When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,55

two people stood close together in conversation. A man and a woman. There seemed to be something furtive about their meeting. Then his gaze sharpened. Tessa? Yes, that had to be her. No other woman on his staff had that creamy blond hair or that dainty figure wrapped in a shawl.

But who the devil was her companion? A footman? A groom?

Abruptly, the man pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Tessa made no attempt to push him away. In fact, she appeared to have no objection at all to the close embrace.

In an instant, Guy’s blood went from a simmer to a full boil. He strode across the bedroom, threw open the door with a bang, and plunged down the darkened staircase. His brain was so agitated that he couldn’t form a coherent thought.

His bootheels echoed sharply in the marble corridor. Here, several sconces had been lit, and a maidservant toting a brush and bucket backed against the wall as he went rushing past her. At the rear of the house, he wrenched open the door and went out onto the loggia.

The chilly air did little to mitigate his overheated senses. Tessa’s lover turned to peer at Guy as he stalked down the steps. The dim light revealed him to be a stranger in workman’s garb with a round, youthful face. Abruptly the fellow made a mad dash for the garden gate.

Guy hastened his pace, his footsteps crunching on the graveled path. “You there, stop!”

But the coward scuttled out into the mews and vanished. When Guy sprang after him, Tessa moved in front of the gate. “Please, Carlin, let him go. He means no harm.”

Far from mollified, he swung toward her. “Who was that mawworm? Why did he come here?”

“Orrin? He’s merely a friend. He … wanted to see if I was settled into my new post.”

She had to be lying. There was tension in the fingers that gripped her shawl. The pearly light barely illuminated the pale oval of her face, but it was enough for him to see that her lips looked reddened and slightly swollen.

“How do you know him? You told me you were new to London.”

“I’ve made some acquaintances,” she said, lifting her chin. “While I was seeking employment, I lived in a boardinghouse. Orrin Nesbitt was a resident there and we became friends.”

“Friends—or lovers?” Realizing he was on the verge of shouting, Guy bit off his words. Just yesterday evening she’d rejected his offer of friendship and not ten hours later, she’d slipped downstairs at dawn to meet another man. It was like getting a kick in the shins. “You were kissing him, Tessa. I saw you from my bedroom window.”

She recoiled, glaring at him. “Orrin is not my lover. And I don’t appreciate you spying on me.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate my daughter’s governess creeping out of the house to rendezvous with strange men in my garden.”

“I already explained, Orrin isn’t a stranger. And … oh, never mind. Pray forgive me if I caused any trouble. If you’ll excuse me.”

Guy remained planted as solid as an oak. Something wasn’t right, and he intended to get answers. “Your duty is to stay in the nursery with Sophy. I hope you realize that what you’ve done is grounds for dismissal.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “Lady Sophy is asleep at this hour. I would never neglect her. You know that I wouldn’t.”

The devil of it was, he believed her in that. No other governess had ever displayed such devotion to his daughter. As perturbed as he was, Guy didn’t truly want to dismiss her. “If you wish to keep your post, there will be no more secret trysts with Orrin Nesbitt—or any other man. Is that clear?”

Tessa visibly stiffened. “Perfectly, Your Grace. And let me reassure you, I don’t have a harem of men at my beck and call.”

With that, she stepped into the flower bed to get past him before returning to the path and marching toward the house. Guy found himself in the unaccustomed position of taking up the rear instead of leading the way. Eyeing the sway of her hips, he didn’t know whether to snap at her or to admire her gall.

Upon reaching the loggia, he automatically reached for her upper arm and felt stung by a spark of heat. There it was again, that sizzling contact he experienced only with Tessa. As she glanced up at him, her eyes aglow in the shadows, he detected a quiver of awareness in her,