“Is there anything else?” he spoke over Miss Spencer, determined to put this conversation to bed.
“No,” she sighed, no doubt knowing that this was one battle she would not win. She had been there when Evander was raised, and she knew exactly how his own parents had treated him as a child. “I will just fetch Master Aaron…”
“Good.”
Miss Spencer left the room, and Evander turned back to the window, watching now as Miss Finch loitered on the front driveway. She still wore the same smile, her eyes still shone, and Evander could practically feel her positivity even from all the way up here.
She was an attractive woman, and even Evander would not deny that. With her dark hair, worn in long curls, her full cheeks, and those big green eyes, she was a beauty in the most traditional sense. She was also short compared to him, with a curvaceous body that Evander wished he did not notice… but he was still human, after all.
There is just something about her that I cannot escape. By rights, I should have had her removed from my home the moment I saw her because everything about this woman screams trouble.
She is reckless. She is unpredictable. She is a storm on a calm night. And yet… here I stand, unable to look away, pulled into that same storm as much as I know how dangerous it will be…
Evander did not do chaos. He did not do unpredictable. He liked his life ordered and neat. He enjoyed knowing what to expect and how to prepare for it. Miss Finch was the opposite of this, and it terrified him as much as it intrigued.
“Father…” a voice spoke from over his shoulder.
Evander straightened, set his face to neutral, and turned to find his son standing in the doorway. Aaron was just seven years old, still a child, but Evander was set on treating him like a man fully grown. Discipline was what his son required, as that had always been Evander’s way of showing affection.
“Your hair,” Evander said, noting the messy mop of black hair that sprang from his son’s scalp. “Have it combed at once. You are set to meet your new governess soon, and I want you to leave her with the best impression possible.”
“Sorry, Father…” Aaron used his hands to try to flatten his hair.
“Now, Aaron, I want you on your best behavior. Is that understood?” He raised a commanding eyebrow at his son. “I have been lax these last few months, far too lenient with the way you have treated the past governesses. It ends here.” He looked pointedly at Aaron.
Aaron tried to meet his father’s stare, but he buckled under it and looked away as if with shame. “I am sorry, Father. I… I will do better.”
“See that you do.”
“Are you coming down?” his son asked hopefully, daring a smile to match it.
“No.”
Aaron shrank back, his eyes still averted.
Evander watched his son linger in the doorway. Even his own flesh and blood were nervous around him, unable to cross the room and come close as any son should be able to do around his father. He was not scared of Evander, or at least Evander did not think so. It was more than he’d ever been given a reason to think that affection was something to show.
Evander’s chest tightened, and he was taken by an urge to cross the room and rest a consoling hand on Aaron’s shoulder. A word of encouragement, perhaps? Something to show that he cared. However, just as that urge came, Evander pushed it down.
He will not thank me for such things. What he needs is a firm hand, discipline, and a show of strength. That is how he will grow into the man I know he can be.
“That will be all,” Evander dismissed.
Aaron hesitated, with a hopeful look, only to bow his head and turn.
“And Aaron…” Evander spoke after him, and Aaron turned, again with hope in his eyes. “I will be watching you, son. Do not disappoint me.”
“I won’t, Father,” he said meekly before turning and hurrying away.
With that done, Evander turned again to watch Octavia as she waited to be taken inside. He should not have found himself so intrigued by her. Truly, she should have hardly passed through his mind. She was merely a governess, he would have little to do with her, and that was for the best.
Yet, there he stood, watching her closely, wondering about her also. He tried to tell himself that hiring her was a good idea, thinking that someone like her might stand a chance at taming his son. All the while, deep within his consciousness, a warning sounded out that this would only lead to trouble.
Chapter Six
“Master Aaron, I would like for you to meet Miss Finch.” Miss Spencer entered the morning room, her smile warm and gracious, her presence bringing with it an immediate sense of calm and comfort.
With her, she led a young boy of seven years old, Aaron Lockridge. He had dark hair like his father, and sharp features for a boy his age. A little taller than Henry, certainly built better, it was his eyes that Octavia focused on. Where his father’s eyes were hollow pools that gave nothing away, Aaron’s were something else entirely…
