Captain Jones's Temptation - Audrey Harrison Page 0,12

Excuse me, gentlemen, I need to have a lie down whilst I get over the shock.” Matthew grinned at Samuel’s glower. “I shall see you both at six. You shall have eight women to charm tonight.”

“You have seven teachers?” Samuel asked.

“No. I have eight. I am afraid it’s too late to charm me.” Esther walked to the stairs. “I shall see you at six, gentlemen.”

“Six! Good grief. Are we to eat so early every night?” Samuel exclaimed. “I’ll be ready for another meal before bed, if I am to eat before eight of the clock!”

“We have country hours here, and we wear ourselves out working during the day, sir. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a privileged life, languishing around as the ton is prone to do.”

“I am a King’s Messenger!”

“Precisely!”

“You baggage.”

Esther’s laugh could be heard all the way up the stairs.

Chapter 4

A table full of spinster teachers was never going to appeal to either gentleman as the way to spend an evening, but anyone looking from the outside would presume that only Captain Jones wished himself far away from the meal; Captain Dunn was as charming as he always was. Samuel was seated next to Esther. He wasn’t sure whether that was to annoy him further, or for her to keep an eye on him. He would not have liked to have placed a bet on either supposition.

Isabella played near the fire with her dolls, completely at home in her own company and seemingly oblivious to all that was going on around her. She had accepted the new routine without question. The other children might have noticed and wondered at Isabella’s preferential treatment, but as all the girls were treated well, no one complained or commented.

Samuel’s forbidding expression did not encourage talk from the teacher sitting next to him on the other side to Esther; in fact, the poor woman made sure there was little opportunity of speaking to the glowering captain, her whole attention on her fellow teacher on her other side. Although Esther did speak to her neighbour, she felt obliged to speak to Samuel more than she had intended. A consequence of her good manners and of not thinking through her seating arrangement. Her wish to spare two of her staff sitting either side of Samuel meant that she had sacrificed herself in the process.

Lydia had been seated across the table, and Matthew seemed quite happy to make his partners either side of him laugh and blush in equal measure, even though there had been a few stares when he had first entered the room.

Miss Callaghan gazed at him as she coyly spoke. “We were very disappointed not to see you in regimentals, Captain. I think I speak for all my fellow teachers when I say we all admire a man in uniform.”

“We wanted to be able to blend in,” Matthew said truthfully. “That, and we did not wish to put the rest of the town at a disadvantage!”

“Oh, Captain Dunn! You are incorrigible!” Miss Callaghan’s girlish giggle belied her middle age.

“Your friend – er – my brother is very charming. I expect half the school will be in love with him before the evening is out,” Esther said to Samuel, smiling at Matthew’s performance and the blush on her teacher’s cheeks.

“Yes. He has always been the more gregarious of us both.”

“I would feign surprise at your revelation, but I have promised myself that I shall be good tonight.”

“Then it is to be an especially tedious night,” Samuel responded.

“Brute! I am trying to be nice to you, and you reject it. I shall not be so accommodating in future.”

Samuel took a sip of his wine, a smile playing on his lips. “I know where I stand when you are in a termagant mood.”

“Good Lord! You flatterer, you!”

“I speak as I find.”

“Don’t you just. Dawson, I think Captain Jones needs more wine, to soften his very sharp edges,” Esther instructed the butler, who was standing behind her.

“As I am to stay awake long into the night, I am afraid the sharp edges shall have to remain.” His words were uttered sotto voce.

“What a pity.” Esther busied herself with filling her plate. “How will you deal with reduced sleep?” she asked quietly.

“We shall have half a night each. It is of no great trouble. There will be little to do during the day. Watching is hardly taxing. I’ve been used to far more strenuous work, but after your earlier comments I know you will find