Page 3 of One Night of Surrender
Caroline exhaled with disappointment.The girl hated to sit still.“If you say so.”
They finished unpacking, and Isabelle gave them both instructions to read and practice writing their Latin.She’d return in an hour for their lesson.
“Is there no schoolroom?”Beatrice asked.
“I don’t know.”Mrs.Watkins hadn’t mentioned it, and Isabelle wasn’t sure she wanted to ask.To do so might draw attention to herself, and she planned to be as invisible as possible.
“I hope so, because this room only has that small desk and a single chair.”Beatrice was, unfortunately, correct.
Isabelle supposed she would have to ask, but she’d bring it up with Lord Barkley and leave it to him to sort things out.“I’ll speak to your father.Time to read.”When they were ensconced on the bed with their books, Isabelle left.
Closing the door behind her, she recalled what the housekeeper had said.The door is at the end of the gallery—to the right, second door on your left.Or had she said to the left, second door on your right?Exhaling, Isabelle strode to the end of the gallery.She put her hand on the latch and paused.Had Mrs.Watkins meant this end of the gallery?
Isabelle looked back the way she’d come.Suddenly, the door in front of her opened, and standing there in all his ducal glory, his sun-gold hair swept back from the wide plane of his forehead and his jade-green eyes widening in surprise, was the man she’d tried—and failed—to forget.
Val stared at the woman standing outside his door as if she were an apparition.Was she?She had to be.Why else would she be there?
He blinked, closing his eyes with purpose and keeping them shut for a moment.But when he opened them again, she was still there.
“Isabelle?”She was older, of course, and far more beautiful than he remembered.He hadn’t dreamed that could be possible.Most of her light brown hair was pulled back in a rather severe chignon, but two curls bobbed in front of each ear.A faint pink blush stained her angled cheekbones, and her full coral lips were parted in surprise.
Now she blinked, her dark lashes briefly closing over her vivid cobalt eyes.Finally, she said, “Yes.”
“I can’t believe it.”He reached for her, but she took a step back.He frowned.“What are you doing here?”
“I am governess to the Misses Spelman.”
“Governess?How on earth did you become a governess?I thought you were supposed to marry…some gentleman.”Val couldn’t begin to recall the man’s name.If she hadn’t married him—damn, was that his fault?Val’s insides swirled with discomfort.
“I did.”
Relief poured through him.
“He passed away six years ago.”Her placid features didn’t reveal a hint of emotion beyond solemnity.
“I’m so sorry.I did hear that your father died, and I was very sorry to hear it.He was a wonderful man, an exemplary teacher.”He’d been warden of Merton College, and several of Val’s friends had been matriculated there.“Wasn’t it around that time?”
“It was,” she said quietly.“I lost my father in January and my husband just three months later.”
His heart ached for her that she’d lost so much in such a short span.“That must not have been easy.”
“No.”She clasped her hands before her and wrung them together briefly as she looked to the side.“I’d hoped to avoid seeing you, Your Grace.I was looking for the stairs.To my room on the third floor.”
“They are at the other end of the gallery,” he said rather absentmindedly as he focused on the other things she’d said.“Why would you want to avoid me?And don’t call me ‘Your Grace.’”
She arched a brow, and oh, how he remembered that expression.She had a way of looking at him that was equal parts seductive and haughty.It had never failed to arouse him, and he’d be damned if she wasn’t doing it again.Suddenly, he was eighteen years old—as he was when he’d first met her—and absolutely smitten.
“WhatshouldI call you?”she asked.
“What you always called me.”
She clamped her lips together and looked instantly more like a governess than the woman who’d captivated him as a lad.“I can’t do that.You’re a duke, and I’m a governess.We shouldn’t even be standing here talking.”She abruptly turned and started along the gallery.
Val stepped out of his private sitting room and leapt after her.He reached for her elbow, and the moment his hand closed around her sleeve, he felt a swooning sensation in the pit of his belly.
She pulled her arm from his grip with a gasp.Turning toward him, her eyes blazing a cold fire, she opened her mouth, and he actually leaned toward her, craving her indignation.She’d delivered him so many set downs when he’d begun to flirt with her.It had taken months for her to finally admit she was attracted to him too.
But he never got to hear what she was about to say, because they’d stopped in front of Barkley’s room, and the door opened to reveal the baron.
