Patience glanced back to the blanket where Miss Paynter was chatting happily with Miss Barton and Mrs. Cuthbert. She was no Miss Morgan. She was quiet and delicate, just as his first wife had been. Perhaps Lord Bryant had finally met his match.
“How long, Lady Patience? You can’t expect me to keep this from your brother indefinitely. He is bound to find you missing at some point.”
“Two more weeks. I just need to make it two more weeks, and then I will happily return to my brother.”
He sighed. “I will allow it on one condition. If you need my help . . . if you are ever put into a situation that you are uncomfortable with, you will summon me.”
She didn’t answer that. She was uncomfortable all of the time, and she could hardly call on him when it was her turn to empty the chamber pots. “Ah, and you said you weren’t the rescuing type.”
“I’m not. But your brother would call me out if something happened to you and he knew we had spoken. And for some strange reason, I still find myself wanting to live.”
“I will return home in one piece, Lord Bryant. You were the one person I have been concerned about, and now that I have leapt over that obstacle, what else could go wrong?”
“We shall see about that.”
“And you will converse and dance with Miss Morgan when you get the chance?”
“You do know that I am actively pursuing Miss Paynter at the moment.”
“And you don’t think you can handle two women?”
A slow smile spread over Lord Bryant’s face. “Actually, that is the type of challenge I am very willing to accept. All right, Lady Patience.” He reached for her hand and slowly brought it to his lips. He paused just before kissing her knuckles to give her a wink. “We have a deal.”
Patience’s lip curled to a half-smile. Lord Bryant was an unlikely ally, but she hadn’t expected to have one at all. She couldn’t believe he had agreed to allowing her to remain. “You won’t change your mind and dash off a letter to my brother as soon as you arrive home?”
“You have my word.” He released her hand.
That gave her pause. “How much is your word worth nowadays?”
“Not much.” He smiled. “Not much at all.”
He placed his arm out, and they began to walk toward the picnicking party. Lord Bryant was almost skipping. Subterfuge excited him apparently. Either that or he was plotting the most entertaining way possible to let London know of her charade.
Not the best of allies, indeed.
Chapter 13
Patience knocked softly on the door to Mr. Woodsworth’s study.
“Come in.”
She took a deep breath to calm herself. It had been two days since their walk together in Green Park, and she didn’t want to come off as too friendly to her employer. But she also couldn’t help but see him as a friend. They had danced together, walked together, and spoken together so often that she forgot at times to remain subservient when he was around. But she would remember it now. She was here only as a maid, or in this case, a governess. The children had prepared something for him.
She pushed the door open and immediately curtsied the way she had been practicing. Perfectly, just as a maid should curtsy.
Mr. Woodsworth sat at his desk. Several stacks of papers were neatly placed around him. He set down his pen. “Ah, Patience, you are just the woman I was hoping to see.”
She was? “Me, sir?”
“Yes, I have been working on that list of yours, and it is finally complete with six men. All quite serious, and all ranking baronet or higher. Not a mister in sight. Come, let me show you.”
She hesitated. Having Mr. Woodsworth take notes on the men she might marry one day suddenly felt inappropriate. He didn’t know that was what he was doing, but she did, and she wondered at her audacity to ask such a thing. “Actually, the children are waiting for you. It seems they have a surprise planned for you and your sister.”
He waved his hand. “This will only take a moment. I don’t like feeling beholden to anyone, and it still irks me that I haven’t even gotten you the first three gentlemen after all you have done.”
Patience sighed. There was nothing to be done but get it over with. She trusted Mr. Woodsworth’s judgement. If he said these men were good men, he would be correct. What better way to start her first Season than armed with a list of possible candidates?
“Come,” he said again. He pulled a folded piece of paper out of the drawer next to him and unfolded it. Just as before, it was filled with neat rows and columns. Only this time, there were more of them. He stood and motioned for her to take his place in his chair. Not knowing a way out of this situation she had created, she complied.
Mr. Woodsworth went down on one knee to the side of her. His eyes shone as he leaned forward, pointing to each category and describing how he had decided on which attributes to include. The top row was filled with them. Benevolence, propensity to drink, propensity to gamble, the average time a position was held by their employees. Where on earth was he getting this information?
“I can add any other gentlemen if you feel they should be listed. I don’t have to limit it to three.”
“No.” Patience felt empty looking at these men, reduced down to the most basic of character traits. Some of the names she recognized, and others she did not, but there was a chance one of them would end up being her future husband. “You have found some good ones. The list is perfect.”
He threw his shoulders back. “I enjoy making lists.”
She smiled down at the paper. She could see that in the careful strokes in each letter and the well-measured lines. “Thank you.”
“It did take some doing finding peers that are young, unmarried, serious, and also goodhearted.”
She ran her finger over one of the names she didn’t know. “Lord Godfrey, is he young?”
“Fairly young, not more than forty.”
Forty. Patience did not consider that young, but she didn’t have the heart to tell Mr. Woodsworth that.
“And he doesn’t drink. That is good.”
“Yes, he had to stop drinking after he fell and hit his head one evening at White’s. Ever since then, he struggles to remember dates and sometimes drools from one side of his mouth, but he is kind.”
“Oh.” Patience didn’t know what else to say. “Kindness is important.”
“Of course, if you are looking for an especially kind employer, Lord Bybee is another good one. He is possibly too kind for his own good, which means his staff is paid very well.”