Page 13 of The Colonel's Ungovernable Governess
“Stay put!” she ordered and raced away. Thankfully, the room, when she located it, was unlocked. She grabbed two ropes, the type used as lunge lines. Scampering back to where the groom still struggled with the rail and staying away from the horse’s fury, she screamed, “Use this! We must maneuver him over! I will manage the rear leg!”
“Good idea!” the man shouted over the noise of the animal and it striking the railing.
They worked together to loop the line around the front leg and then the back. “Come, Vincent. I’ll require your strength to manage.” Although tentative, the boy came to stand beside her. “Catch hold tightly and pull when I tell you!”
It was, without a doubt, not easy. The rope burned her hand, and she assumed also the boy’s, but the three of them managed to have the horse leaning heavily to one side, though not over by any means. It was enough for the groom to remove the flat rail. A second effort on their part, along with the assistance of a couple of stable boys who had followed the noise, had the horse right again.
Jocelyn was not assured whether the animal’s objection was to the loss of his stability or the loss of a target for its anger, but it calmed down some. Finally standing tall again, the animal snorted loudly and pawed the ground.
“Much obliged, miss. Me lord,” the groom huffed as he remained bent over with his hands on his knees, as if to catch his breath. “Not know whats I do, otherwise.” He straightened again. “I’d be lookin’ at his legs now, ma’am. With yourn permission.”
“I think this was enough of the stables for now, my lord,” she said while still capturing her own breath. “We may return later, once Mr. . . .?”
“Mr. Jessie, miss,” the man supplied.
Jocelyn nodded her gratitude. “Once Mr. Jessie tends the stallion and things calm down again, we may visit with my horse. For now, it might be best if we see to the scratches on our hands.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The boy looked with dismay at the palms of his hands. “I have never had a scab,” he admitted without his customary pauses between the words. He had either known horror, or his reaction to the horse had eliminated his fear of . . . In truth, Jocelyn was not confident she understood what the boy feared, but she now knew when he was “excited,” Lord Vincent no longer hesitated in expressing his thoughts.
“Water and soap and salve,” she told him as she gestured for him to lead the way back to the house. “Maybe a wrapped bandage. Would such be acceptable, my lord?”
“Will it hurt?” he asked.
“Not if we soak your hands in the warm water first,” she assured. “Would you wish a valet or a maid to tend you?”
“Could you do it?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Jocelyn declared. She wanted to lace her arm about the boy’s shoulder, but, instead, she expressed her gratitude again and relived the moment of their glory with glowing remarks of Lord Vincent’s bravery and strength in such a perilous adventure.
Chapter Six
“Mrs. Darcy,” Jocelyn called as she searched for the woman. She had spent more than an hour with Lord Vincent, now she meant to assist Lady Victoria, but, first, she must address the use of the word “governess.”
“In here!” the woman called.
Jocelyn turned on her heels to enter the morning sitting room. “What are you doing still in here?”
The woman chuckled. “Reading a letter from Mr. Darcy. The man will likely be at William’s Wood tomorrow, but I miss him desperately when we must be apart. One would think that after two years, our ‘obsession’ with each other would wane,” she admitted with a blush.
“Yet, it has not?”
“Not in the least. Do you know the first personal letter my Fitzwilliam received was at my hand? Not from his sister or either of his parents. Plenty of letters of business and notes from relations, but not a letter expressing admiration of his person.” The woman shrugged in a bit of continued embarrassment.
“I understand,” Jocelyn confessed. “I, too, have never experienced a letter of admiration—not even a badly-written poem from a supposed admirer.”
“When you do,” Mrs. Darcy assured, “something very elemental to your soul will be stirred.”
They both remained silent for several seconds before Mrs. Darcy asked, “You wished to speak to me?”
Jocelyn reluctantly gave herself an internal shake of reality. She would likely never know such affection, even if she returned to Kent and accepted the arranged marriage awaiting her. There would be no guarantee her new husband would love her in the manner Mr. Darcy adored his wife, nor she in return. “Lord Vincent told me of how Mrs. Peyton struck Victoria when the girl attempted to protect her brother. Mrs. Peyton had referred to Lord Vincent as ‘dumb.’ If I am to remain at William’s Wood, I believe it should be as we discussed. I am your ‘friend’ and I will also be a friend to the children. Someone they can trust to keep her word. I shall be here on a trial basis, one in which the children will have a say. If I am to provide them a ‘safe place,’ I believe I can do so better if they view me as a person who will advocate for them.”
Mrs. Darcy said nothing for a minute or more, but her expressions spoke of how she had “digested” the idea. “What occurred with Vincent earlier?” the woman asked at last. “Mrs. Ross says the boy’s hand required bandaging. I do not wish to sound as if I am making an accusation . . .”
“You do not,” Jocelyn declared, though she quickly realized what Mrs. Darcy was attempting to explain. “As you had suggested, I insisted his lordship walk beside me rather than before me as we visited the stables. Hoping to reinforce what was expected of a gentleman. Unfortunately, once we neared the stalls and the paddocks, there was a horse in great distress. Lord Vincent and I assisted a ‘Mr. Jessie’ in tilting the horse enough that it could no longer ‘attack’ one of the flat rails. His lordship rubbed some skin from one of his palms.” She paused before adding, “You think it is important that the children view me as their ‘governess’ rather than their ‘friend,’ especially if I am to make decisions for them.”
Mrs. Darcy smiled, “I knew you would come to a decision on your own, though I see no reason you cannot be both their governess and my friend at the same time. Their friend, as well. No one says a governess cannot be both the person in charge and someone who genuinely cares for her charges.”
“Yet, you do not know this to be a fact,” Jocelyn stated. “You had no governess.”
