Rebellious Rake, Innocent Governess. Elizabeth Beacon

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      ‘Kindly pay attention, Miss Wells,’ Miss Isabella Alstone ordered her governess the following morning.

      ‘I should probably make you stand in the corner for that piece of impudence,’ Charlotte returned placidly.

      ‘Well, you might as well actually be in the Americas for all the attention you’re paying to your lesson about them,’ Isabella replied with the warm smile that would have the young gentlemen of the ton lining up in fervent hope of winning another in a few years’ time.

      ‘I certainly seem to have failed dismally in my task of turning you and your sister into well-behaved young ladies, so perhaps I might just as well go there,’ Charlotte admitted ruefully.

      ‘Who wants to be a milk-and-water miss? I certainly don’t and I doubt Miranda and Kit would thank you if I suddenly became one. There are far too many of them about already, at least if the girls at Kate’s waltzing parties are any indication of things.’

      ‘I agree that they can seem a little giddy, but I dare say it’s all the excitement,’ Charlotte managed to defend those silly young ladies half-heartedly in the face of her own doubts about their common sense.

      ‘In a watering place full of senile octogenarians they would still contrive to be the most foolish creatures imaginable, but when are you going to tell me what happened last night, dear Miss Wells?’

      ‘Since you avow contempt of the fashionable throng, I really can’t imagine why you’re interested in their sayings and doings,’ Charlotte observed slyly, ‘and in any case there are the Americas to consider.’

      ‘Yes, and you obviously need to do so, as you can’t seem to concentrate on either their geography or history this morning.’

      ‘I have the excuse of having been from home and out of my bed until the early hours of the morning and you do not, miss.’

      ‘Then why not tell me everything that went on at the Wintergreen ball instead and get it over with? After that I would have no excuse not to take a proper interest in geography, now would I?’

      ‘I’m quite sure there’s something wrong with the grammar of that sentence as well as its intent, Isabella.’

      ‘I dare say, now cut line and tell all, Miss Wells, before one of us falls asleep.’

      ‘You really are a shocking minx, Isabella Alstone,’ Mr Shaw’s distinctive deep voice informed her from the doorway.

      ‘Ben!’ Isabella screamed in a manner that had Charlotte shuddering to the depths of her govern-essly soul.

      ‘Hoyden,’ he greeted her, laughing as his youngest adopted sister jumped into his mighty arms and he swung her round as easily and unselfconsciously as if she had been five instead of fifteen.

      Charlotte was forced to admit that, while there were any number of gentlemen she wouldn’t trust with a young girl’s open adoration, Ben Shaw was not one of them. When it came to her charges, or any other female he considered himself bound to by ties far stronger than blood, there was an absolute integrity about him. She’d seen enough of the relationship between Lord Carnwood and his oldest friend to know they were more like brothers than most men born in the same bed. What was more, that kinship extended to his lordship’s true sisters, who were as easy with Mr Shaw as their brother was. It was those outside that magic circle who needed to be wary of him, and Charlotte was conscious she was excluded and should be very cautious of letting her thoughts linger on his very large person and subtle mind.

      Now where on earth had that odd idea come from? And why did her exclusion suddenly seem so chilling? She must be more tired than she realised, she decided with an impatient sigh, and did her best to dismiss such ridiculous thoughts. She hadn’t the least desire for Ben Shaw to act like a brother towards her and refused to countenance the shocking fantasy of any attentions he might pay her instead. Since last night a stupid fantasy of being gowned and groomed as finely as the beauties of the ton, and dancing the night away in the arms of a man ideally suited to enchant a very tall lady, had troubled her as never before. Charlotte wondered if tiredness and terror of being recognised had relaxed her usual iron grip on her traitorous emotions and reminded herself who and what she was. A governess, she informed herself flatly, a woman unfortunate enough to be forced to make her own way in the world and relying on an unblemished reputation to secure every post that came her way.

      ‘Miss Wells won’t tell me what happened at the ball last night and Kate was still asleep last time I looked, so what was it like, Ben? Did she dance every dance and slay a legion of suitors with just one blink of her beautiful blue eyes?’

      ‘Something like that, minx, and isn’t it bloodthirsty to wish so many youthful hearts trampled on?’

      ‘Not in the least, they’ll recover soon enough,’ Isabella replied cynically and Charlotte felt СКАЧАТЬ