‘I fear not; the housekeeper has insisted I stay here for dinner while my house is being hastily got ready for occupation. It seems it was got unready and left cold when I failed to arrive at the appointed time.’
‘You are very tardy,’ Nell said shortly.
‘But also sharp set after such a mighty journey,’ he told her with a knowing grin, then sauntered out as if he owned the place.
* * *
‘Insufferable man,’ Nell spluttered when the door was shut behind him.
‘He’s very handsome, Miss Court,’ Mary said with a longing gaze at that very door, as if wishing might bring him back.
‘Not really,’ Nell said as she tried to decide why he was so uniquely attractive.
Not wanting to discover the secret of it, Nell set about undressing Lavinia as gently as she could and shot the maid a sharp look to remind her of her duty. Between them they coaxed Lavinia to raise her arms so they could strip off her muslin gown, stockings, indoor shoes and flannel petticoat without rousing her fully.
‘Let her sleep in her petticoat this once,’ Nell said as they each put an arm about the girl’s waist and walked her over to the bed. ‘She needs rest more than food right now,’ she warned and put a finger to her lips to tell Mary not to argue until they were out of earshot.
‘What if she wakes up hungry later?’ the girl whispered when they were out in the corridor with the door almost shut.
‘I must persuade Cook to make her something that won’t spoil. If she sends your dinner up, will you listen for her while I go downstairs? If the poor child has one of her nightmares I don’t want her to be alone.’
Nell could sense the young maidservant wanted to argue, but it was her job to look after the eldest Selford girl. Mary probably wanted to giggle with her fellow maids at the thought of such an exciting addition to the local pool of bachelors. Nell would stay and watch Lavinia’s slumbers herself if she didn’t have three other charges and a disturbing stranger to keep an eye on. Mr Moss might regret accepting the housekeeper’s invitation to stay to dinner while she scurried her staff over to his house to give it a hasty airing. Or at least he might when he found out Nell was in the habit of instructing her pupils in the art of fine dining and good manners and he would be a tame gentleman to practice on.
‘Mr Moss has gone upstairs to wash and shave. Parkins showed him into the Red Room and sent Will to wait on him,’ Penny told Nell when she went along to the night nursery to make sure her youngest charge was ready for the meal ahead.
‘Are you sure you don’t want to move into a proper grown-up bedchamber, my love?’ Nell asked to divert them both as she caught Penny’s sash and hauled her gently back into the room to be made as neat and presentable as she already thought she was.
‘No, I like it in here and Crombie is next door if I have a bad dream.’
‘Sooner or later you’ll have to become a young lady,’ Nell said as she brushed Penny’s wavy nut-brown hair to shining perfection. It struck her that Penny might well be the most sought-after Miss Selford one day, for all Caro’s potentially stunning looks. As Penny was nine years old at least Nell could put off worrying about her future for a while.
‘Not until I’m too big to have a choice,’ Penny said with a grimace of distaste.
Nell knew it was wrong to have favourites, but she secretly doted on her youngest pupil. She pronounced Penny perfectly turned out even for dinner with a strange gentleman now and reminded her that her manners ought to match her appearance.
‘Of course,’ said Miss Penelope Selford with a solemn nod and a hop, skip and jump to show how excited she was by even this much company.
Memory of how it felt to be the daughter of a scandalous lord had kept Nell here, trying to fill some of the gaps in the girls’ narrow lives, even if they were lonely for a very different reason. Now her brother Colm’s fortune was restored and her own dowry doubled by her father’s efforts to protect his children before he died. She wondered what Mr Moss would make of a governess with a handsome fortune and a scandalous father. As the third son of a country squire he might court her for her fortune, whatever he thought of her and her blighted family name, and that was another reason Nell refused to join Colm and his new wife for the upcoming London Season. Fortune hunters. Even the thought of men pursuing her solely for her money made her shudder with dread. Then there was the unscrupulous lecher who had been trying to force her sister-in-law to marry him on the very night Eve and Colm met. Nell knew she would find even less determined ones difficult to fend off and she didn’t understand how to do it without a fuss, as Eve had learned to during her rather trying three years as a single society lady with that same scandal hanging over her. Nell had spent most of her life in the company of women and girls, so how would it feel to be put on show for the poorer gentlemen of the ton to decide if they could endure marrying her for her moneybags? Appalling, she decided with another shudder and snapped back to the here and now with a sigh of relief.
‘Are we going downstairs soon, Miss Court?’ Penny asked. ‘Mrs Winch will not be happy if you leave her to make sure that Caro and Georgie behave like proper young ladies in company.’
Nell shot a look at her own reflection in the small mirror. She was neat enough in a dark blue stuff gown and at least her hair had stayed in place. It took a legion of hairpins to keep it neat and she had no intention of making a special effort so that would have to do. Mr Moss would have to endure the sight of her everyday clothes. How silly to have a vision of dazzling him in a fine silk gown with her hair arranged to flatter instead of disguise her charms. Even if she had such a gown she wouldn’t wear it for Lord Barberry’s land steward.
‘We had best hurry before they go down without us,’ Nell said and braced herself for the ordeal ahead, wishing they could have nursery tea in the schoolroom and retire betimes instead of having to meet Mr Moss again today.
Before they went downstairs she had to make Georgiana remove the pins from her hair, then take off her late mama’s second-best pearl necklace and do up the buttons of her gown all the way to the top. Drat him, but the man was disruption in breeches, she decided with a long-suffering sigh. As she plaited the girl’s tawny mane neatly she tried not to be disturbed by the idea of dangerous adult company herself and sincerely hoped he was less intriguing by the light of several wax candles than he was in the dark.
* * *
Oh, confound the man, she decided when they finally got downstairs; he looked every inch the gentleman. How on earth did a lowly steward afford to have his coats made by a master tailor? Scott had crafted her brother’s fine new coats and was a firm favourite with former military gentlemen. Perhaps Mr Moss had engaged Weston instead, but that midnight-blue superfine coat wasn’t the work of a provincial tailor. Nor did his snowy linen and spotlessly sleek knee breeches seem quite right on the younger son of a country squire. Nell frowned as her charges meekly curtsied to him, rendered almost speechless with awe for a few brief moments as they took in the splendour of their unexpected guest. There was something very much out of kilter about a hired man appearing here in clothes that must have cost most of his annual salary before he had even begun to work for it.
‘Good evening, sir,’ Nell managed coolly, as all the reasons for his unexpected style clamoured in her
