for his own. Whoever the gentleman was that Arabella had set her sights on would be a lucky man. When the countess moved to cover her breasts, Meredith stopped her. “You must grow accustomed to nudity before others. If you’re not, it will give away your inexperience. I assume you don’t plan to tell your intelligent rake of your untested state until after the deed is done?”

  “I can hardly tell you, let alone consider telling him or any other man.”

  Meredith nodded and circled the woman. “Probably for the best, but I should warn you that he might have enough experience to guess. Now, I don’t mean to embarrass you, but what exactly do you know of a man’s intimate proportions?”

  A fiery wash of color swept over Arabella’s cheeks and Meredith chuckled softly at her obvious distress. “That little?”

  “I’ve never even seen.”

  Meredith smoothed her hands down Arabella’s arms and rubbed away the woman’s gooseflesh. “There is no need to be embarrassed. I’m sure I can impart enough information that when the time comes you don’t squawk like a scared infant and run away. All right, let’s start with the easy part, your wardrobe for the season, and go from there. If you are going to catch a rake’s eye, you need to be properly dressed for battle.”

  Arabella frowned. “I didn’t think it would be so complicated.”

  Meredith rolled her eyes. “Men make everything complicated. Even the simplest seductions can be derailed by a man’s sense of honor. Grayling is proof of that.”

  “Did he seduce you?”

  “You know, I’m still not exactly sure which one of us seduced the other.” She grinned at Arabella. “It wasn’t anything like I planned, but the end result is all that matters.”

  Arabella glanced at her slyly, amusement hovering behind her green eyes, but wisely kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t Meredith’s fault she’d fallen victim to a dangerously wicked earl. Arabella would find out just how hard they were to master in due time.

  CHAPTER 12

  THE STEADY KNOCK on Constantine’s study door sent his pulse skyrocketing. He glanced toward the trembling wood and swallowed nervously. He couldn’t believe the promises he’d made yesterday to Miss Clark and the hours since had made him question his decision. Could he really keep his hands to himself and what the devil could Arabella know that was worth imparting to his new governess?

  Constantine stood, tugged his waistcoat down, smoothed his hair, and then cursed himself. What did it matter what he looked like for Miss Clark? She was here for his children not for his pleasure. He sat back down again. “Come,” he called.

  Cunningham widened the door and a small, dainty body followed, clutching a bag and a lace-trimm
ed bonnet. Prim, respectable. She was everything a governess should appear to be. Yet Miss Clark, like Calista before her, set fire to a gloomy day. Her gaze flickered to his from behind a pair of ridiculous spectacles—only worn as part of her latest disguise, he suspected—before her lids fell demurely over her expressive eyes. The dull brown dress covered every inch of her delectable skin. Outwardly, she looked nothing like the lover he couldn’t get out of his mind. If he didn’t know better, he’d think her a virginal spinster. Yet his body’s stirrings proved he wanted her no matter how she looked to others.

  “Miss Clark, my lord.” Cunningham’s thoughtful glance in her direction told him full well that the butler suspected her character to be somewhat in question already. If the stodgy fool scared the woman away in the first week, he’d get his marching orders.

  Constantine got to his feet and bowed. “Miss Clark, so good to see you again. I am very grateful you were available for the position on such short notice.”

  Let the old stick-in-the-mud stew on that. It was about time Stanton Harold Hall employed someone with younger blood and shimmering vitality than the relics Cunningham had thrust before him for the governess position.

  Calista, Miss Clark, dipped a graceful curtsy. “Good morning, my lord. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

  He struggled to hide a smile. It was a relief that she’d finally arrived. He’d spent the morning debating what to do if she never appeared. “Did Lady Farnsworth get underway without incident this morning?”

  “Yes, her carriage departed at the same time I did. She looked to be in excellent spirits and health for the journey.”

  Constantine flicked his head, dismissing Cunningham. When the door closed, Constantine gestured to a chair set before his desk. “Won’t you sit?”