“Actually, sir, Norbert isn’t…” Harry flung open the kitchen door and something gray, shaggy, and as big as a cow almost knocked him over in its haste to get out. “A puppy.”
The hound’s nails clattered across the parquet at speed, skidded at the staircase, then bounded up it in search of his owners, howling all the way.
As Harry gaped open-mouthed, the butler shook his weary head, all the fight in him gone. “Her ladyship said Norbert doesn’t like to be left alone, mustn’t be fed chicken as it makes him gaseous, and told me to tell you that he will need a decent walk at least twice a day somewhere with trees, as he will refuse to do his business otherwise.”
“She has gone too far this time!” The understatement of the century. Harry’s fury was so incandescent his fists clenched, but instead of unleashing it unfairly on Simpkins, he snapped open one of his pocket watches, then snapped his fingers. Time was tight, but he was a man on a mission with only one hope left.
“Have the carriage and a cart readied and put this pile of rubbish on it quick sharp, then go wrestle that devil-dog in behind it!” In the absence of his sister’s neck to wring, he kicked a battered trunk. It had been packed so badly, the latch popped, and his two nieces’ dresses exploded onto his mirror-polished floor alongside a battered cricket bat. “I’ll fetch the children! I don’t care what bloody time it is or how exhausted they are, theirfavorite uncleis driving the uncivilized, black currant–covered little rascals and their wolf to Tilbury and giving them all back to his infuriating bloody sister himself!”
ChapterTHREE
“There is a gentleman in my office in urgent need of a governess.” Miss P grabbed Georgie’s hand and practically dragged her out of the lesson she was teaching. “Urgent.Need.” Excitement danced in her wily blue eyes. “I’ve told him I have somebody he can interview straightaway!”
“What?” Prospective employers did not usually visit the school without an appointment. Furthermore, the hiring of governesses was usually done by the lady of the house, so a man here who wasn’t either delivering or fixing something was a rarity indeed. “What is a gentleman doing here?”
Miss P tugged her into the empty dining room, then frowned as she began to fuss with Georgie’s hair, which was doubtless doing its own thing wildly—as usual. “His name is Captain Henry Kincaid, grandson of the famous Admiral Augustus Gaunt, no less.”
“I’ve never heard of either of them.”
Miss P rolled her eyes. “Admiral Gaunt was the commander in chief of the Channel Fleet for over a decade.” When that was met with Georgie’s blank expression, she rolled her eyes again. “He basicallyspent his entire life saving us from the threat of a French invasion, dearest, back when I was your age and none of us dared trust the French as far as we could throw them, thanks to all their guillotines and revolutionary ideas. A very important man at the Admiralty in his day, and now his grandson seems to be following suit as he is apparently very high up in the Admiralty too. So high up they cannot possibly spare him. He needs a temporary governess to look after his sister’s children who have unexpectedly been left with him. Lord Bishop from the War Office personally recommended our school; hence he is here.Hereand quite obviously desperate.” She gave up trying to rectify the calamity of Georgie’s hair to neaten Georgie’s dress instead, then centered her locket before holding her out at arm’s length. “This is your chance to finally prove yourself, Georgina! Serendipity! I can feel it in my bones.”
“But I’m not prepared for an interview. I haven’t planned a thing to say…”
“I know. Isn’t that marvelous?” Miss P yanked her back into the hallway toward her office. “Even better, it gives me a perfectly valid reason to be in the interview with you to keep your wayward tongue in check.”
“Well, I—”
Miss P cut her off with a finger to the lips as they stopped dead outside her closed door. “Speak only when spoken to, but do not be a church mouse either. You are aprotégé, so sit up straight and look him in the eye. Be confident—but humbly so. An expert in your field but not a know-it-all. Keep your questions to a minimum and your opinions to yourself. Better still, ask no questions, as you are bound to ask the wrong one.”
“Perhaps it would be easier if I played mute!” What she had meant as outraged sarcasm, Miss P gave considered thought.
“Oh yes! That is a much better idea. Silence is golden, after all, and the less you say, the less chance there is of you saying the wrong thing. And for pity’s sake, just this once, try to remember what we stand for.” Her finger wagged in time with each of her next words. “Duty. Decorum. Diligence. Discretion. In your case, let us also adddiplomacytoo.” The finger prodded Georgie just above her straightened locket. “Before you open that big, outspoken mouth of yours, look to me first. Follow my lead. And for goodness’ sake, curb your redhead’s fiery temper and bite your wayward tongue!” With that, she flung open the door and sailed in, smiling regally as if she owned the place, which, to be fair to Miss P, she did.
“Captain Kincaid, thank you so much for waiting.” The captain was seated with his back to her, but that rear view alone was impressive. He positively dwarfed the chair and when he politely stood, she realized why. He was well over six feet and she had never seen such an immaculate coat tailored so perfectly to a torso. Atop the broad shoulders that filled it was a dark head, which turned slowly to reveal a face that could well have been chiseled out of marble by Michelangelo, such was its symmetry. His gaze swept her up and down in one fast, fluid motion before he blinked rapidly, clearly disappointed at what he saw. “Allow me to introduce you to Miss Georgina Rowe.”
He quickly masked his obvious surprise at her horrid carrot-colored hair and woeful lack of height. “Miss Rowe.” He bowed with all the precise elegance one would expect from a military man, his deep brown eyes never once leaving hers as he did so. They were intelligent eyes. Overly serious. Perhaps even judgmental. Assessing her so thoroughly she felt exposed beneath the intensity of his gaze. “Thank you for agreeing to see me at such short notice.”
Georgie bobbed a self-conscious curtsy that annoyed her because she wasn’t usually a shy or nervy person. Yet for some reasonbefore him, she was suddenly both. Maybe because his stiff, unyielding military bearing was too familiar. Anything that reminded her of the colonel always unsettled her. Was this captain another colonel? Possibly—her gut told her probably—but she would be gracious and give him the benefit of the doubt. It would not be fair to make a snap judgment simply because the man in front of her had the right to wear a uniform. Although he was commanding enough not to need one to impress.
“It was no trouble at all, Captain Kincaid.” That said, there seemed little point in not concluding that when he did wear it, he would wear his uniform very well. He was the sort of man whose outstanding appearance was guaranteed to turn a lady’s head. Thankfully, Georgie had never been that shallow.
She wasn’t blind, though, so she obviously noticed all of Captain Kincaid’s overt, masculine charms, but as she had grown up around handsome men in uniforms and had lived beneath the roof of one who only lived for his, she was quite immune to shiny brass buttons and ceremonial trim. Besides, after the colonel, hell would have to freeze over before her discerning head would ever turn for a military man!
“Shall we sit?” As he had already been assigned the chair opposite the desk, Miss P grabbed the spare chair she kept in the corner for Georgie and positioned it directly next to her own. In front of it was a tray containing her best Sèvres tea set. “Georgina—will you pour for us all while the good captain here explains his unique predicament?”
As that was clearly a test to show the captain how adept she was at the correct social niceties, Georgie did her best to summon her inner duchess while she prepared three cups. All the while keeping one eye on him and her own gaze as serene and competent as she could make it.
“Indeed…” He waited for both ladies to sit before he did, thensettled back into the chair with the quiet confidence of one used to being in charge. Big hands loosely clasped in his lap. One ridiculously long, booted leg crossed over the other. The fabric of his perfectly tailored buff breeches pulled taut over thighs that were clearly no stranger to exercise. “As I have already explained to Miss Prentice…” He said that as if he was a little put out at having to repeat himself and then waved away the offer of sugar in his tea when Georgie held up the tongs, as if sugar was a silly frippery he had no time for. Both things were so reminiscent of the colonel she had to suppress her rebellious scowl.
“Due to entirely unforeseen circumstances, my two nieces and nephew are currently staying with me while their parents are abroad. As they are gone toEgypt…” Maybe it was Georgie’s imagination, but she was certain his jaw clenched slightly at that. “I do not expect them to return for at least three months. Maybe longer.” She hadn’t imagined it because it clenched again. Exactly like the colonel’s used to when his ordered life was inconvenienced. “As I am a busy man, I urgently need the services of a good governess to take care of them in their mother’s absence. I certainly cannot spare the time as the Admiralty takes all of it.”
While Georgie decided her snap judgment of this pompous officer had been entirely accurate, Miss P nodded at him in sympathy. “You have come to the right place, Captain Kincaid, although usually at this time of the year, all my girls would be gone. I would not normally consider allowing anyone to borrow dear Georgina here from me under any circumstances—she is invaluable, you see. Practically my right-hand. But as this position is only temporary, Imightbe persuaded to make an exception.”
As Georgie handed him his tea, Captain Kincaid leaned forward slightly, and she noticed that he appeared to be sporting the chains of two pocket watches, one on either side of his sedate but obviouslyexpensive cream silk waistcoat. She was on the cusp of asking him why that was when Miss P kicked her under the table as a timely reminder that she wasn’t supposed to ask any questions.
“Why don’t you tell us a little about the children, Captain?” Miss Prentice smiled as if butter would not melt in her mouth.
“Well… um… they are… um…” Clearly, he knew nothing about them if his rapidly blinking eyes were any gauge, as that question flummoxed him.
