Free What a Lady Craves by Ashlyn Macnamara Page B

they both resemble their father, or would one of them look like her mother? And that was truly the question plaguing Henrietta’s mind—had Alexander’s wife been so overwhelmingly beautiful that he just couldn’t help himself? Had he felt compelled to seduce the woman and seal his fate? Henrietta had to know, the same way that as a child she could never resist probing the sore gum with her tongue whenever she lost a tooth.
    Alexander knelt on the floor hugging two giggling moppets close. Sturdy arms and legs poked from beneath skirts and out of sleeves as one of the girls attempted to scale her papa like a mountain. He winced. The child must have prodded his injured ribs.
    “I was ever so scared,” said the older one, suddenly serious. A cap covered her hair, but it looked to be dark, as were her eyes. “The ship rocked something awful.”
    “But you came through all right, didn’t you?” he replied.
    “Why, Papa?” the younger one asked. “Why couldn’t we all go on the same ship?”
    He pushed a mop of blond ringlets beneath her cap. “Because I had two ships, and there were better cabins on yours.”
    “I wish I could have gone with you.”
    “No matter. You’re here now, and I’m
very
glad we’re together again.”
    Henrietta’s breath caught at what he’d left unsaid—surely he was thankful those girls had been on the stronger ship. They’d have been lost in the wreck.
    “Come and meet your aunt,” Alexander said.
    Both girls stepped back, their eyes round, as they looked over a scowling Lady Epperley. The smaller one’s lower lip began to tremble.
    “I am not their aunt,” Lady Epperley pronounced. “I am not even your aunt,” she added to Alexander.
    Alexander gave her a hard look. “I know that, but it’s simpler.”
    “I am their great-grandaunt, and they may call me such. Now, where are they staying?”
    “For the moment, they have little choice but to stay with me,” Alexander said, “but if you will not welcome them here, I shall be obliged to find other lodgings.”
    Behind her back, Henrietta crossed her fingers in hopes that Lady Epperley’s antipathy toward children would carry the day.
    “You are in no condition to find other lodgings.” Damn it if Lady Epperley didn’t nod in Henrietta’s direction with that pronouncement. “You will stay right where you are. Hirsch, send a maid or two to make up the beds in the nursery. That will keep them out of Albemarle’s way. Have you a nanny to take them in hand?”
    “I do not. Until recently enough, they had their mother.”
    “Good heavens. Who saw to their well-being on the voyage, since you did not go with them?”
    “A missionary family returning to England booked passage with us and agreed to see to their welfare. In fact, where are they?” He looked from one girl to the other. “Who brought you here? Where are the Turners?”
    “Mrs. Turner sent us on with a servant,” said the older daughter.
    “So they remained in Falmouth?” Alexander asked carefully.
    The child nodded in reply.
    The younger one tugged at Alexander’s sleeve, and pushed herself up on her toes to whisper something in his ear. “No, you don’t have to go back to the Turners, dear.”
    The girl gave him a fleeting smile before darting a glance at Lady Epperley and resuming her study of the patterned parquet, hands demurely folded.
    “Well, you cannot expect me to amuse them. I’m simply not equipped for such.” Lady Epperley peered about the room, as if entertainment for two young girls might magically present itself. Unfortunately, her gaze came to rest on Henrietta. “Ah, George. The very thing.”
    No. No, she couldn’t possibly …
    Henrietta returned her employer’s stare. “My lady, I haven’t the slightest idea what to dowith young children.”
    Lord, the irony. Only yesterday, she’d stolen off and purchased a newspaper from Tilly. Among its pages, she’d discovered an advertisement. Viscount Lindenhurst was seeking a