Page 37 of The Beastly Earl

While the child could still be quite solemn, he smiled and laughed frequently. McCallum looked in the boys’ direction and arched his eyebrow at her as he handed her the packages she’d purchased. The twinkle in the man’s eye made her laugh as she accepted her packages and walked into the main hall of the keep followed by the boys. Their trip to the village had been a great success. The boys had managed to find small presents for each other while ensuring they remained a secret. She’d been pleased to find something appropriate for everyone. She’d even purchased a present for the dowager countess, although why she’d done so eluded her.

The woman’s vitriol was poisonous, and Louisa took great measure to keep herself and the boys away from the woman. She knew Patience and Constance would chide her for being uncharitable, but her sisters hadn’t been subjected to the dowager’s cold manner or arrogant dictates.

Since taking on the role of governess to Ross, the woman had summoned Louisa to her chambers almost daily to demand the boys refrain from making so much noise. She’d even suggested Louisa had her eye on her son and his title. With a look of disdain, the countess had informed Louisa that an impoverished widow with two children should refrain from aspiring to marrying an earl.

In her role as Lady Westbrook, she would never have allowed the woman’s insult to go unanswered, but as Mrs. Morehouse, she’d known to bite her tongue. It had taken a strength of willpower she never knew she possessed not to inform the woman they were social equals. Instead, Louisa had clenched her teeth until her face ached to keep from telling the woman what a soulless creature she was.

The dowager countess seemed to know it was a struggle for Louisa to bite her tongue whenever the two of them met. She was certain it was the reason for the malicious smile that always accompanied the woman's insults. The boys skirted her as they ran into Argaty Keep’s imposing hall. Their laughter echoed loudly beneath the high ceiling, and memory of the countess’s complaints about the boys’ boisterous behavior made her wince. Wills was trying to grab a toy horse Charlie held over his head, while Ross was bent over in laughter. She frowned and expelled a breath of exasperation.

“Charlie, stop—”

“Stop this noise, immediately.” Lady Argaty’s words echoed in the hall with a cold ferocity that made the boys jerk around to face the dowager’s cold anger in silent apprehension. “I will not stand for this kind of ruffian behavior in my house. Is that understood?”

All three of the children slowly nodded their heads, but Louisa caught the glint of anger in Charlie’s eyes. Alarmed her son might say or do something reckless, she attempted to head off any such possibility.

“Let's go upstairs, boys,” she said in a gentle voice. “Quietly.”

Charlie appeared ready to protest as he frowned and glared at the dowager before looking back at Louisa. With a small shake of her head, she met her son’s gaze in silent warning. Disgust darkened Charlie’s features, but he didn’t argue. The boys began to climb the stairs, and Louisa moved to follow them.

“Mrs. Morehouse, you may join me in the parlor.”

The woman’s imperious command made Louisa stiffen with irritation, but she tipped her head at the woman in a sign of acquiescence. She called Charlie back to her and handed him the parcels in her arms with instructions for him to place them in her room. As the boys hurried up the steps, Louisa turned toward the parlor with a sigh of resignation.

As she entered the room, Louisa saw that the dowager had selected a regal, almost throne-like chair to sit in. Louisa met the woman’s gaze from across the room, and moved forward until there were only a few feet between them.

“My sister tells me you’ve planned a Christmas celebration here in the keep.”

“A small one. Lord Argaty gave me permission to have a tree, and I’ve asked Mrs. Selkirk if she could make a few special treats for the day.”

“I forbid any such activities to take place in Argaty Keep. We do not celebrate Christmas in this household.”

“I don’t understand, my lady. The earl gave me—”

“I said there will be no celebration.”

The woman’s emphatic statement rang out in the room like a crash of thunder. An even colder expression than she normally wore settled on the dowager’s features. It made her face look old and pinched. Louisa stared at the woman for a long moment in silence. Although the dowager’s face revealed nothing, Louisa was certain her lack of a response was unsettling for the woman.

“If that will be all, my—”

“I have not dismissed you,” the dowager snapped.

The sharp words made Louisa grit her teeth as she fought desperately not to lose her temper. Doing so could jeopardize her position. She had no idea how much sway the woman had over her son, and it would be foolish to test this particular boundary. Especially if he insisted on kissing her every time she crossed any line in the sand he might draw. Louisa quickly shoved the thought of his kiss out of her head.

“Forgive me, Lady Argaty, but your son employed me to act as Ross’s governess, and I must defer to his instructions.”

“I suggest you remember your place, Mrs. Morehouse.”

The stress the woman put on her last name only increased Louisa’s irritation. The dowager wasn’t simply unpleasant, she was offensive in her treatment of everyone around her. An image of Ewan as a child made her wince. His life had most likely been as miserable as Ross’s had been, if not more so.

An image fluttered through her head, and she recognized the onset of the an dara sealladh. Intuition warned her not to let the dowager countess know she had the gift of sight, and Louisa swallowed hard.

“Forgive me, my lady, but I am suddenly feeling ill.”

Lady Argaty sputtered incoherently for a brief moment before regaining her voice to speak harshly. The woman’s voice was little more than a buzzing in her ear as Louisa bolted from the room. In the main hall, she struggled to remain standing. A tall, shadowy figure appeared in front of her as the an dara sealladh swept across her senses, Her hand outstretched, she whispered her brother’s name as the real world receded.

The oppressive darkness surrounding her gave her the sensation of someone pressing her down to the floor. A baby's cries filled the air behind her, and she turned toward the sound. In front of her, the darkness parted slightly to reveal a much younger dowager countess holding a baby in her arms. Horror lined the woman's face as she stared down at the child in her arms.

Wallis suddenly appeared at her sister’s side and gently pulled the baby from the dowager’s arms. With a violent sweep of her hand, the woman struck her sister in the face. The blow caused Wallis to stumble backward before she regained her footing.