The Heart's Companion - By Holly Newman Page 0,10

here, Miss Grantley. I’ll have him down to you in a moment," drawled the sardonic voice of the Earl of Royce, coming from above.

She looked up in time to see the earl free Edward from his tightly wedged position high in the tree. He swung the child onto his back and ordered him to hold tightly around his neck so he could carry him down.

Jane bit the knuckle of one hand as she watched them descend, terrified lest one or the other lose his grip. When they reached the ground, she rushed to pick up Edward and clasp him to her. "Are you all right?" she asked, anxiously searching for fresh cuts and scrapes or any sign of broken bones.

"Aunt Jane!" protested Edward, squirming to get out of her arms.

"Mind your manners, young man. Your aunt was worried about you," the earl remonstrated. At the same time he reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair.

Edward grinned cheekily.

"You must thank Lord Royce for his effort on your behalf," Jane ordered Edward as she set him on the ground.

"Lord Royce!" ejaculated Bertram. He cuffed his younger brother on the shoulder. "Make a leg, you clodhead."

Royce and Jane stifled laughter as a very serious five year old bowed and stammered his thanks.

"It is I who should be giving you thanks, Edward," said Royce. He laid his hand on the child’s shoulder. "I haven’t climbed a tree since I was in short coats. I’m glad for the excuse your little contretemps afforded me. I’d forgotten how appealing the sights are from high up in a tree," the earl said, his gaze resting on Jane.

A slow blush transfused Jane’s pale complexion. She was suddenly aware of her own disheveled appearance. With trembling fingers, she smoothed the long sleeves of her dress, buttoning them at the wrist. "Bertram, Edward, it is nearly teatime, you know. I have a special treat for you, too. Blackberries. But you’ll need to get cleaned up first. Though whether you should have any or not, I don’t know." She was babbling and knew it. She avoided the earl’s gaze as she leaned down to straighten Edward’s jacket and brush grass from Bertram’s sleeve. It was a useless, nervous endeavor, for the children’s clothes were too disheveled to be set to rights.

"Fresh blackberries! Did you hear that Edward? I’ll race you home!" Bertram cried, tearing off through the trees.

"No fair!" declared Edward, taking off after his elder sibling.

Jane and the earl laughed again as they watched them scamper off.

"So all your efforts this morning were for those two scapegrace boys," he said.

"Yes. The Littons, my sister and her husband, are out of the country. Their governess wished to be relieved of her duties, so my aunt and I came down to Penwick Park to care for the boys in their absence," she found herself explaining.

The earl nodded, his expression solemn. "They are lucky boys to be surrounded by people who love and care for them," he said gruffly, a faraway expression in his dark eyes. Then he looked back at her, his devilish smile returning. "I am beginning to believe, Miss Grantley, that you need a keeper. First I find you ensnared in a blackberry bush, and now I discover you threatening that flawless complexion," he said, lifting her hat from where it lay dangling by its ribbons on her back and resettled it on her head.

Conflicting feelings surged in on a tide of embarrassment. Was that a touch of sorrow she’d seen in his face? Why? By all reports he did not care for children. Rumors abided concerning a child born to him and a woman he fled to the continent with more than ten years past. Still more speculation was raised as to why he never married the woman, for she was of good family. Conflicting tales of the fates of those two innocents still circulated society, lessons for young women flattered by another rake’s attentions.

Suddenly Jane doubted all she’d heard about the earl. She looked up at him, a curiously intent expression in her eyes.

"My lord, would you care to join us for tea?"

The words spilled out of her mouth before Jane could stop them. She felt herself blushing anew. Exasperated, she marshaled all her emotions and drew on her cool society cloak. The earl was observing her far more closely than she liked. "We will, of course, understand if you choose not to join us for our little early tea, as it is a gathering in which we