Free The Baron's Governess Bride by Deborah Hale Page A

patronizing way, her manner reminded Grace far too much of her stepmother. She sensed that his lordship’s neighbor only approved of her because she appeared so unattractive. If Grace had attended church that morning without her cap and spectacles and wearing fashionable clothes, she had no doubt Mrs. Cadmore’s response to her would have been very different.
    “Oh, Lord Steadwell.” The lady raised one grey-gloved hand and waggled her fingers in a flirtatious wave. “I had a most delightful idea. Now that you have hired a governess, you should bring your daughters to Dungrove for a visit. I know Henry would be pleased to have some company, wouldn’t you, dear?”
    The boy nodded, though without any great enthusiasm.
    “Can we go, please, Papa?” asked Charlotte.
    Lord Steadwell shook his head. “I’m afraid I must go to London next week and I have a hundred tasks to attend to before then. But Miss Ellerby is welcome to take the girls for a visit whenever you wish.”
    “That would be…delightful.” Mrs. Cadmore sounded no more pleased at the prospect than Grace felt.
    Clearly Lord Steadwell was the guest for whom her invitation had been intended. That notion irritated Grace, though she could not decide why. She had never considered the possibility that his lordship might remarry at some point. Prudence told her such an event would be to her advantage. Yet she was becoming accustomed to serving in a household with no mistress and found it suited her better than she’d expected. Hopefully once Lord Steadwell returned to Parliament, her situation would improve even further. For several days a week, she would have sole charge of the girls. Perhaps that would encourage Charlotte and Sophie to accept her as an inevitable part of their lives.
    Besides, having suffered a most disagreeable stepmother in her youth, she would not wish such a trial upon Lord Steadwell’s daughters.
    Not even Charlotte.

Chapter Five
    H ow had the girls fared in his absence? Rupert wondered as he drove home after his first week back in the House of Lords.
    It had been a busy one with a good deal of new legislation pending now that the war was over…if, indeed, it was over. There were disturbing rumors circulating that Bonaparte had slipped away from the island of Elba. How on earth the Royal Navy had permitted that to happen, Rupert could not fathom. What confounded him even more was how few people seemed to regard the news as cause for alarm. He certainly did, though for the moment his thoughts turned to a potential conflict of more intimate scale.
    It had not been easy to bid his daughters goodbye when he departed for London. Sophie had clung to him in tears, begging him not to go, while Charlotte had urged him to take them with him. Only Phoebe seemed resigned to his departure, though she bid him farewell with a more affectionate embrace than she’d given him in quite a while. He hoped Miss Ellerby had not let the child run wild, while being too strict with her sisters. During his last week at Nethercross, the new governess seemed more tight-lipped and steely-eyed than ever.
    Once again Rupert questioned whether it might have been a mistake to choose a governess for his daughters based principally on her being unmarriageable. Recalling how much attention the vicar had paid Miss Ellerby, it seemed he could not even rely upon that. Perhaps it was not romantic interest—the man was old enough to be her father. Yet all the more reason the vicar could not afford to be particular if he was looking for a wife.
    Caution had urged Rupert to discourage any closer acquaintance between the two. If Miss Ellerby needed adult companionship, she would do better to cultivate Mrs. Cadmore, who seemed to have taken a liking to her.
    As he stared out at the darkened countryside, a faint scowl tightened Rupert’s features. The Lords had been late to adjourn and one of the carriage horses had picked up a stone near Slough. The delays had sunk his hope of