Free His Bewitching Jewel (A Regency Holiday Romance Book 7) by Marly Mathews

you have a good day, with the two little ladies. They are ever so polite to us. They are jolly good girls, and we have all come to love them dearly, and I hope you treat them better than the last governess did. She was a terribly frightful woman.”
    “Mrs. Teague seemed to approve of her,” Ruby said softly.
    “She would, wouldn’t she? The two of them were two peas in a pod. They were thick as inkle weavers when they were here. I am so happy His Grace discovered how awful she was. His Grace is awfully relaxed when it comes to dealing with those who work for him, but he shan’t hear anyone speak unkindly about his nieces, or treat them in an ill manner. The last governess couldn’t control her temper around her charges, and I heard she said something dreadful to His Grace about Lady Cordelia. I shudder to think of what she might have done to Lady Cordelia had it not been nipped in the bud.”
    “What…” Ruby felt quite unsettled, and yet her stomach growled hungrily, and the maid heard it.
    She smiled kindly at her. “I shall leave you to your breakfast, Miss,” she said, smoothing down her apron, and walking back to the door. “If you need anything else you need only to ring for help.” 
    “What did she do to Lady Cordelia?” Ruby asked softly. 
    “I…I have been talking out of turn again, Miss Massey. Pay no mind to me. We all just wanted to welcome you, and tell you how happy we were to see that someone as good as you will be taking care of our girls. Cause they are our girls, ain’t they? We have to take care of the wee little things.”
    “Yes, they do look like little gems. I…I would like to know why Cordelia doesn’t speak.”
    “She…well, if you would like an answer to that, Miss, you would have to ask His Grace.”
    “What is your name?”
    “Oh,” the maid coloured up again. “My name is Jenny, Miss.”
    “Thank you, Jenny.”
    “I should go now, Miss.” Jenny looked one last time at her. “You should think about wearing some colours, Miss. Black just doesn’t suit you at all.” With those parting words, Jenny left.
    Ruby walked back over to look at herself in the mirror one last time before sitting down to eat. Jenny might be right. Maybe she did look horrid in black. Tomorrow, she would wear her puce coloured frock. She had never cared for the colour, and also had a puce green frock in her wardrobe courtesy of her mother that might wear well in her role as governess.
    She didn’t feel like changing, so she ate her breakfast and contemplated how she was ever going to get Lady Cordelia to open up to her. The only person she seemed willing to communicate with was Lady Miranda, and if she were to teach her, she would have to be find a way to reach the child.
    Somehow, she would have to break through to her, while avoiding her uncle. He interested her far too much for her own good, and she couldn’t get to close to him—if she did, her feelings for him would continue to grow, and that was dangerous territory to fall into.
    Once she had eaten, she found her way to the nursery, and discovered Lady Miranda and Lady Cordelia sitting and playing with the beautiful dollhouse they had in the play area of the nursery.
    Joan was scampering around them, trying to catch the sunbeams as they filtered through the window. Ruby laughed at the playful kitten, as she pawed at the air, jumped, and landed without having caught the sunbeam. Not to be deterred, she jumped back up and continued her hunt for the sunbeams, finally finding her way into one of the nannies knitting baskets, filled with yarn.
    From what she could see, the girls were properly spoiled. They had a play area allotted to them in the nursery, and an area that would serve well as her schoolroom. The adjoining room was where they slept, and it looked as if the nursemaids also had a room that was theirs.
    The nursemaids sat quietly watching them, one was sitting on a beautiful rocking chair busily knitting away, and completely