“Ah, there you are, Miss Downing.”
He fought the need to look behind him as his back stiffened, but instead, Mungo took a wedge of gingerbread cake and walked past the new governess to his place on the wall. She didn’t glance his way, and he didn’t focus on her, but he saw the tightening of her mouth. Eliza Downing was not happy with him after what he’d said to her.
Too bad. These people are mine, and I’ll protect them as I see fit.
“Miss Downing, we are extremely grateful to you,” Ivy said. “It was brave to do what you did today.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Nightingale.” She spoke softly, but he knew she could shriek and cuss because he’d heard her that night.
He watched as she was introduced to everyone she hadn’t met earlier. Mungo observed closely to ensure she was polite, especially to Anna, and she was. He couldn’t fault her, even as he wanted to.
She’d removed her bonnet but not her gloves and was still buttoned up to the neck and cuffs in that hideous dress. It should make her look like a mouse—it didn’t.
“Greetings.” Gray wandered in with his daughter Olivia. “I hear we have another convict in the family.”
The little girl gave Mungo a wide smile, then dropped herfather’s hand and headed for him. She held out her hands, and Mungo bent to pick her up and then set her on his hip.
“I wonder what her secret is?” Ram asked. “He even smiles at your daughter, Gray.”
“They are natured alike in the morning. Olivia is a demon until she’s ready to face the day,” Gray said.
“Where is your wife?” Bram asked. “In fact, where are all the women? Except for you, my sweet,” he said to Ivy.
“They are making signs in preparation for another women’s rights march,” Gray said.
Mungo kept his eyes on Miss Downing as she interacted with Fred, Anna, and Charlotte. He watched as they began to relax and even smile as she talked to them.
The governess shot him a quick look, and he saw the frown on her face as her eyes went from him to Olivia. Did she think him capable of hurting the child? The thought annoyed him, but then, what did he expect after the way he’d spoken to her in her room?
“So, tell me exactly what happened in detail,” Gray said. “And why you didn’t send word to me sooner. I would have come to the watchhouse and helped with his release.”
“No need. We used your name, and that of the Duke of Raven, which helped. Then Leo did his best pompous Lord Seddon voice, and they capitulated like a house of cards,” Alex said.
“I love that voice,” Anna said, which made Leo smile.
“I’ll have the tea replenished.” Mungo lowered Olivia to the floor and left the parlor to head to the kitchens.
The tea did not need replenishing, but he wanted to get out of that room, refusing to acknowledge that it was because she was in here. The governess was going to disrupt life in number 11 Crabbett Close—he just knew it.
“Are you all right, Mungo?”
Gray had followed him out the door. As adetective at Scotland Yard, of course he’d want to discuss every detail of what happened.
“I am, thank you,” he replied, remembering his manners, which he forgot most of the time.
“I will be calling on the magistrate.”
“No, Gray. Leave well enough alone. It’s done and I am freed.”
“Bram will be coming with me, Mungo. It needs to be done. What if it were Theo, or one of the others this happened to? Would you still wish me to leave well enough alone?”
He wouldn’t. In fact, he’d probably be the first person to confront the magistrate on the charges.
“This was not right, Mungo. Therefore I will be speaking with him. You were innocent and in fact saved Miss Downing from a heinous crime. Ellington has gone too far this time.”
“I’ll be coming with you, then.”
Gray nodded. “If that is your wish.”
