How could he make amends?
Then he recalled what he’d seen on a notice at Sydney Gardens.
“May I escort you to the Hanoverian concert in Sydney Gardens tomorrow night? The musicians are performing at the Gothic Hall.”
She froze motionless as a statue.
Chapter Six
Adam heard the inappropriateness of his words and wished he could recall them to his mouth. He could not for an instant imagine his father or any of his own friends inviting a governess out, any more than a shopgirl or a maid.
Mrs. Malcolm turned to face him full on. Her expression was a mixture of doubt and regret, as well as something he thought looked like reproach. Again, he knew he ought not to have asked her.
“I cannot keep company with youandkeep my post as a governess,” she reminded him. “That is simply the way of it. And if you are courting Lady Susanne, then you shouldn’t be asking me, anyway.”
“I know,” Adam agreed at once. “It was wrong of me to overstep the boundaries of what is possible.” But blast it all, he wanted to go with her and witness again her pleasure while she listened to music.
“Lord Diamond,” she said, her tone softer, “I sincerely thank you for the offer, no matter how ill-conceived. I assume by your good reputation with Lord and Lady Beasley that you asked me from a place of kindness. I will tell Lady Susanne you are interested in attending.”
With that, she hurried inside, through the servant’s door at the back entrance.
The devil take him!He had cocked that up. Although, he believed were circumstances different, she would wish to keep company with him. She hadn’t rebuffed him as a predator, nor dismissed him out of hand.
As he strolled around to the front of the residence, Adam realized she had not satisfied his curiosity about the death of her husband.The bastard!Her fiery declaration of the man’s nature had surprised him.
She seemed like a level-headed young woman.How had she ankle-shackled herself to the wrong fellow, and what had become of him?
At the front of the house, he knocked and was instantly admitted and met by Lady Beasley.
“Is Lady Susanne well after her ordeal?”
“My daughter is fine, a little shaken. Thank you for bringing back her horse. Is it injured?”
“No, my lady. Stung by a bee, but with Mrs. Malcolm’s assistance, I removed the stinger.”
“Truly?” Her ladyship frowned. “She is a woman of many talents. Surprisingly so at times.”
“Where did she come from?” he blurted.
“Our governess? Why, London, I believe. Mrs. Malcolm was newly widowed and left the city, which was a trove of unpleasant memories from what I understand.”
“And how did you find her?”
“She answered an advertisement. That is how one usually finds a governess. Why do you ask, my lord?”
“As you said, she is surprising for a governess.”
When Lady Beasley narrowed her eyes, he added, “Both my older sisters have young children, boys and girls. She seemsprecisely the type of tutor they would appreciate, what with the musical talent and all.”
Lady Beasley’s face relaxed. “I see. You hope to steal my employee away from me.” She chuckled. “You would be unsuccessful. Mrs. Malcolm has expressed an absolute disinclination for returning to London.”
Since they were chatting openly now, he thought he would try one last prying question.
“How did her husband die?”
Again, Lady Beasley’s forehead furrowed. “Do you know something? I don’t believe she has ever told me.” Then she shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now. In any case, in a few years, my girls will have completed any course of instruction she can offer and will be too old for a governess. Then you may have her.”
Adam swallowed the distaste of discussing the interesting, intelligent woman as if she were an object that could be easily transferred from one household to another.
