Page 16

“It’s going quite well, actually. Thank you,” she murmured when Mrs. Hanson set down a cup and saucer before her. “Things are moving along. You should come and have a look later.”

“I’d like that. Have a scone? They’re especially good today. Nothing like a scone with cream and jam to jump you out of a bad mood.”

Francesca laughed and shook her head. “My mother would die if she heard you say that.”

“Whatever for?” Mrs. Hanson asked, her pale blue eyes going wide as she paused in the process of ladling sweet cream on her scone.

“Because you’re encouraging me to manage my moods with food, that’s why. My parents, along with half a dozen child psychologists, have drilled the evils of emotional eating into my brain since I was seven years old.” She noticed Mrs. Hanson’s bewildered expression. “I used to be quite overweight as a child.”

“I’ll never believe it! You’re as slim as a wand.”

Francesca shrugged. “Once I went away to school, the weight sort of fell off after a year or two. I started long-distance running, so I suppose that helped. Personally, I think being out from beneath my parents’ critical eye was the real clincher, though.”

Mrs. Hanson made a knowing sound. “Once the weight wasn’t a power struggle anymore, the fat didn’t have any use?”

She grinned. “Mrs. Hanson, you could be a psychologist.”

The housekeeper laughed. “What would Lord Stratham or Ian have done with me then?”

Francesca paused in the process of sipping her tea. “Lord Stratham?”

“Ian’s grandfather, James Noble, the Earl of Stratham. I worked for Lord and Lady Stratham for thirty-three years before I came to America to serve Ian eight years ago.”

“Ian’s grandfather,” Francesca murmured thoughtfully. “Who will inherit his title?”

“Oh, a fellow by the name of Gerard Sinoit, Lord Stratham’s nephew.”

“Not Ian?”

Mrs. Hanson sighed and set down her scone. “Ian is heir to Lord Stratham’s fortune but not to his title.”

Francesca’s forehead crinkled in confusion. English customs were so odd. “Was Ian’s mother or father the Nobles’ child?”

A shadow fell over Mrs. Hanson’s features. “Ian’s mother. Helen was the earl and countess’s only child.”

“Is she . . .” Francesca faded off delicately, and Mrs. Hanson nodded sadly.

“Dead, yes. She died very young. Tragic life.”

“And Ian’s father?”

Mrs. Hanson didn’t immediately reply. She looked torn. “I’m not sure I should speak of such things,” the housekeeper said.

Francesca blushed. “Oh, of course. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry, I just—”

“I don’t think you were being impertinent,” Mrs. Hanson assured, patting her hand where it rested on the counter. “It’s just that I’m afraid Ian has a rather sad family history, despite all his blazing fame and fortune as a grown man. His mother was quite rebellious as a young woman . . . wild. The Nobles couldn’t control her,” Mrs. Hanson said with a significant glance. “She ran away in her late teens and was missing for more than a decade. The Nobles feared she was dead but never had any proof of it. They kept searching. It was a black time in the Stratham household.” Pain flickered across Mrs. Hanson’s countenance at the memory. “The lord and lady were frantic to find her.”

“I can only imagine.”

Mrs. Hanson nodded. “It was a terrible, terrible time. And it didn’t get much better when they finally did locate Helen living in some kind of hovel in northern France, almost eleven years after she’d first disappeared. She was quite mad. Sick. Delusional. No one could understand what had happened to her. To this day, no one seems to know. And there was Ian with her—ten years old going on ninety.”

Mrs. Hanson made a choking sound of distress. Francesca hastened off her stool.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” she said, her mind swirling with a combination of curiosity for more information about Ian and stark concern for the kind housekeeper. She located a box of tissues and brought it to Mrs. Hanson.

“It’s all right. I’m just an old fool,” Mrs. Hanson mumbled, taking a tissue. “Most would say that the Nobles are nothing but my employers, but to me, they’re my only family.” She sniffed and blotted her cheeks.

“Mrs. Hanson. What’s wrong?”

Francesca jumped at the sound of the stern male voice and spun around. Ian stood in the entryway to the kitchen.

Mrs. Hanson looked around guiltily. “Ian, you’re home early.”

“Are you all right?” he asked, his face tight with concern. Francesca realized that Mrs. Hanson’s comment about considering the Nobles her family went both directions.

“I’m fine. Please pay me no mind,” she said, laughing airily and throwing away her tissue. “You know how old women can get maudlin.”

“I’ve never known you to be maudlin,” Ian said. His gaze flicked off Mrs. Hanson and landed on Francesca.

“May I speak to you a moment, in the library?” he asked her.

“Of course,” she said, lifting her chin and forcing herself not to cringe in the face of his blazing stare.

A minute later, she turned anxiously at the sound of Ian shutting the heavy walnut door of the library behind him. He stalked toward her with the smooth, graceful stride of a predatory animal. Why was it she was always comparing such a sophisticated, contained male to a wild thing?