When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,37
gaze lifted to him. Then she rummaged through the box for another bead. “Look, Miss James. A red one. I like red.”
“We’ll give it a special place right here in the center, how’s that?”
Supervising as the girl attached the bead, Tessa glanced up to see the duke regarding his daughter with a faint frown that seemed to convey a frustrated need. Her insides curled softly. Carlin wanted to be a good father, she felt certain, yet he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.
“I brought you a gift, Sophy,” he said. “A memento from my travels.”
The word gift worked wonders. As he delved into an inner pocket of his coat, the girl abandoned all pretense of ignoring him. She stared wide-eyed as he produced a set of small wooden animals, beautifully carved from pale polished wood, which he arranged on the table.
“Jiggs whittled these aboard my ship after we’d made a stop in Africa. There’s a lion, an elephant, a gazelle, and a giraffe.”
Longing illuminated Sophy’s face, though she made no move accept the offering. Her gaze flicked from the carvings to him and then to Tessa. “Are they truly mine, Miss James?”
A lump rose to Tessa’s throat. How sad that the child feared there might be some trick to Carlin’s present. She herself would have given much to have had a father who wanted to win her affections.
She smoothed Sophy’s tangled hair. “Yes, dearie, and isn’t it lovely that your papa remembered how much you like animals? Perhaps you’ve something to say to him.”
“Thank you, Papa,” the girl mumbled in a rush. Then she seized the pieces and scurried away to play with them on the hearth rug.
Carlin pensively watched his daughter. “I daresay I should have waited to give them to her. Now she won’t help with the headdress.”
“It’s quite all right, this project is rather difficult for a four-year-old, anyway.” While attaching another bead, Tessa murmured from the depths of her heart, “Oh, Your Grace, the animals were a wonderful notion. Now she’ll know you were thinking of her during the years you were gone.”
“You deserve all the thanks for your talk of souvenirs today. And let’s hope those figurines will deter her from snipping any more animal pictures out of books.”
The twinkle in his dark eyes flustered Tessa, as did the sight of him sitting so close, the sunlight haloing his magnificently masculine form. “Never fear, I always keep the scissors in my pocket when they’re not in use.”
He leaned forward to watch as she deftly tied off a thread and used the shears to snip off the ends. “That ribbon of beads looks wide enough, but isn’t it rather flimsy? How will it stay in place?”
“I’ll attach it to this strip of buckram, which I’ve shaped to fit Sophy’s head.” She picked up the circlet of linen from a nearby chair and frowned. “I’ve coated it with paste to stiffen it, but alas, the cloth still feels too damp. The fabric must be completely dry before the beads and feathers are attached.”
“You’re very knowledgeable about fashioning headgear.”
She cast her gaze downward on the pretext of hunting for a bead in the box. “Many women have a knack for sewing. I’ve found it more economical to make my own hats than to purchase them.”
“Yet I can’t think of a single lady of my acquaintance with the skills to make such a headdress. Have you any other hidden talents, Miss James?”
The teasing note in his voice brought her chin up. A half smile tilted one corner of his mouth, and his dark eyes held a gleam of playfulness. Lud, was he flirting with her? No, surely not. He was merely making conversation. Yet the hint of humor on his granite façade had a curious melting effect on her. It made her breathless, alive with fevered longings that must never be indulged with a man of his rank.
Blessedly, she was saved from replying as Winnie entered the schoolroom with the tea tray. Carlin’s face settled back into its usual cool look, as if he, too, had remembered his position and regretted that moment of levity.
He rose to his feet. “I’ll take that as my cue to depart.”
Tessa watched as he said goodbye to Sophy, and then strode out of the schoolroom. Deep inside her, a quiver lingered that was part attraction and part unease. He was a man who could throw her off balance. A man with eyes sharp enough to penetrate her soul.