in Sir Algernon Bartlett’s house, governess to Percy’s younger sisters. A very pretty, very appealing young governess, with no one to protect her from the rapacious son of the house.
Kit sighed. “Oh, Clara.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” she gritted out. “You’re wondering why I did such a stupid thing?”
Kit eyed her for a moment. “Why did you?” he asked gently. “And why didn’t you just come to me if you need money?”
Still holding the poultice, she shook her head minutely, her expression tight and angry. “Why should he get away without contributing anything to the cost of raising the son he forced upon me?” she demanded. “It’s only right he pay something towards Peter’s upkeep!”
“How much did you ask for?”
Her jaw tightened. “Five hundred pounds.”
Kit considered that. On the one hand, it was not an unreasonable sum to request from a man of Bartlett’s standing, who would one day inherit his father’s sizeable wealth. On the other hand, Bartlett was known to be a wastrel who gambled away every penny he was given, and whose father kept him on a very tight leash. If he had a tenth of that sum to hand, Kit would be astonished.
“And what did he say?” Kit asked.
Clara returned her gaze to the ceiling. A muscle in her jaw worked. “He was furious. He told me he’d not give me a penny and if I didn’t promise to stay quiet, he’d make me sorry.”
Kit nodded. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that you agreed?”
Clara shook her head minutely. “I told him if he hadn’t paid me by the end of the month, I would be going to see his father.”
“And since then, you’ve been followed in the street at least once—and now attacked in the park?”
Clara was silent. She stared miserably at the ceiling.
“You don’t need his money, Clara,” Kit said gently. “Peter is my godson, and if I’ve not made it clear to you already, then know this: I regard him as my personal responsibility. I may not have Sir Algernon Bartlett’s wealth, but I’m comfortably off and will make provision for Peter’s future. You have no need to worry about him.”
“Kit,” she said, her voice breaking, “You don’t understand—I wanted the money so I could—so I could—” She gave a sob and covered her mouth with her free hand.
“So you could what?”
“So I could leave London,” she whispered.
Kit stared at her, unsure what to say. His heart twisted at the thought of her and Peter leaving. It just being him, alone in this big house.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t want to go, but it’s Peter’s chest. I took him to a doctor two months ago. He says I have to get him out of London. There’s no choice.” She pressed her lips together for a moment before she went on. “His cough’s getting worse. It plagues him at night. I can’t—” She broke off, shaking her head helplessly.
“It’s all right,” Kit said. “I just wish you’d come to me, Clara. Don’t you know I’d do anything to help you? Did you think I’d cut you off because of this? Leave you without an income? When you and Peter have lived with me these last five years?” He could hear the hurt in his own voice, and Clara heard it too. She fumbled blindly for his hand with her own, taking his fingers and squeezing them.
“You’re too good to me,” she whispered. “I don’t deserve you, Kit.”
He patted her hand. “Yes,” he said. “You do. And the sooner you realise it, the better.”
For a few moments, they sat quietly, then Clara whispered, “There’s something else.”
“And what is that?”
She swallowed. “I’m not sure I can get Bartlett to leave me alone now.”
Kit was silent, waiting for the explanation that was surely coming. Another tear made its slow way down her temple and into her hair. “He’s a monster, Kit,” she whispered. “If he goes after Peter, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Perhaps if you withdraw the threat to speak to his father?” Kit prompted gently.
That was when she began to sob in earnest.
“What’s wrong?” Kit asked anxiously. “Clara?”
After a minute, when her sobs had subsided and Kit was nearly beside himself with worry, she said in a wobbly voice, “I—I already tried. I went to see him again, to call my threats off, and he just laughed at me—so nastily, Kit—he saw how frightened I was, and I could see he liked it. And now I don’t know what to do!”