Page 215 of Desires of a Duke Collection

This was madness. All of it.

The ride through Hyde Park. The children’s inability to behave. And this damned woman, who kept appearing everywhere he didn’t want her to be.

Jonathan didn’t know what was wrong with her — or with him — but it seemed she had somehow invaded his every sense. When he walked into a room, he sniffed for honeysuckle, when he took his breakfast, he listened for her sultry voice, when he strode down any London street, he looked for her shining head of black hair, even when he knew full well that she was at home under his own roof.

By God, he had only known her for two days, and she was his governess.

But who in their right mind would ever suggest this woman for a governess? Her lush curves sank into his arms as he carried her, his face far too close to her ample bosom, though it was tactfully covered. Now the scent he always searched for was not only present but somehow within him and he wondered whether he would ever be able to rid his nose of the honeysuckle that currently filled it.

“Matthew, Mary!” she called out, startling him.

He turned around to find the children were still waiting in the field. They answered her summons, running after them, apparently deciding to race one another.

“They really do need to learn to listen,” she said, a frown on her face.

He grunted in response.

It was not that he was overly exerted from carrying her. It was that he was overly exerted from trying to keep command over all of the desires that were currently telling him to dump her into the carriage, climb in after her, and then shut the door to everyone else.

But, of course, there were the children. And Davenport. And her position in his household. And propriety. And everything else that would make that the entirely wrong thing to do.

Davenport beat the carriage back and seemed to accurately assess the situation in front of him.

“The carriage should be here in just a couple of minutes,” he said, looking at Calli and then back at Jonathan. “Would you like me to hold onto Miss Donahue while we wait for it?”

His eyes sparkled, and Jonathan shot him a look that told him just exactly what he thought of his little jest.

“I am just fine.”

“I can stand, really,” Miss Donahue said from within the circle of his arms, but he ignored her. He was fine. Even if it was to himself that he needed to prove it.

“Does she need to see the physician, Uncle?” Mary asked.

Before he could say anything, Miss Donahue interrupted. “No, of course not. I’m sure I will heal in just a couple of days.”

Jonathan looked down at her now, chagrined to find that their faces were but inches away from one another, those plush red lips all too tempting.

“You could have been killed, you know,” he said, his voice harsh. “I could have killed you.”

“Enough of that,” she scolded as if he was one of her charges. “No one was killed, and everyone is fine.”

“Perhaps,” he muttered. “But you shouldn’t have taken such a risk.”

“Of course I should have,” she said indignantly. “I would never put a child’s life before mine.”

She looked past him, then, at the children, and he was struck by the honesty of her words. What kind of woman was she, that she would put the welfare of children she hardly knew before her own?

The carriage arrived before he could put voice to his thoughts, however, and he deposited her within it with as much gentleness as he could manage.

“I will meet you at home,” he told both her and the children, bending to lift the two young ones into the carriage, not even realizing how naturally it felt to do so until after he had done it and the three of them were all watching him in awe.

He cleared his throat, hoping they wouldn’t make anything of it, before he shut the carriage door, stepped back, and motioned the driver away.

Davenport was waiting.

“Say nothing,” Jonathan growled.

“I—”

Jonathan shook his head and glared. “Not a word.”

“Very well,” Davenport said, taking the lead of his horse as they walked back to Jonathan’s. But then Davenport began to whistle a tune that had Jonathan shaking his head as he hid the smile that threatened.

Lavender’s Blue.

***

Calli found herself quite spoiled over the next day or two. The duke had arrived home and quickly checked upon her, asking her and Mrs. Blonsky whether a physician was required. When they answered in the negative, he continued on his way. Calli did her utmost to entertain the children from a sitting position, and even found herself attempting to teach some basic arithmetic.

She was only glad that her pupils didn’t seem to be aware that she was not the most conventional of governesses.

Most of what she knew had been taught to her by Arie and then Diana, both of whom were more concerned about adding together figures in order to determine the worth of an item, how much expenses would cost them, and how to disperse their… earnings.

She tried to use much more appropriate items when teaching the children.

Apples, loaves of bread, bolts of cloth and the like. They were bright children, but bored easily, and Calli found herself grasping for ideas to entertain them.

“Let’s play a game,” Mary said decidedly one afternoon.

“Very well,” Calli said, ready to accept any suggestion. “What were you thinking?”

“Hide and seek.”

Calli mulled over the idea. Her ankle was healing, but she still found herself hobbling around.

“Only if we all stay on this floor,” she said. “I cannot be hobbling up and down stairs at the moment.”

“Of course,” Mary said brightly, and when Calli eyed her suspiciously, the girl smiled brilliantly.

“You must listen to what I say, Mary,” she tried to warn sternly.

“We always do,” Matthew added unhelpfully, for they most assuredly always did not.

“You count first,” Mary commanded, and Calli kept her eyes open a crack as she began. She wasn’t surprised to see the children dart off and take for the stairs. Interestingly, they went up instead of down, and she smiled to herself before opening her eyes and pulling out her sketchpad.

Which was how the duke found her ten minutes later.

“Miss Donahue?”

“Your Grace!”

She shot up straight, her sketchbook falling onto the chair behind her as she struggled to her feet.

He looked around the room, his brow furrowed. “Where are the children?”

“We finished our arithmetic lesson, so as a reward we are playing a game. Hide and seek.”

“I take it they are hiding?”

“They are.”

“But you are not seeking.”

Calli bit her lip and tried not to stare right into those eyes, which seemed to render her senseless.

“I told them to stay on this floor, but they disobeyed and went upstairs. There is nothing above us but some store rooms. They will quickly tire and realize that they have nothing to gain from continuing to hide.”

“Until they continue up and reach the servants’ quarters.”

Calli’s mouth gaped open. She hadn’t considered they would go that far.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, limping out of the room as fast as she could, humiliation trailing after her. This man had a knack for seeing her at her worst. She held fast to the railing as she began to take quick, slightly painful steps upwards, until a large presence appeared beside her and lifted her lower arm onto his elbow.

“Allow me,” he said taking her weight and half-lifting her up the stairs. She wanted to tell him she was just fine, that she didn’t need his help, but they were both well aware how much of a lie that would be.

They reached the top level without incident, finding the rooms above empty of anything but old furniture and items for storage.

“Not here,” Calli murmured, before there was a slight shriek from the very end, and then the giggles of two children as they raced into the room and began their sprint toward the staircase.

Which they stopped short of when they saw Calli and their uncle.

“Uncle. Miss Donahue,” they both managed as they stared up at them, and Calli tried to hide her smile at the way they were trying to inch around the pair of them to the other side.

“Just what were you doing in there?” their uncle asked, raising a brow.

“Nothing!” Mary exclaimed at the same time Matthew said “hiding,” in a bored tone.

“And now you have come out of your hiding place, have you?” Calli asked, placing her hands on her hips. “I told you to stay on the second floor.”

“We tried,” Mary said with a sigh, “but we were bored so we came up here. But then we found it boring here too.”

“Until we found a spider,” Matthew said with a grin, “so we put it in on one of the maid’s pillows. Then we were coming back to you, Miss Donahue.”

Calli rubbed the bridge of her nose, wondering how she was ever going to get through to these children.

“At least it wasn’t your bed, Miss Donahue!” Matthew exclaimed at her look of chagrin. “We like you too much.”

He seemed as pleased with the words as Calli was, but now wasn’t the time for praise. She awkwardly bent to kneel on the floor.

“That doesn’t make it right, Matthew,” she said. “Now that lovely maid will likely be unable to sleep.”

He looked off in the distance, his actions and his conscience apparently at odds. “Very well,” he muttered.

“Very well, what?”

“I won’t do it again.”

“Good. Now, back down to the nursery for you two. I’ve got a spider to catch.”

The duke persisted in seeing her up the one flight of steps, where he left her, although Calli could feel every imprint of his gaze upon her back.

“Miss Donahue?”

She turned.

“You did well.” He nodded, and then was gone, his enigma maintained.

***

Jonathan couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped, fortunately long enough after Miss Donahue and the children were out of earshot.

She was surprising, this one. She most certainly was far from what he would ever expect from a governess in every way, but perhaps she was what these children needed.

He only wished that he wasn’t so in tune with the sway of her hips as she walked away, nor quite so affected by the curl of her smile, the teasing look in her eyes as she regarded him, as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. He could only pray that she had no inkling whatsoever of his thoughts, for then he would be a doomed man.

“Your Grace?”

He turned to find his butler at the end of the hall, watching him with an amused expression on his face that Jonathan had no wish to speculate about.

“Yes?”

“Shepherd is here to meet with you.”

“Ah, good.” How had he forgotten that his man-of-business was to arrive at this hour?

Oh, yes. Because Miss Donahue had distracted him.

Not on purpose, but still, distract him she had.

“Please see him into the study,” Jonathan said, then turned around, clasped his arms behind his back, and returned to where he belonged.