Chapter 7
Morning lessons included penmanship, French, mathematics for Lord James, and reviewing household accounting books for the young ladies. The general subjects kept Alice on her toes, walking from one of her students to the others, while all three sat around a table in the schoolroom.
Their mother, an amateur architect, had also assigned the children to study Greek designs. None of the three shared their mother’s passion. In fact, when Alice had suggested they each pick a topic of study that appealed to them, their choices had quite surprised her.
Lady Isabelle had asked about the study of religion, a curious subject for a girl of fourteen. Lady Rosalind showed an interest in studying the Dutch masters, as her family possessed two Van Dyke paintings. That left Lord James to claim he wanted to build a functioning, miniature catapult. For the sake of sounding more academic than not, Alice termed his studies historical engineering.
After they accomplished studying the general subjects, and before tea, Alice settled in her favorite chair while the children sat at a table near her. They were each absorbed in books regarding their subject, with even Lord James reading about medieval sieges in an English history book.
A quarter of an hour passed before the knock on the door disturbed the silence. Alice checked her watch. Miss Arlen had arrived early.
She rose and went to the door to speak with the lady’s companion, to beg of her to return in half an hour, but when she peeped out of the doorway her eyes met a cleft chin.
As Alice lifted her gaze upward, a flush of heat seared her cheeks. “Mr. Gardiner.” At least she had not squeaked his name.
His charming smile answered her less than polite greeting. “Miss Sharpe. Might I have a word with you?”
Alice looked over her shoulder to see three sets of youthful eyes upon her. Her charges wore varying expressions of curiosity. She looked back to Mr. Gardiner. “I ought to attend to my charges, sir.”
His gaze was direct, a gleam in his eye, and he stood back from the door with squared shoulders. “This will only take a moment of your time, and it is regarding the duke’s business.”
She could hardly close the door on him if he invoked the duke. Though she hesitated another moment, Alice nodded her head in agreement. “Very well.” She stepped out of the door and closed it, leaving the children to their curiosity. She folded her hands over one another and attempted to appear as confident as he did.
Mr. Gardiner tilted his head slightly to the side. “I find I must apologize to you again, Miss Sharpe. In the garden the other day, when we spoke, I did not mean to offer you any slight.”
“You explained that once already, Mr. Gardiner.” Alice lowered her gaze to the hall carpet, which featured vines twisting and turning upon themselves. She rather felt like her insides must look as the design on the carpet did. But why? He was only a man, a guest in the duke’s house. Mr. Gardiner ought not to make her feel so...so strange.
He shifted forward and bent so he could peer up into her face, startling her. “And yet you left with such haste that I knew you were fleeing my company.”
Alice’s eyes narrowed as she backed up a step. “If this is why you have disturbed my time with the children—”
“It isn’t. Not entirely.” He offered what he likely thought a charming grin. While Alice readily admitted he was attractive, she squelched any desire to give in to him merely due to his looks.
“Well then.” She lifted her chin, glaring at him through the lenses of her spectacles. “You invoked His Grace a moment ago. What might I do for the duke?”
His wide grin diminished into a bemused frown. “The project—my catalog of insects and flora in the duke’s gardens—that is the business I meant.”
Alice suppressed a sigh, reminding herself to be patient. This man was the duke’s guest. She could not simply dismiss him for bringing up the subject. “As I said, sir, I have enough work to do for the duke and duchess through tutoring their children. I cannot spare time to assist you.”
“What if the duke specifically allowed it?” Mr. Gardiner asked.
Frost formed along Alice’s spine, making her stiffen with dread. “You have not spoken to him about the idea, surely.”
Mr. Gardiner misinterpreted her tone as surprised rather than mortified, given the way his smile sprang back into place. “I told him what I saw in your sketchbook. You have a deft hand, and you have the talent of a professional colorist. We spoke after dinner last evening.”
The man had such confidence in what he had proposed that he went to the duke! Alice clenched her hands together and tightened her jaw. From the moment the position of governess settled upon her, scant days before, Alice wanted only to keep out of sight and out of mind. The duke was powerful, and no one from her expansive family resided nearby. If he cast her off, she doubted anyone would wish to accept her back into their homes.
Alice loosened her jaw enough to speak. “You spoke to the duke. About me.”
For the first time, Mr. Gardiner appeared less certain of himself. “I did. Because you have a talent, Miss Sharpe. A talent that I find useful, and that could have your name appear in a scientific publication.”
She wrapped one arm around her stomach. “Mr. Gardiner, please tell me what was said by you, and by his grace. I need to understand the situation.”
For the duke’s attention to bear on her for something as simple as her flower drawings—it made that icy feeling in her spine leak through to her limbs.
People were dismissed from positions like hers with less reason than Mr. Gardiner had given the duke. Her whole focus ought to be the children. The list of rules given to her by the dowager duchess and the Duchess Montfort had included many things. Among them had been fraternizing with male staff members, male neighbors, and any other gentleman with more on his mind than what politeness demanded. They had made it clear her duty was to the children, not advancing her own social position. Not yet.
A governess to a duke might one day have her pick of gentlemen, when all the children grew past the age of needing her. If someone had the wrong idea about Mr. Gardiner’s interest in her—
“I make a report to his grace on my progress, almost daily. Last evening, I mentioned coming upon you and Lord James in the gardens.” He spoke slowly, as though she were a child incapable of understanding the situation. Horrid man. It was he who did not know what trouble this might cause Alice. “I told him I saw your sketches and the coloring you did of one subject. Your talent impressed me, and I mentioned that it might help my project to have someone like you to assist with the illustrations of plants. To check my work and color the designs.”
A tiny ray of hope entered Alice’s heart. “You did not suggest that I specifically fulfill that role?”
“I did not.” He glowered down his nose at her. Before she could feel relief, before she could retreat to the safety of the schoolroom, he spoke again. “The duke, however, suggested that I ask you to perform the task if it doesn’t interfere with your work as a governess.”
The duke had made a suggestion. Most in the kingdom would know well enough it may as well be a command. Alice, an orphaned daughter of a gentleman, penniless and dependent on her family or her ability to find employment, could not afford to do anything that might disappoint a man of such power. While the duchess had given Alice employment, Her Grace would expect obedience to the duke.