Page 63 of Indecently Employed
Harmonia lifted her cup to her lips, avoiding his eyes.
“I was glad when he died. I’m sure you’re aware; I haven’t exactly kept it secret.” He winced, recalling some incredibly unamusing jokes he’d made at his club following the occasion. “And I left you on your own. But I don’t mean to any longer. You should never have had to come out with only Bess at your side, the dotty old thing. Though I expect I’d have kept you far from your husband if I was around and had any say in the matter, so thank goodness for that, I suppose.”
She blinked, her brows narrowing, her mouth opening to argue with him, but he held up his hand. “Please, this is an apology that’s been ages in the making.”
“Uncle,” she said, her voice strained with discomfort. “You apologized before. It’s quite alright—”
“It’s not. I’ve neglected you and I’ve neglected Marcus. Neglected my own damn brother, for all he cares. But no longer. Charlotte needs a family. I won’t be around forever, and I won’tposition her—or you—to be left alone. Not any longer. I daresay you’re going to have to get used to me, for I won’t go quietly.”
Silence stretched out between them, with Harmonia still unable to meet his eye. Ajax would have allowed it to continue, but he was acutely aware of the constraints of time. They were unlikely to be left alone for much longer.
“I understand you’re angry with me—hurt, even. So be it, you’re allowed. Hell, no one is as angry with me as myself, I can promise you. But exact your revenge in another way. Miss Abbotts is innocent in all of this.”
Harmonia stood up, her chair making a loud skidding noise, the fire in her eyes lit anew as she finally met his gaze. She leaned over the other end of the table, her fingers splayed on the perfect white Irish linen cloth.
“Uncle,” she warned, “I promised Marcus you’d leave that poor thing alone.” She shook her head, her expression shifting to sadness. “How can you claim to have changed, when all I see is the same old untamed Sedley sitting before me, chasing after achurchmouse.” She growled out the last words as if she were channeling her husband. “I promised Lady Matilda! The governess was supposed to be rescued, safe from that… that…” Her face took on a terrifying red flush as her eyes burned at the thought of him whose name was left unspoken. The Earl of Clifton.
Ajax stared at her, his gaze steady and focused. “I do not know what transpired between you and Clifton; however, I am well apprised of what transpired between him and Miss Abbotts.”
“And still you seduced her!” Harmonia said through gritted teeth, clenching her fists.
“Sit down, Harmonia,” he sighed. “Please.”
“I will not. Marcus told me you’d all but confessed, not five minutes after arriving. Ruining a governess in the space of several weeks! That, I think, is a new low, even for you,uncle.”The sarcasm dripped from her words. She crossed her arms and, perhaps without thinking, complied with his request after all, collapsing back into her chair with an imperious huff.
“Are you quite done with your fit?” Ajax smiled, then quickly added, “As well-meaning and sympathetic of a fit it would be, were the circumstances true.”
Harmonia cocked her head, her arms loosening in surprise. “It’s not true? Marcus was mistaken?”
“No, he was quite correct. I did seduce her.” Ajax leaned back, basking in his great-niece’s outrage for the moment. It reminded him of the wild girl she once was, running about Elverton Bridge with torn stockings and cheeks smudged with dirt, riding roughshod over the entire household.
“I cannot believe you,” she scoffed, cradling her head with one hand, elegant even in her resigned displeasure.
“But,” he started, aware that his coddled eggs would be arriving any moment now, “Marcus missed one key aspect of the entire affair.”
“And what is that?” she sighed, still not looking his way.
“That I intend to ask Miss Abbotts to marry me.”
The harsh knock on the door punctuated his revelation so perfectly, it was almost as if he’d planned it. The footman entered and clearly struggled to pretend not to notice Harmonia’s agog expression.
Ajax kept grinning until the plate was left before him and the footman had returned to his post near the door.
“And what are your plans for the day, dear niece?” he asked, raising a forkful of eggs to his mouth. They tasted nearly as delicious as his victory.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It occurred to Susanna,during the passing of those interminable first few days at the parsonage, just how much she’d forgotten about her family. Or, perhaps more accurately, the degree to which she’d shunted everyone and everything into the cellar of her mind as if she were afraid to confront them, vowing not to think of them until the winter of her life, or whenever her memories finally caught up with her.
She set her basket of purchases down on the kitchen flagstone and wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand. Gertie, the woman her parents had always employed to help maintain the household, had apparently gone off and gotten herself married to a butcher two towns over at the shocking age of forty-six. Since then, the family had been trying to manage without a replacement, with Susanna’s sister Maddy and niece Madge fulfilling the servant’s duties with varying levels of success.
It was only natural, then, that Susanna would be put to work immediately. For idle hands make the devil’s tools, as her mother frequently exhorted. Susanna did wonder at the shocking veracity of that aphorism on her long walks into town,or during the hours spent down on her knees, scrubbing the floors. After all, once she’d been hired into the lazy luxury and comfort of the Sedleys, she’d succumbed to the most carnal sin of all. It bothered her that her mother might be right about her favorite saying. Sometimes she thought of the richly decorated chamber Ajax had insisted upon for her at his London mansion, and her cheeks burned at the vanity of it all.
What would they all say, were they to know? Susanna couldn’t bear to imagine it. She’d told her family very little about her employer and the reasons for her holiday, and as expected, they hadn’t pressed for more information. Rather, the house seemed to be in the midst of a tense, unhappy moment, and though Susanna surmised that Gertie’s abrupt departure played no small role in the parsonage’s strained atmosphere, she doubted it was the sole cause.
Susanna sighed and finished unpacking the contents of her basket. She thought once more of Charlotte, wondering what she would be about at this hour, whether or not she was studying her Latin, and whether Tiberius Sedley was comfortable or doing poorly. It had been nearly a fortnight now, after all, since they had been summoned to Elverton Bridge. Finally, she allowed herself to think of Ajax—the handsome line of his shoulder, the glint of humor about his eyes, his suggestive smile, his dark hair peppered with gray.
She was still lost in her daydream as she tied on her apron and returned to the massive packet containing odd bits of fat she’d procured from the butcher. It would take two or three hours to cook it down and clarify it, and she expected there was plenty to occupy herself with in the kitchen meanwhile, so she set to her task.
