Page 81 of Brave New Earl (The Way to a Lord's Heart 1)

“I don’t believe that’s a requirement for the position.”

“Little boys should have fun!”

“How much more of Geoffrey’sfuncan this household afford?” Benjamin joked.

“Mischief isn’t fun.”

“Really?” He enjoyed making her blush. He admitted it. He delighted in making her think of the pleasures they’d shared. It seemed only fair. He thought of them all the time.

She wanted him all the time, Jean thought. Desire was the new lodestone of her life. Which set off every danger signal she possessed.

“Shall we go down to the library?”

Where they’d kissed, more than once. So many commonplace words now seemed suggestive. Jean gathered her dignity with a nod and walked toward the stairs. She knew he was smiling as he followed. His smiles were as palpable as a fingertip running down her spine.

A triangle of armchairs had been placed near the glass doors that led to the garden, an arrangement Jean had thought better than the desk. “I thought we would proceed in alphabetical order,” he said. He took a sheet of paper from his pocket and consulted it.

“As good a system as any,” Jean replied. It was both soothing and unsettling to be here with the portrait of Alice gone. A bucolic landscape had replaced it over the fireplace.

Benjamin rang the bell. “Miss Carter,” he told the maid who answered it. The girl bobbed a curtsy and went out. She returned at once with the first of the applicants, a tall, thin woman with dark hair and pale skin. “How do you do,” Benjamin said. “I am Lord Furness. This is Miss Saunders. Shall we sit?” He indicated the chairs. They sat. “Tell us about your previous position.”

As Miss Carter began to describe her place in a wealthy Bristol household, caring for twin boys who had now gone off to school, Jean surveyed her. The woman had deep-brown eyes and a no-nonsense manner, which didn’t mean she wasn’t kind. “What is your educational philosophy?” Jean asked.

“My what?” Miss Carter appeared puzzled but not irritated, which was good.

“By which principles do you regulate a nursery?” Jean said.

“Oh.” She gave a decisive nod. “I set great store by a daily schedule. It is best to learn discipline at an early age. Then, I believe that children, particularly boys, require ample outdoor exercise.”

As she continued, Miss Carter’s gaze kept straying beyond them, as if irresistibly drawn away. Jean finally turned to see what was distracting her.

Geoffrey stood just outside the glass doors. He wore only a grubby tea towel tied around his waist. His face and bare torso were streaked with paint, as they had been when Jean first encountered him, a seeming lifetime ago. He brandished a fat stick and made horrific faces. Jean clamped her jaw on a…laugh?

Benjamin swiveled to see what was diverting them. “Ah,” he said as Geoffrey stuck out his tongue, waggled it at them, and pranced about. “My son.”

“Indeed, my lord. I suspected as much.”

Miss Carter’s tone was dry but not horrified, as far as Jean could tell. Shehadlooked after twin boys. The thought of two Geoffreys momentarily boggled Jean.

“Have you brought references?” Benjamin added.

Wordlessly, the woman took a folded sheaf of paper from her reticule. Benjamin took it, read, and passed it to Jean. Miss Carter’s former employers were full of glowing praise. Jean returned the pages to be tucked away again.

“Thank you for making the journey,” Benjamin said.

Miss Carter took her cue and rose to go. “Thank you, my lord, miss.” She departed without looking back at the window.

Jean looked. Geoffrey was gone. Hiding somewhere in the garden, no doubt. “I’ll get Tom to go and catch him,” she said.

She was surprised when Benjamin shook his head. “Let him be. I think Geoffrey is an important part of our interviews.”

“But they’ll…” Jean paused. “They’ll see what he’s like,” she went on in a different tone.

“Precisely.”

“Which would be best, I suppose.”

He nodded. “I should have thought of this myself.”

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