Page 25 of In Search of a Husband
“Aye, right,” he grumbled. “And ye—” He picked Lorna up again by the back of her nightdress, dangling her a few feet off the floor. “That sword and shield is important to our family, no’ something to be trifled with.”
“Then it should be hung on the wall. Dinna see why we canna...”
“Did ye often play with swords with yer father around?”
“Da didna care what we did.”
It showed.
“We found all sorts of trouble.”
He placed Lorna down, grabbed the sword and shield, and confiscated the flint. “It’s time for bed, the both of ye. No’ another peep. Why did I hire a governess if she...”
“If, what?”
Nearly seven hours had passed since he had last heard her voice. He’d be loath to admit how much it piqued his interest. He hated London, but the way the accent washed through her words… Or perhaps it was the beautiful gray of her eyes or the smattering of freckles on her cheeks.
No, he wasn’t interested in flirtation or anything further. There wasn’t time.
“Watch yer charges.”
“You hired me as a governess, not a nursery maid.”
His temper flared, whirling around to face her. Which was his first mistake.
Or perhaps that had been earlier when he led her back into the inn’s kitchen and cooked her eggs. He had never cooked for a woman before. There was something about her standing in the inn, her shoulders slumped back, and her black hair sticking this way and that from the Scottish rain.
“I dinna ken the difference.”
“Governesses see to a charge’s education. A nanny or a nursemaid sees to their upbringing and care.”
Well, damn. Mistake two. How he hated his brother for leaving him all this to untangle.
Miss Bancroft shrugged, stepping around him to tuck the girls into their beds. “It’s been a long day. Time for bed. We’ll attempt civility again in the morning, girls.”
Lorna ran her fingers through her dark-red hair and grinned at the governess. “Ye’re no’ a nurse. Guess ye’ll need to leave.”
The governess brought the quilt up to the girl’s chest and shrugged. “That is for me to decide.”
“‘Cuse me,’’ Maisie said, bouncing on her bed before diving under the covers. “Have ye met us? We canna keep help. No one wants to stay with us.”
“I imagine not if you run and hide away on me as you did today, or placed a toad under their chair at dinner, or covered their mattress with dirt and leaves and left the window open so they had to contend with a very feisty bird. And then there’s the matter of ol’ Stinky Ben.”
“Lasses, did that all happen?” Gabriel asked, both impressed and frustrated at their ingenuity.
“We dinna need a governess,” they said in a perfect echo.
“All girls should have one at some point. There is a lot to learn about the world and your place in it,” Miss Bancroft said.
“Ye’re English. We dinna want to learn from ye.”
“Hmm, well… good night. I will see you both in the morning.”
“To bed,” he snapped, pointing to each of the girls before following Miss Bancroft out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.
“Wait, Miss Bancroft?”
She paused, slowly turning toward him. “Yes?”
