Never Dance with a Marquess (The Never Series Book 2), Maggi Andersen [best short novels of all time TXT] 📗

London, and as it was still early in the Season, might Caroline spend a few weeks with them at Elm Park.

Nicholas had disliked the idea. A young woman of twenty living under his roof for even a short time would undoubtedly cause gossip in the village. But he agreed. Perhaps it would help ease the children into their new life.

“But you are our guardian, are you not?” Arabella asked. “And we are to live here with you. At least, I will.” Her green eyes clouded. “Carrie won’t, as she makes her Come-out next month, and Jeremy will only visit from Eton for the holidays.”

“You shall have much to occupy you here, Arabella,” Nicholas said hastily, fearing tears. He hated to see women of any age crying.

She tilted her head and gazed at him. “What might we call you?”

The governess coughed twice.

“Nicholas will do.”

It earned him a warm smile. “And you must call me Bella.”

He turned to the afflicted governess. “I’m sorry. How do you do, Miss…?” His secretary had supplied the lady’s name, but he’d forgotten it.

She sank into a low curtsey with a creaking of her limbs. “Miss Scotsdale, my lord.”

Bella came to seize the lady’s elbow. “Dear Scotty’s knees are not what they were.” She assisted an uncomplaining Scotty to the damask sofa. The lady lowered herself regally upon it. Bella sat beside her. “Scotty is a little weary, we’ve come quite a long way.”

“Yorkshire is a distance from Gloucestershire,” he agreed. “But tell me, Bella, where is your sister?”

“Carrie is still in Harrogate because she decided Mrs. Barns, that’s the vicar’s wife, has need of her. Their two children have the measles.”

What Caroline might do to help was beyond his knowledge. “As I sent my coach to bring you both safely here, that is most unfortunate.” It was a damned nuisance. Was Caroline going to be a handful?

“The vicar explained that to Carrie, but Emily, that’s his youngest, was still feverish, so Carrie decided to stay for a few days more.”

“I hope that you, or your sister, or Miss Scotsdale, were not so afflicted?”

“Carrie has had the measles, but I haven’t,” Bella said. Her chin trembled. “But Carrie assured me you agreed to her staying here with Jeremy and me for a few weeks.” She swallowed. “Before she leaves us.” Her chest heaved with a heavy sigh.

He tamped down a sigh of his own as he eyed the dramatic young woman before him. “I have arranged it, Bella. But tell me, how did your sister plan to travel here?” He had visions of her coming by stage or mail coach. The vicar might have warned him, he thought crossly.

The governess cleared her throat again. “If you’ll allow me to speak, my lord, the Leeming family coachman is to bring Miss Leeming and her maid.” She flushed. “I did not approve of her remaining behind, but my opinion was not sought.”

“Carrie will be perfectly safe with old Bickle,” Bella said. “As the new tenant has yet to move into Leeming Hall, he agreed to spare him.”

Nicholas’s footman, Jerry, brought in the tea tray.

Bella peeled off her gloves and untied the strings of her bonnet. “Oh, crumpets, I adore them.”

Miss Scotsdale, Scotty, snapped sandy eyebrows together in a frown when Bella’s bonnet sailed onto a chair.

A sense of unease seeped into Nicholas’s bones. Could he carry out his promise to Max? Raise these two children safely to adulthood? It seemed a formidable task. He had readily agreed, keen to ease his friend’s mind.

“Don’t tell the children about Simon, unless you must,” Max had implored him as Nicholas had signed the legal papers making him their guardian, while their fortune was held in trust by the family solicitors and their great aunt, Lady Penelope Grantly.

Max wrote to him for the last time, a year ago, with the grim news that his health was now at a very low ebb. “As Carrie has turned twenty, she requires only your guidance. I trust you will do as we discussed and arrange her London debut. I’m sure a suitable match can be found for her quickly.” Max’s handwriting was uneven, with ink blots upon the page. “Losing your father and brother must have been devastating, Nicholas. Such sadness in your young life. I pray you find love and companionship, and wish I could be there to see it.”

It was a crushing blow. Max was only forty-two. Nicholas had written back to express his concern and added the assurance that his friend did not need to worry about his children. A month later, Nicholas attended Max’s funeral.

It would not be easy to raise two children alone. With no progeny and little experience of schoolroom misses, not to mention debutantes, he felt decidedly ill-prepared. He hoped to be better able to guide Max’s son. Jeremy had inherited the barony and was now in his thirteenth year.

“Your brother arrives from Eton next week for the school holidays,” he said to Bella, who had fallen into a dispirited silence.

“Oh, good. I see so little of Jeremy now he’s at school,” Bella said, sounding wistful. “We had wonderful adventures.”

“Did you?” Nicholas asked uneasily.

“Yes. Jeremy and I used to climb the big old oak tree in the Leeming Hall garden. We’d have battles with acorns. I fell out once and broke my arm.”

“I trust you’ll resist climbing any trees here, Bella.”

She frowned at him. “Heavens. I am too old to climb trees.”

Nicholas looked at the silent governess. “Miss Scotsdale, would you please pour?”

The august lady set about it with a rattle of cups and an iron determination.

Nicholas took a cup and saucer from her with a nod of thanks. He added milk and stirred in sugar. “Tell me of your sister’s plans, please, Bella. When does she leave Yorkshire?”

Bella’s mouth glistened with