Page 13 of Lady Diana's Lost Lord

Diana had gone mad. She was certain of it. She had little experience with children—her nephew, Edward, was only two, and her interactions with him had been limited to pretending to understand his delightful baby chatter and to occasionally pat his back when he needed to burp. But she had learned at least enough from Emma to glean a general understanding of how to deal with difficult children.

This particular child was a menace. That sweet face belied the scheming mind within. Her appalling behavior had put her father and Diana both in an untenable position.

Hannah Grace Gillingham didn’t need a governess half so much as she needed anexorcism.

And yet—

She was only a little girl. Just a child, uncertain of her place in the world, without a mother’s influence. With a father who had precious little time to devote to her, who had to sacrifice his attention to his child for the labor necessary to see that her needs were met.

And Diana had nothing but time. She’d been on the shelf for years already. Marcus thought she’d gone to visit Mother. There would be no reason for him to suspect otherwise, at least not for some time. Rafe might present a problem, but only if he had reason to believe she had gotten herself into trouble.

Shedidhave the requisite skills to teach the girl. How long could it possibly take to turn a hoyden into a lady?

Less time, she suspected, than had been wasted awaiting her missing fiancé who had never intended to return for her.Yearsless. The prospect of freedom—a release from the purgatory in which she had spent the vast majority of her life—was too sweet to deny.

“Where am I meant to stay?” she asked.

“You’ll have to stay here,” Ben replied. “The village hasn’t got an inn.You may, of course, have my room for the duration of your stay. The spare room has a cot. I will take that.”

“That sounds terribly uncomfortable.” Though his room offered little in the way of better. She was not looking forward to another rough sleep in that bed.

“I’ve slept in worse places.”

Diana reached for the chipped teapot that sat upon the table and poured herself a cup. “I have conditions, of course,” she said. “I will require a bath every day, candles at night—”

Ben’s brows drew into a frown. “You’ve no idea what such things cost, have you?”

Diana paused, cup halfway to her lips. In all fairness, she really did not. She had never had to consider such things. The money for them had just…always been available. Even now, she had a healthy sum tucked away within a purse in her traveling trunk; this quarter’s allowance paid out from the annuity left to her by her grandfather. Even though she had never been particularly frugal, she had never once run through it in a single quarter. There was always enough money for a new gown, or a bonnet, or a book.

And Ben had only twelve shillings to his name. Eggs and toast—not an insubstantialbreakfast prepared by a man who couldn’t cook an adequate meal. It was simply all they had.

“I will pay for them,” she said. “I have the funds to do so.” She hesitated, sipping her tea, which was woefully devoid of both sugar and milk. “I’m afraid I cannot be of much use with cooking, or—or even heating water.” She’d never done either. Perhaps she had, once or twice, ventured into the kitchens for curiosity’s sake. But she was alady; she did not fetch and carry. People fetched and carriedforher.

She had only to call, and a hot bath would be produced, as if by magic. A mere clearing of her throat could summon biscuits and liberally sweetened tea, or a midnight meal if she desired one, or any number of other comforts which she was certain would be in short supply here.

“You provide the funds,” Ben said, “and I’ll procure whatever it is you might need. Hell, I’ll even heat your damned water for you, if it pleases you.”

Diana blew out a gusty sigh. “You have got a bathing tub, then?”

With a rueful glance through the window where Hannah frolicked gleefully in the after-storm sunshine, Ben replied, “I have a daughter who is inordinately fond of splashing through puddles. Of course I have a bathing tub.” He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Probably it’s nothing like that to which you are accustomed. It’s just a simple copper one, hardly fitting for more than a hip-bath. But I can carry it up to my room—yourroom—so at least you’ll be afforded a bit of privacy.”

A bright burst of laughter floated through the window, and Diana murmured, despite herself, “I’m certain she’s a charming child, when it pleases her to be.”

“She is my life.”

It was such a simple, solid statement that her eyes burned. “I do believe you mean that,” she said softly. Just as there had never been anything that Diana could have done to earn her father’s favor, there was nothing that Hannah could have done to erase her father’s love.

She wondered if Hannah had even the slightest inkling of how very lucky she was.

Ben cleared his throat, his voice grave, “I would take it ill were Hannah to be made to feel inferior for the circumstances of her birth.”

Of course, it would be a matter of some sensitivity for him, given how his father had reacted to the child. Given also how society at large tended to view such things. “She’s just a child,” Diana said. “You cannot think I wouldhold such a thing against her.”

“You would not be the first. Nor, I expect, the last.” Ben scratched his fingers through his dark, disheveled hair, and a few auburn strands mixed in with the coffee brown glinted in the sunlight filtering through the dusty window. “Diana, it’s been nearly two decades since last we have had even a passing acquaintance. I don’t know you at all.” He hesitated, his hands linking upon the table before him. “That you did not abandon her when you might have done is to your credit. But Hannah is what I hold most precious in all the world. I must know that you will be kind to her.”

And he turned such an earnest expression upon her that she was obliged to give her assurance that she would be, as her heart wrenched within the confines of her chest.

Oh, yes. Hannah Grace Gillingham was quite possibly the luckiest little girl in the whole of the world.