Don’t worry about things you can’t control. Do control the things you can.
MISSMAMIEFORTESCUE’SDO’SANDDON’TSFORCHAPERONES, GOVERNESSES, TUTORS,ANDNURSES
Esmeralda almost jumped out of her skin as her gaze flew to the duke’s. He was alarmed too. Fearing it was Josephine tumbling down the stairs, she dropped her reticule to the floor and took off running. The duke must have thought the same thing, because he rushed past her as she cleared the doorway.
Entering the corridor, Esmeralda saw a tabby cat scampering off the last step of the stairs. Napoleon was right behind the cat, barking like a fiend. Josephine was behind the dog, screaming his name and running after him. Thankfully she wasn’t harmed, but a small broken table lay at the foot of the stairs.
“Josephine, what happened?” Esmeralda ask breathlessly, but there was no time for an answer.
The cat darted into a room off the vestibule with the barking dog right on its tail.
“Napoleon! Stop! Sit!” Esmeralda added her cries to halt and calm the dog as she, Josephine, and the duke all tried to go through the door at the same time.
They bumped shoulders, elbows, and hips. Six arms and six hands all pushed and tangled together in the trio’s haste to get inside and catch the animals. Josephine shoved her way through two of them first and squealed in horror again as Esmeralda and the duke skidded to a halt beside her. The cat had jumped on top of a table and sent a figurine flying to the floor where it shattered into hundreds of pieces.
At the same time, Napoleon rounded a chair and sideswiped a large urn. It teetered from side to side. Esmeralda and the duke stumbled over each other in a rush to save it, but the large vase toppled to the floor with a loud thud and broke into several pieces before either of them could reach it.
Esmeralda thought she might stop breathing. But there was no time to even do that as the cat quickly altered his course and dashed right toward her. As she reached down and grabbed the cat, he scratched at her. His claws dug into the bodice of her dress, and he shrieked as if he thought all the hounds in hell were giving him chase. Napoleon’s front paws landed on Esmeralda’s skirt as he jumped to reach the cat. The duke scooped up the barking dog and moved him away from the cat.
Horrified, Esmeralda called, “Napoleon! Quiet!” The dog instantly stopped barking and scrambling to get down from the duke’s arms. He quickly turned around and licked the duke’s chin and lips before the duke had time to move his face away from the excited dog.
Anguished by all that had happened, and knowing that any chance she had of keeping her position in this household had just evaporated, Esmeralda advanced on the duke and exclaimed, “This is all your fault, Your Grace!”
“My fault?” the surprised duke countered as hastily as she’d spoken. “How is that possible, Miss Swift? I was in the drawing room with you when all this commotion started.”
She glared at him and said, “Because you didn’t tell me you had a cat in the house.”
The air between them crackled with tension as he advanced on her. Napoleon woofed and squirmed to get near the cat again, but the duke held him firmly. His blue gaze pinioned hers. “I didn’t know.”
Searing disappointment in her inability to keep this debacle from happening made her bristle at his annoyed tone. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said.
“I’m not,” he answered, holding the squirming dog tighter.
Esmeralda knew she was behaving irrationally. She should listen to her inner voice and quiet herself. She shouldn’t be accusing the duke of anything, but fear made her unable to stop herself. She’d lived in Viscount Mayeforth’s house long enough to know how servants who broke things were treated. She knew how uncompromising and how unforgiving the titled few were.
“How could you not know? This is your house.”
His head tilted defiantly. “It is my house, but I don’t live here. My sisters do.”
“Then maybe you should spend more time here with them so that you know what’s going on in it.”
“It looks as if I will need to if this is an example of what’s going to happen while you’re here. If anyone is at fault, Miss Swift, it’s you. You told me this dog was trained to obey your sister.”
“No dog will obey its master if its sees a strange cat. The temptation is too great.”
“Oh, I know all about great temptations, Miss Swift. I’m having a few of them myself right now.”
“So am I,” she countered, infuriated that she’d lost the opportunity to make a better life for Josephine and for herself. She was more than upset that Josephine wouldn’t get to experience a little of what it would be like to live in a fine house and play in a large garden.
“Why are you two yelling at each other?” Josephine asked.
Esmeralda and the duke looked over at Josephine. Her lips quivered and tears had pooled in her eyes. Esmeralda’s heart broke.
“We’re not,” they said in unison.
“It’s my fault Napoleon knocked the table down the stairs and broke the urn. Not yours.”
“It’s no one’s fault,” the duke said, keeping his intense gaze on Esmeralda as he continued to control the excited dog. “It was an accident.”
