Regency High Society Vol 6: The Enigmatic Rake / The Lord And The Mystery Lady / The Wagering Widow / An Unconventional Widow. Anne O'Brien

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СКАЧАТЬ as you put it, is that it is completely inappropriate.’ He would have paced the floor if he could. He was tempted to fling his cane into the fire-grate. ‘The daughter of a baronet? Your birth is as good as mine and yet you have put yourself in a position of servitude.’ He fumed. ‘Sister to my cousin’s wife. Close friend of my own sister—and, God help me!—my mother. You have actually lived with Judith and Simon… And with Hal and Eleanor in New York. And yet you say that you do not see why I should object?’

      But why did he object so much? He looked her over with narrowed eyes. There was courage there, and an apparent fragility that had surprised a need in him to offer protection. He had been touched by her history as recounted by Judith. And astounded by the strength she had shown in asserting her independence. But was that all? Whatever stirred his blood to anger, it hardly mattered, did it? Quite simply, Mrs Russell should not be employed in his household.

      ‘I do not like it,’ he stated as if that settled everything. ‘It is not right.’

      For Sarah, it settled nothing. ‘I can no longer live on the charity of those who have been kind enough to show me friendship. I need the money and the position, sir.’

      ‘Never!’

      ‘What do you know of such things? You have never been in the position of having to find the means to feed and clothe your child.’ A hint of desperation, even of futile anger, crept into her voice until she brought it under control with the faintest sigh. ‘What should you know of such needs, my lord?’

      ‘No, I have not been in such a position,’ he snapped, as if that too might be her fault. He frowned at her. ‘Who was your husband?’

      ‘A naval officer who was killed in the last year of the war. I have a small pension only.’

      ‘And your family?’ A slight flush brushed his cheekbones as he remembered the background of her troubled history and the antagonism of her estranged brother. He watched as the delicate colour fled from her cheeks, leaving her paper white, her eyes stark with distress.

      ‘I presume that Judith has informed you of my family, my lord.’ She would say no more.

      ‘I refuse to allow the situation to continue, madam.’

      ‘Then you must dismiss me, sir.’ She hesitated one moment and then asked the pertinent question. ‘Is it my birth you cavil at, Lord Faringdon—or my name?’

      Ah! So there it was, he thought. Mrs Russell would have to live with her brother’s sins and her own involvement in them for the rest of her life. ‘No, it is not your name.’ He made an effort to gentle his voice. ‘That has no bearing. I find that I cannot find the words to explain to Nicholas’s wife why her sister is working below stairs in my house!’

      ‘I can understand if it is my name,’ she persisted. ‘Faringdons have every reason not to love those who bear the name of Baxendale.’

      ‘Nonsense! It is simply inappropriate, given your connection to my close family, that I should employ you.’

      ‘Then I hope you will give me references, my lord.’ She dropped a neat curtsy. ‘It would be difficult for me to obtain another position if I were dismissed without a recommendation, particularly after only a few weeks in your employment.’

      Without waiting for permission to end the interview, before distress could overwhelm her tenuous composure, Sarah turned her back and stalked from the room, leaving Lord Faringdon with his mind in turmoil.

      As Sarah swept through the doorway, Olivia was coming in, dressed as if she had just entered the house. She looked after the housekeeper, who had signally failed to acknowledge or even recognise her presence beyond the, briefest, curtest inclination of the head.

      ‘A most unpleasant, pert woman,’ she drawled, lips curving unpleasantly. ‘Take my advice, Joshua. You had far better dismiss her and appoint someone more suitable to a gentleman’s household.’

      Which was exactly what Lord Faringdon had thought he should do—but for far different reasons.

      The days passed, for Sarah, with tense anxiety in the air. She continued with her duties, efficient and outwardly calm as ever, yet waiting for her final dismissal as Lord Faringdon had threatened.

      Yet it did not come.

      Judith sent a letter of abject apology for being instrumental in revealing her friend’s true identity to Joshua. She never should have visited. She never should have told Joshua. But it was done and Judith hoped that her brother had the sense to leave things as they were if that is what Sarah wanted.

      Sarah read the letter, silently accepting her friend’s apology. It would have happened eventually, she supposed. There was no point in dwelling on it or wishing for what could not be.

      But she would continue to fulfil her duties so that Lord Faringdon should never have the excuse, whatever her family history, that she had failed to run his London home in a manner suitable to the establishment of a gentleman. If he dismissed her, it would be on his own unjustifiable whim. He must never be able to fault her application, particularly her responsibilities to the two children who were benefiting from regular lessons and regular routine. Beth continued to thrive and learn, to mother John, who regarded her with innocent worship in his blue eyes, even tolerating her sometimes sharp comments and quaintly adult remarks.

      With the onset of a period of better weather, Sarah released the children after lunch to play in the railed gardens of Hanover Square. Something Beth had to learn to do, to laugh and to run as a child. Sarah doubted that the little girl had ever played in her life.

      So the days were full for Sarah. She went to her bed at night in a state of utter weariness that allowed her to sleep without dreams. Which was a blessing indeed, she admitted as she rose early to secure her pale curls into a plain and serviceable knot beneath her lace cap and don her severe gown. Anything was a blessing that helped keep her mind from dwelling on the one man who caused her heart to flutter wildly and her breath to catch in her throat. Perhaps it would be better if she were dismissed, she thought in a moment of low spirit. Would it not be better if she no longer had to see him—every day unless she could deviously arrange it otherwise—and did not have to school her reactions to him to one of polite competence and self-effacement. Then there would be no possibility of his ever guessing…

      But of course, she admitted, as she buttoned her unadorned bodice, reflected in the glass, he would never see her in the role of lover—she hissed at her reflection, at her immodest visions—or ever see her as anything other than housekeeper. Then she swept her image a mocking curtsy. Certainly not when he had the Countess of Wexford to amuse him and warm his bed.

      Sarah flushed at her thoughts. She had no intention of sharing Lord Faringdon’s bed. How could she allow her mind to drift into such fantasies? Ridiculous! She was nothing to Lord Faringdon and nor did she wish to be. With firm steps she made her way down to the kitchen before her heart could betray her further.

      She did, however, notice that he watched her.

      Because Joshua had been left in a critical state of indecision, as he had stated, how could he explain to Nicholas and Theodora if he continued to employ Thea’s sister in a menial position in his household? But if he dismissed her, he was damnably sure that she would simply take a position elsewhere—and perhaps not a very suitable one. He knew of the fate of both housekeeper and governess in some households—neglected, imposed on, treated with such lack of respect as to be an insult. He could СКАЧАТЬ