Page 25 of A Governess' Midnight Seduction

Chapter 13

Long after their arithmetic lesson was finished for the day and the governess had tucked the children into bed, Anne was working up the nerve to visit Freddie. She had been so touched by the patient way he had helped Margaret with her problem this afternoon.

She had never seen any man, even Lord George, be that tender and understanding with a child. She was beginning to develop deeper, more meaningful feelings towards Freddie, and no matter how hard she tried to tell herself that there wasn’t any way they would end up together, she just kept falling for him.

Currently, Anne was pacing back and forth in her room with all the reasons why she shouldn’t go up and visit Freddie running through her mind.

He may have already gone to bed; I’m sure there’s no point in trying to seek him out at this late hour. The only people still awake in the house are you and the mice!

And even if he has not gone to bed, there’s no telling that he’ll actually wish to see you. You may very well barge in on him amid something very important.

I’ll bet he’s probably in the sitting room, pouring over this account or that, and if you interrupt him–

But then, Anne realized that she did not have to interrupt Freddie in his work. The sitting room that he was likely to be working in had an upper level where Anne had seen many guests gathering when they wished to retreat from the hubbub of a party held at the house. She could go up to that upper level and look down upon Freddie while he worked without ever having to bother him.

Having decided that, Anne marched upstairs to the sitting room where she thought Freddie would be, not giving herself a moment to second guess what she was doing. When she got to the door, her heart was pounding.

I’ve never done anything like this before; this is utterly ridiculous! Spying on a gentleman that I might be developing feelings for, but who I know that I cannot be with ... this is the stuff of nonsense. And yet ... there is a certain amount of a child-like thrill that I’m feeling right now. Oh, why not? I’ll just go in there and see him for a moment!

With that in mind, Anne crept through the door and immediately ascended the stairs to the upper level. She tried to be as quiet as she could, but at one point, she hit the front of her toe on the stair, and it made quite a loud noise. She froze in her position and peeked over the railing to see if Freddie had noticed. She saw him sitting at the desk in the far corner, pouring over some household books, and it seemed to her that he was so absorbed in them that he took no notice of the noise she’d made.

She breathed a sigh of relief and continued on her way upstairs. When she reached the top, she stayed down low and went over to the corner where there was a high-backed armchair that she thought she could sit in, and Freddie would take little notice of her. She got herself comfortable and then leaned forward so that her arms and chin were resting on the railing, and then she looked down on the man she adored.

His dark hair was tousled from him having run his fingers through it many times as he worked, and he was hunched over the desk in such a way that Anne could not see his face. She could, however, see his strong, masculine hands. He had one on his quill, poised over the pot of ink and ready to dip it in once more when he was ready to take a note.

The other he had flat on the table, but every few seconds, he would tense it into a ball, hold it there for a few seconds, and then release it. Anne could tell by this motion that the work he was doing was stressing him out, but there was also something rather ... seductive about that motion.

Briefly, Anne allowed herself to think about what it would be like to have those alluring hands wrapped around her in a romantic embrace. She focused on Freddie’s hands and thought of the two of them kissing passionately, and imagined Freddie gently pressing her up against a wall with his body as they kissed. She could practically feel his soft, enticing lips gently caressing hers, the warmth of his body ebbing into hers, the feeling of his engorged self pressed against her inner thigh as she became more and more distracted thinking about him ...

When she opened her eyes again, Anne was surprised to see that Freddie was gone from his desk. She leaned forward to see if he was somewhere else in the room, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked through the glass door to the outside to see if he had gone out that way, but he didn’t seem to have gone out there either. When she looked at his desk, everything was just as it had been a few moments before, and so it seemed that Freddie had just up and left in the middle of his work, which was not like him.

Anne was just about to get up and leave the room, disappointed that Freddie had left without her knowledge, when suddenly from a little way down the upper level, she heard someone say, “I don’t believe I’ve ever been spied on before, but let me tell you, Anne, I am very glad that the first person to do so was you.”

Anne gasped and jumped in her chair, and when Freddie saw that he had frightened her, he looked incredibly apologetic.

“I am so sorry; I thought that would be more fun than scary. I did not mean to frighten you,” Freddie stammered, walking over to her.

But Anne just giggled. She felt mortified that she had been caught in the act of watching Freddie, but she couldn’t help laughing in relief upon seeing him. She rose from her chair.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Freddie,” she said gently. “It is I who should be utterly embarrassed, for you caught me watching you. I ... I promise that I was only regarding you because ... because ...”

Anne searched for an explanation of why she was in the room, but nothing came to mind; it was frustratingly blank. She watched Freddie’s face as he slowly came towards her, and he looked as though he knew exactly why she was watching him, and he was thoroughly enjoying watching her squirm.

“You seem to have forgotten the reason why you were looking down upon me without my knowledge, Anne,” Freddie said, his voice dropping into a very deep and seductive register. “Could the real reason be something that you might be rather ... embarrassed to admit?”

Anne’s eyes widened, and she took in a deep breath. She knew she needed to remain calm, not to communicate to Freddie anything more about how she was feeling.

“I’m afraid that you’re mistaken, Freddie,” Anne said, realizing how shaky her voice sounded. She cleared her throat and tried to sound more focused. “I came in here because I wished to speak with you about today’s arithmetic lesson, but I saw that you were preoccupied, and so ... so I ...”

By now, Freddie was right in front of her. He planted himself, looked right into her eyes with such confidence that it shook Anne to her very core. Her heart was still pounding; her palms were sweating, her hands were shaking ... she simply didn’t know what to do with herself.

“Anne,” Freddie said softly, “I hope that you aren’t trying to come up with an excuse for why you came here. I was rather hoping that you would be the first to admit what both you and I have been dancing around for the last few weeks, but if you are not comfortable with doing that, then perhaps ...”

Freddie took one more step in towards her, and their faces were now mere inches away from each other. Anne was very proud of herself for keeping eye contact with Freddie, and when he pushed another strand of hair behind her ear, she did not allow herself to get disappointed.

There is no way this time that he approached me and said what he just did to simply brush a piece of hair behind my ear. No. If he meant what he said, then you should probably just–

“I came to watch you because I’ve discovered that I’m quite fond of you,” Anne blurted out. “I know that is an inconvenient truth, as we are both employees in the same household, and so that is not encouraged, but if you’re not going to admit it, then I suppose that I shall.”

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