"I don't need a room. I need another cup of tea, perhaps, and something more substantial to eat, and then I need to visit my family and return to Bath."
"You may visit your family."
"How very magnanimous of you," she said sarcastically and stepped forward in another attempt to leave. But he refused to move as much as an inch. She was so close to him, she could smell him. It was astonishingly—nice. A whiff of a decent, musky perfume, mixed with pine and something masculine. Her nostrils twitched, and she had to keep herself from bending forward and sniffing him all over.
"And I daresay one can do something about tea and a morsel to eat as well."
He was taller than her, by at least half a head. His eyes were deep and dark, looking down at her in a puzzled manner. Ellen shook herself. It was merely that kohl liner.
He lifted his hand. "And then you may go to your room."
Ellen shook her head. "I am not staying here."
"Oh yes, you are," he said matter-of-factly. "For who will take care of the child if not you?"
Ellen was flustered. "I don't know. Hire a nurse, maybe?"
"Can't you be that nurse?"
Ellen looked affronted. "I am a teacher, not a nursemaid."
"Are you, now?" Tewkbury looked thoughtful.
Noni, bored by the adults' discussion, had stepped toward the side table and started playing with the porcelain rider on it.
"So I am to hire a nursemaid?"
"Indeed, that would be the best."
"What else does he need?"
Ellen stared. He was asking her? Very well. "A governess. Later, a tutor. A school room. A solid routine and wholesome food. Daily walks in the fresh air and contact with children of his own age." She took a big breath and delivered Miss Hilversham's message. "But what he really needs is a mother."
Tewkbury's quizzing glass fell.
"You are not, by any chance, married, are you, my lord?"
"I am not!" he forcefully uttered.
Ellen sighed. "I was afraid of that. It would have made things somewhat easier. Make sure to get him a governess, then."
Tewkbury groped for his quizzing glass. "Will you take the position?"
"Certainly not!"
"Why not?"
"Why not?" she echoed dumbly. Stay here as the child's nursemaid and governess? Wasn't it as plain as daylight why that would not work? "I can't possibly leave Miss Hilversham's employ."
Miss Hilversham needed her. Topic closed.
"Why ever not? I'll offer you thrice the salary you get paid at your current position."
Ellen's jaw dropped. "Thrice?"
The cogs in her mind went round and round. With that amount of money, she could quit working for several years.
She could help support her family.
