Henry snorted. “Your face says otherwise.”
Wilhelm didn’t bother denying it. They rode another stretch in silence. Wilhelm attempted to let the cold wind strip his mind clean, but discipline failed him for once because thoughts of Madeline kept rising in stubborn, unwelcome flickers at the edges of his attention.
He refused to look at them fully. He had no time for such things, no business entertaining any feeling that strayed beyond logic or duty.
Madeline was good for his daughter, and that alone made her entirely off-limits in every possible sense. A governess was meant to be trusted, reliable, respectable, not someone he found himself remembering in moments of quiet. She was younger than him by more years than he cared to count, and her presence in his household was meant to bring order, not complication.
His life had space only for Tessa, Kirkford, and the endless responsibilities that filled every waking hour. Indulgence had no place in it, least of all indulgence directed toward a woman who had stepped into his home solely to help raise his child.
He shoved the memory aside with force, angered by the ease with which it tried to return.
Henry adjusted his gloves, flicking a glance at him again. “You’re unusually quiet.”
“I am thinking,” Wilhelm replied.
“That is exactly what concerns me, old friend.”
Wilhelm almost smiled at that but didn’t.
Henry’s mare sidled closer, hooves kicking up a spray of cold earth. “Well then,” he said, “tell me what has you brooding.”
Wilhelm looked straight ahead, his jaw tightening as he kept his gaze fixed on the frosted path before them. “I am not brooding.”
Henry angled his body in the saddle to better see him, one brow lifting with theatrical skepticism. “You are absolutely brooding.”
Wilhelm exhaled slowly, the breath visible in the winter air as a thin plume drifting before his lips. His shoulders rose and fell in a resigned movement; there was no winning this.
They reached the ridge overlooking the valley, the slope falling away into snow-silvered fields. A cold wind swept up the incline, tugging at their coats.
Finally, with a low sigh, he said, “Tessa’s governess left.”
Henry straightened slightly. “Again?”
“Yes. Without warning.” A muscle ticked in Wilhelm’s jaw. “She lasted three weeks.”
Henry let out a low whistle. “A new record.”
Wilhelm shot him a look, but Henry merely shrugged as though stating an unfortunate fact. Wilhelm continued in a clipped tone. “I took Tessa to the festival to distract her. It didn’t go as planned.”
“Children’s festivals usually don’t,” Henry said lightly. “Sticky hands. Loud music. Crowds. A father’s nightmare.”
Wilhelm didn’t humor him with a smile. “Tessa wandered. I lost sight of her.” His knuckles tightened on the reins. “And when I found her, she was in the arms of a stranger.”
Henry’s brows shot up. “A stranger?”
“A woman.” Wilhelm hesitated for only a heartbeat, but Henry caught it instantly. “A tutor. She claims to be a tutor.”
“She claims to be?” Henry echoed, amused. “Did she seem like someone pretending?”
Wilhelm’s gaze hardened at the horizon. “She seemed… unusual.”
“And yet Tessa was in her arms.”
Wilhelm’s teeth ground together. “Tessa tripped on the ice. The woman caught her. And spoke to her as though she were simply a child, not a curiosity or a burden.” His jaw flexed. “Tessa clung to her.”
Henry’s eyes softened. “Ah. That would do it.”
Wilhelm ignored the comment. “I hired her. On the spot.”
