Page 53 of The Earl's Disguised Governess
Claire slowed just before she entered the drawing room, and her palms began to sweat. For standing by the window was a man from her past. A man she had not thought she would see again.
Lord Simon Tuberville stood with his hands behind his back, humming to himself.
When he turned to face her, he was as every bit handsome as he had once been at the age of twenty-one. He looked more mature now, his smile broader as he regarded her.
Claire’s mouth parted in surprise, no words rising to her aid.
But Lord Simon talked for her—of course, he did. For when she had needed his words, they had not arrived, but now she did not, they were there.
“Forgive me for giving your former name to the footman,” he said. “I did not wish to risk you not coming to see me. I knew the element of surprise would pique your attention.”
“Lord Simon,” she whispered. “I do not understand. Why are you here? Lord Bannerdown is out at the hospital, and Lady Katherine is at the modiste.”
“Which is precisely why I am here now,” he told her. “I do not wish to see them but you, Claire. Or should I call you Miss Gundry now? I hear that is who you are these days.”
Her stomach dropped. She took him in, unbelieving it was truly Lord Simon. She had thought she had buried her past well enough that he would not get wind of her—her place of employment included.
But it was not malice that drove him to say those things. They sounded sincere and polite.
“Lord Simon …”
“Miss Gundry,” he greeted, bowing his head. “It is under quite different circumstances that we meet again.”
“I am unsure as to why we are,” she admitted. Pity passed through his face, his mouth turning down as if in sympathy. Still, he was surprised as he took in her governess’s dress,and suddenly, Claire had never felt her fall from Society as immensely as she did at that moment. This man could have been her husband. Had he not broken things off so abruptly then he likely would have been.
“I can clear that up,” he assured her. His hands behind his back, he began to explain, and he was every bit of the literary scholar she once remembered. He commanded a room, whether there was one person in it or one hundred. “I received a mysterious note explaining that Lady Claire Garner was now Miss Claire Gundry and was working as a governess for Lady Florence, the orphaned cousin of the newly-appointed Lord Bannerdown. That the former lady’s fall from grace had been quite drastic indeed, and imagine my surprise to realize that Little Harkwell was right on my doorstep. I had to see you, Miss Gundry. I had to make amends. I had to see how you fared.”
He moved closer to her, the persona he used to present himself when speaking dissolving into the tenderness she had seen glimpses of during their courtship. But this time, when his arms outstretched to embrace her, she moved back.
“I …”
“Is it true?” he asked. “The Ton says the baron was riddled with debt, and his daughter handled them after his death. I should have known, Miss Gundry. I should have offered my aid.”
“Lord Simon,” she breathed. “I … We both know you did not even offer aid in the form of a comforting word following my father’s death. That, at the very least, would have been a lifeline for me back then. I felt terribly alone.” She gathered her courage. “But now I am not, and I have a good life. I do not need your pity, and I may no longer be a lady, but I do not wish to be caught alone with you.”
She thought of Lady Katherine. She could return with Lady Florence at any moment. She could spin any sort of rumour between Claire and Lord Simon if she found them. She could whisper into Ernest’s ear about false things. She could convince him they rekindled an old flame.
Claire shuddered.
“You are right,” Lord Simon conceded. “And I truly cannot apologize enough for how I ended our courtship. In all honesty, that was a bright, brilliant light for me. It kept me swimming above the surface when everything else threatened to drown me.”
“That may be so, but at least you did swim,” she answered. “I drowned.”
“And yet you rose from the ashes,” he murmured, taking her in. “I have long since matured from my selfish ways. I did not wish to be abrupt back then, but I had so many feelings for you I did not know how to handle them. I had a lot of pressure frommy father to choose someone he found eligible and the right woman, yet I only wanted you.”
“And you still did not choose me.”
Her words weren’t the bitterness of hurt anymore; she simply felt detached from the whole ordeal.
“I should have found you sooner,” he said. “I am sorry I did not. I should have saved—”
“I saved myself, Lord Simon,” she said sharply, defending herself. Even if she trembled with anxiety, she still held herself strong. “I proved that I did not need anyone.”
“You have matured,” he noted. “As have I.” Lord Simon paused, his face tightening. “Miss Gundry, am I to blame for your ruin?”
Her mouth tightened. “That does not matter. It happened; I am living a new life now. And I would like you to leave this house and my life. For good, Lord Simon.”
He shook his head. “I am afraid my honour keeps me from that. See, I am here to see you but also to discuss the issue of my brother and Lady Florence. As repayment for the damage my brother has caused, I wish to set right every wrong done by the Tuberville name. It pains me to watch my brother make the same foolish mistakes I once did. And so, I shall return, MissGundry, and I shall help you in the way I once did not. I shall be honourable, and I shall rectify both mine and my brother’s mistakes.”
