all of England. She’s a prime’un!”
Winn bristled. “She’s not prime anything. She’s the governess to my nieces and nephew and as you stated yourself, respectable. I’ll thank you to speak of her as such.” Winn walked away from him, shoulders back and head high, furious with Burney, with himself, with Averston.
“Montgomery… it was Averston, wasn’t it?”
Winn’s blood ran cold. “What about Averston?” he asked.
“It was Averston that made you pull out of the scheme, wasn’t it?” Burney demanded.
Relief washed through him. “I was never in the scheme, Burney. I only agreed to hear you out. I wouldn’t have bought into it with or without Averston. Good day… and yes, tell your mother, I will arrive on time for the ball Saturday night. I will make an appearance. I will dance with your sister, once and once only, and your mother will leave me firmly off her matchmaking list. Is that understood? I won’t drag some schoolroom miss down the aisle!”
Chapter Seven
T hey returned to the townhouse and the ride was curiously quiet. William was brooding, the earl was lost in thought, Claudia and Charlotte were obviously very sensitive to the mood of their brother and uncle and so said nothing at all save for Charlotte’s sweet murmuring as she spoke to her dolly. Finally, Callie’d had enough of it. “Who was that gentleman, Lord Montgomery?”
“His name is Charles Burney. He’s an acquaintance, a school friend of the children’s father, in fact. Currently, he’s trying to get me to invest in some scheme with him that involves his cousin who is a gambler and wastrel. I have declined, but as you see, he is rather insistent,” the earl replied.
He was lying. Oh, well, no. He was telling the truth, just not all of it. Of that, Callie was certain. “I see. And is that the man you found to not be nice, William?”
“Yes. He was very rude,” the boy said, and proceeded to pick his nose.
“William, that is also rude. Fingers do not belong in noses. If you need a handkerchief, you will find one in your coat pocket,” she said.
“How’d it get there?” he asked.
“I put it there this morning,” she said. “In fact, I will put one there every day and when you feel the need of it, you have only to look.”
“If William doesn’t like him, then I don’t like him!” Charlotte stated rather emphatically. “He seemed not nice. Too loud. And he showed too many teeth when he smiled… like he was a fake. Papa had friends like him. I didn’t like them either. They’d eat all the food in the house and then leave us with nothing!”
Callie realized things were quickly getting out of hand. Speaking more firmly to the children than she had previously, she stated, “It isn’t up to you to like him. You don’t have to like anyone you don’t choose to, but we do have to be polite to him. Don’t you agree, my lord?”
“What?” he asked, looking back at her from where he’d been staring out the window. He was quite clearly distracted by something.
“Don’t you agree that the children should all be polite to Mr. Burney? He is a family connection, after all.”
“Yes,” he agreed quickly. “Be polite to him, though I find it unlikely you’ll ever have cause to cross paths with him again.”
They’d reached the house then. Footmen came out and carried all the packages inside while the earl helped them all down once more, just as he’d done at the beginning of their shopping excursion. Though it was painfully obvious that the mood was entirely different.
“Children, go upstairs to your rooms and wash your hands and faces please. Claudia, will you help Charlotte?”
“Yes, Miss St. James,” she said. They all curtsied and bowed and then ran up the stairs like heathens.
The moment they were out of sight, Callie whirled on him. “I don’t know what you’re playing at. Those children need you and if you think to ignore them in favor of some whey-faced, ne’er-do-well who only means to lead you down the primrose path and divest you of your fortune, I will not have it. That man is clearly not trustworthy!”
“Charles Burney is a family friend, Miss St. James. That is all. Furthermore, I think you may be laboring under some confusion about exactly who is in charge here. I’m not to be ordered about by you or anyone else,” Winn snapped.
Callie wasn’t about to be bowed by his temper. He could get as angry as