When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,63

to avert suspicion from herself. Then he quashed the notion. Despite her lies, she was no criminal. Nor was she Annabelle, attempting to twist him to do her bidding. If truth be told, Tessa was the opposite in every way of that pampered beauty.

“Well,” Guy said crisply, “I had best make haste before the scoundrel realizes the map isn’t in the notebooks and destroys them.”

He placed his hand at the small of Tessa’s back to guide her out of the study. As always, the burn of desire afflicted him, but he firmly doused it. He had to keep his base cravings in check. Any feelings he harbored for her must not be allowed to flourish for more reasons than he could name.

As they went through the doorway and into the passage, an unexpected sight greeted them. Sophy was running toward them, a white flannel nightdress flapping around her small bare feet. Her childish voice echoed in the marble corridor. “Miss James, Miss James!”

Winnie was hot on her heels. Panting, she bobbed a nervous curtsy. “Sorry, Yer Grace, milady escaped.”

Sophy hurled herself forward and wrapped her arms around Tessa’s waist. A tragic look made her lips wobble. “When I woke up, you were gone. I thought you went away like Moo-Moo.”

Tessa leaned down to return the hug. “I was merely speaking with your papa for a few minutes. Will you give him a good-morning kiss?”

Sophy aimed a suddenly shy look up at him. “Morning, Papa.”

But she didn’t venture forward, and Tessa threw a glance over her shoulder at him, her lips curved in an apologetic smile. He knew it was too soon to expect kisses from his daughter, yet his chest felt curiously tight as he stepped forward to stroke her soft cheek. “Good morning, monkey.”

Her eyes rounded. “I’m not a monkey!”

“Oh? Scurrying down the passage just now, you looked just like one that I once saw swinging through the jungle.”

A burble of mirth escaped her. “Did you hear that, Miss James? I’m a monkey.”

“Lady Monkey, we’ll call you,” Tessa said. “But even monkeys need to eat breakfast. Come along.”

A half smile on his face, Guy watched them troop toward the staircase. Sophy was holding Tessa’s hand and skipping along like any happy little girl. That was Tessa’s doing, and he breathed a prayer of gratitude that she had succeeded where the other governesses had failed. For that reason alone, he must exert control over his passions.

Besides, he didn’t need any distractions just now. His plans for the future had been struck a serious blow by the theft of those diaries. He could attempt to reconstruct them, but that would take months and he likely would forget vital details. If ever he hoped to write a book about his voyage, he must track down the villain at once.

Chapter 12

Tessa kept busy for the next few hours helping Sophy practice her alphabet on a slate, teaching her simple sums by moving buttons around on a felt board, and correcting her table manners during the noon meal. Afterward, they had story time, with the little girl reclining on the rug while Tessa read to her from one of the many books on the nursery shelves.

It was their favorite activity, and one that Tessa usually relished, but today she was preoccupied by that encounter with Carlin. She lost her place several times and had to be prompted by an indignant Sophy. At last, though, the girl began to yawn and went willingly with Lolly to lie down for a nap. Determined to put the hour of freedom to good use, Tessa left the nursery on a mission.

She tracked down Avis Knightley, who was working on a basket of sewing in an antechamber on the first floor. Across the corridor, in the Blue Drawing Room, Lady Victor was entertaining a circle of ladies. From afar, their voices sounded like the squawking of crows.

Avis smiled and let the lace chemise she was mending fall to her lap. “Tessa, how lovely to see you. Do keep me company while I wait for her ladyship. There’s been a deluge of visitors today who want to hear all about the lecture last evening.”

Settling onto a gilt chair, Tessa thought it ill mannered of Lady Victor to exclude her companion from the gathering. But perhaps that was the way of aristocratic households. “I wonder, is it really the lecture that’s drawn them here—or the robbery?”

Avis’s face sobered. “Word does get around swiftly, doesn’t it? Everyone wants to learn the scandalous