*
Miss Harrismith’s earnest,worried face stayed with him as he made his way to the floor below and crossed to the north wing and his apartments. This situation was intolerable! Should he pack William off to his aunt in Northumberland? Trouble was, he disliked removing the boy from under his eye. Not knowing if he was safe. That he might be followed there. No, William would be safer at Castlebridge.
He reached the central hallway where the staircase swept down to the lower floor and found Greta waiting for him. Obviously angry, she approached him frowning, her hands on her hips.
“So it is the governess, Harrow? You hear such tales often enough. But I would have thought such behavior beneath you. It does make me understand why I’ve seen so little of you since I came here.”
Andrew disliked being waylaid and accused unjustly, but an inexplicable stab of guilt made him snap. “You are eager to leap to the worst possible conclusion, Greta. And I am in no mood to deal with your temper. I may be lacking in my attentions to you, but if you remember, your behavior has hardly encouraged more from me.”
She narrowed her light blue eyes. “I will not play second fiddle to…”
Before they were overheard, he grabbed her hand, flung open his sitting room door and drew her inside. “I was visiting my children.”
“While they are asleep?” she mocked.
He gestured to a chair. “Someone is trying to hurt William.”
She sat silently as he spoke of the three attempts on his son’s life, designed apparently to look like an accident. “And they would have succeeded, if Miss Harrismith had not been there.”
“I suspect the governess has exaggerated these incidents. After all, each one has a logical explanation. A wayward hunter’s bullet? An inefficient nanny? A lost cat? This woman is cunning, she plans to snare you.”
“Snare me? Ridiculous! You’ll have to explain why you suspect that, Greta. But I don’t know if I want to hear it.” He had not expected her to be so cold.
“Miss Harrismith is a lord’s daughter, is she not? There are dozens of young women like her, advancing on the Season every year with the aim of snaring a duke.”
“You sound as if I’m besieged by young debutantes. I am not. And Miss Harrismith is not one.”
“If you spent more time in England, you would be. I promise you their mamas are very aware that you are no longer married. None of those young fresh-faced ladies will find themselves actually living in a duke’s house. What an opportunity! Miss Harrismith will keep coming up with reasons to turn to you for help. Next, we shall find her fainting in your arms.” She raised her eyebrows. “You must have noticed that she’s quite comely.”
“She is here to care for my children. Her appearance has nothing to do with it.”
“No? Perhaps not. But you will come to realize that I am right about her.”
“This is nonsense, Greta. I don’t intend to trivialize these attacks on my son. Please be patient as there’s another matter of great import in London which may require my attention. When I see my way clear…”
“Then come back to London, with me.”
He eyed her dismayed. “You would ask me to abandon my son for a few days of pleasure?”
“You are a duke, you can hire an army to mind him.”
Impossible to make her understand. She wasn’t a mother. He perched on the arm of her chair. “I am sorry for neglecting you. Fortunately, you have my cousin and your brother for company.”
“Ivo has gone to Oxford for a few days.”
“Good.”
She tilted her head. “You don’t like my brother much, do you?”
Andrew shrugged. “He’s an insolent young buck.”
“I admit he can be. But when you get to know him, you’ll see the good in him. Our father was autocratic, and Ivo’s life has not been easy.”
“Neither was yours. Married to an old man at seventeen.”
She shrugged. “I have nothing against Franz. The baron left me a comfortable fortune.” She reached up and pulled Andrew down to kiss her. “Might we put this argument behind us and end the evening in a much more pleasing manner?”
She was inviting him into bed. He hesitated too long, aware he’d fail to do justice to their first time together. A murderous rage still consumed him, and all he could think of was his children’s safety.
