“I know all I need to know.”
Alexandra gestured at her recommendations. “Even so, I have to make you aware that I do not have a letter from my last employer.” When he didn’t interrupt that pronouncement, she took a deep breath and tried to continue in a calm, reasonable tone. “I do have a letter from Lady Victoria Fontaine attesting to my character.”
“You’re acquainted with the Vixen?”
Oh, dear. Victoria’s mother had warned the silly thing that she was well on her way to notoriety. “I tutored her for a time. She’s a dear friend.”
He opened his mouth, then evidently changed his mind about what he’d intended to say. “What is the difficulty, then?”
“My last employer was Lady Welkins, of Lincolnshire.” There. She’d said it.
His gaze sharpened. “You’re the chit who lifted her heels for Welkins and gave him an apoplexy.”
Alexandra blanched. In six months she’d never heard the accusation put so bluntly. “You are mistaken, my lord. I did nothing of the sort. Lord Welkins had some kind of attack without any prompting on my part.”
“Why did you leave the household, then?”
With effort she kept her voice steady. “Lady Welkins dismissed me.”
The earl studied her countenance for so long that she wondered what he must be looking for, and what he saw there. “That was six months ago,” he said finally. “What have you done since then?”
“I’ve looked for employment, my lord.”
He straightened, lifting her papers from his desk, and came forward. As the earl reached her, he held them out to her. “Thank you for your honesty.”
Alexandra blinked back an unexpected desire to cry. If someone with as tainted a reputation as Kilcairn wouldn’t hire her, no one would. Ever. “Thank you for your consideration,” she returned, taking her recommendations back and stuffing them into her reticule. Her few remaining friends had told her she was stupid and naive to be so honest about her disaster with Lord and Lady Welkins, but she couldn’t bear the idea of being dismissed after she’d begun employment somewhere.
“When can you begin?”
“I—Begin?”
Kilcairn tilted her chin up with his fingertips. “I told you, I know all I need to know.”
For a bare moment, Alexandra thought he meant to kiss her. She looked directly into his eyes; she had to, with him standing so close and touching her like that. “I’m staying with a friend in Derbyshire.”
He nodded, running the backs of his fingers softly down her throat as he released her. “I’ll have my coach sent around front for you. Will two footmen be enough to transport your things?”
“Two…” Alexandra closed her mouth. This was going far too fast, like a whirlwind in a storm. But for whatever reason, she didn’t want it to sweep by her. “Two will be more than enough.”
“Good.” The earl reached down and took her hand, bringing it slowly to his lips. She could feel the warmth of his touch even through the thin barrier of her gloves. “I’ll see you this evening, then.”
“My lord, I think it’s only fair that I tell you I will tutor your cousin to the best of my ability,” she said stoutly, trying to ignore the knowing smile and the light in the gray eyes watching her so closely. “Nothing more.”
He brushed his lips against her knuckles again. “I wouldn’t wager on that, Miss Gallant.”
Lady Victoria Fontaine pushed the lace curtains to one side and looked down at the drive. “You mean to say that isLucien Balfour’scoach?”
Alexandra nodded and continued folding items into a trunk.
“The Earl of Kilcairn Abbey.”
“Yes.”
“But…”
“But what, Vixen?”
Alexandra’s hostess glanced at the coach again, then released the curtains. “Well, I was just going to say that for someone so determined to stay clear of scandal,” she continued, beginning to laugh, “you’re certainly doing a poor job of it.”
