do,” Winn agreed. “But that’s not the arrangement we made. For her to be your governess, she must return to her own home in the evenings.”
William’s lower lip turned outward in a pout. “Then she shouldn’t be our governess. She should just live here with us… you could marry her!”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Winn softened the rebuke with a slight smile. “Miss St. James and I… well, we might not suit one another.”
“Because she’s poor?”
Winn shook his head. “No. Not because of that… I’ve been a bachelor for a very long time. I’ve grown very used to living by my own rules. Wives have a tendency to change that.”
“So do children. Will you send us away?”
“No,” Winn replied emphatically. “You and your sisters are family. And family should always stay together.”
William seemed to consider that for a long moment, then with a sly look, he suggested, “If you marry Miss St. James then she would be family, too.”
Winn could do nothing but laugh. “You’re a sly thing, I’ll give you that. Go to sleep, William. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Winn rose from the boy’s bedside and made for the door. He’d just reached it when he heard the boy call out softly.
“Uncle Winn?”
“Yes?”
William was silent for a heartbeat, clearly hesitant. Then he murmured softly, “Good night, Uncle Winn. I love you.”
It hit him like a punch in the gut. Winn’s throat constricted and it was all he could do to choke out his own reply, “I love you, too, William. Good night.”
Easing from the room and into the corridor, he found himself face to face with Miss St. James. She was beaming, her eyes damp with tears.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. He’s such a dear boy.”
Winn felt his own cheeks heating. “He’s a terrible scamp… and a dear one,” he admitted. “I’ve called for the coach to see you home. You should not have stayed so late.”
She gave him a watery chuckle. “I didn’t mean to,” she admitted. “I brought them up and tucked them in after their dinner then fell asleep while telling them a story. I suppose I didn’t sleep very well last night. Not since you informed us of your theory.”
“I’m sorry for that… not that I told you because I think it bears knowing,” he stated, as he offered her his arm to escort her toward the stairs. “But because it has distressed you. If there was a way to keep you safe that would allow for blissful ignorance—”
“Absolutely not! I prefer the truth, my lord… always. No matter how unpleasant it may be,” she said firmly.
“I thought we had agreed that in private you would call me by my given name.”
She glanced at him from under her lashes. “I think we’re skirting propriety enough. And I heard William. I hardly think we should encourage him in thinking there is any possibility that you and I might be anything more than employer and employee. We both know it can never happen.”
“Never is a word I dislike, Calliope.” Winn stopped just as they’d reached the top of the stairs. Once they descended, there would be footmen and a nosy butler to contend with, but standing on the landing, they had a rare moment of privacy in a house that was generally filled with chaos and many, many ears. “You overheard my conversation with William… all of it. Didn’t you?”
Her gaze dropped to the floor and her shoulders inched backward, her pride obviously wounded by what she thought of as his dismissal of the notion. “I did. And I know what he said… about marriage. I also know very precisely how you replied.”
He shook his head. For a woman of incredible intelligence, she was being a damned fool at the moment. “You know only what I said to a child. Should I have gone into detail and explained to him our different social positions and the kind of gossip that would ensue? Should I have told him that for a man to marry a woman who’d been in his employ, people would likely count the days between our wedding and the birth of our first child in the hopes of uncovering some hint of misdeeds? This is a complicated situation with complex solutions beyond his years. I also don’t want him hoping for something that might not come to pass. He’s suffered enough disappointment.”
“And those are only a handful of the reasons why it would never work,” she said. “Not that I would presume