Page 2 of A Governess' Unbridled Passion
“I know little poppet. Nanny and I will be right by your side,” Alice said, taking hold of the little boy so they could speed up. “And I am sure your uncle will be a very nice gentleman.”
Without carrying Jacob, it meant that Nanny could move faster, and the small group hurriedly set off to get outside.
“Now then, we want no chattering once we go through the doors,” Alice instructed Lady Beatrice. “There will be plenty of time for that later. For now, we need to show your uncle how well-behaved we can be.”
Lady Beatrice didn’t look too keen, but for the most, she was a good girl and always did as her governess asked of her. As they dashed through the large, double doors standing open, they went to join the end of the line of servants.
Alice and Betsy took their places, along with everyone else. Alice held onto Lord Jacob, and Lady Beatrice stood between her nanny and governess, holding both hands.
Alice hoped the duke hadn’t noticed their late arrival because he’d been busy speaking to each servant. He was taking his time, asking them their names and what they did. The sound of his deep, tenor voice soothed Alice’s mind, making her think that he might be a kind gentleman after all.
Her heart raced as he came closer, with no idea why she felt so nervous. From what she’d seen through the window, he had a charming presence about him. His hair was dark like Lord Robert’s had been, and he had thick, dark brows, lending him a manly appeal.
It dawned on Alice that while they got the children looking near-on perfect, she was all rumpled from rushing. Always, she wore her hair pinned up in a bun, and now, curly straggles were tickling her cheeks, so she knew it was falling out. Her dark green dress had become a little creased from kneeling on the floor to ready Lady Beatrice, but it would have to do. Hopefully, he would concentrate on his niece and nephew, not on her.
She could see that William, the house butler, was accompanying the duke along the line, and he could be a stickler for tardiness.
Please, William, don’t go pointing out my untidiness in front of the new duke,Alice prayed silently.
Although very fond of William Banks, she knew he would not be happy if anything were out of place at this most important of times. To take her mind away from her panic, she looked upon the angelic face of little Jacob.
His big blue eyes soon cheered her, along with his large baby forehead that didn’t quite fit yet to the size of his face. Jacob’s hair was almost white; it was so light, but she understood the children’s mother had been a blonde, much like herself.
“You have such cherry lips, my little precious,” she whispered as she pulled him close.
His baby chuckle was a little louder than she had meant it to be, and Lady Beatrice was not going to miss out on the fun.
“What’s Jacob giggling at, Miss Alice?” Lady Beatrice asked, tugging her governess’s dress and making it look even more crumpled.
Chapter 2
Phillip had been dreading this day. It had been bad enough attending his brother’s funeral only two days earlier, straight after he’d arrived from a long sea journey over the Atlantic. He’d written to the family solicitor that the funeral was to be a private affair of family members only. That was how his brother would have wanted it. Robert had never been one for ostentatious displays and would turn in his grave had Phillip organised a public funeral.
There wasn’t much left in the way of family, a few cousins and elderly aunts and uncles. Plus, a not-very-well-known stepsister, who he thought a flamboyant creature. Lady Davina Katz had been the daughter of a French woman whom his elderly father had married not long before his death.
Phillip’s father, the Duke of Haroth, Lord George Tilbury, had never been one for showing off his wealth or socialising much, so how he’d ended up taking on such a young wife, no one had ever understood.
Being a second son, Phillip had been more than happy not to be the heir of the Haroth Estate, leaving it to his older brother Robert to take on the dukedom.
Instead, Phillip had gone abroad to oversee their sugar plantation in the Americas, shocking him to the core. Slavery was not to his liking, and he had at the very least managed to improve the workers’ lives, banning all punishments and making their working conditions more pleasant.
In fact, he welcomed the agreement of the Vienna Declaration over the abolition of slavery. But he was an intelligent man and knew it was only the beginning; there was still a long way to go before the world could finally turn its back on slavery.
Not that Phillip had much interest in politics either. The influence of his mother’s caring nature had passed on to him and gave him a good understanding of the imbalances of wealth worldwide. Yet, here he was, about to meet the servants of Haroth Hall, most of them long-serving employees, who might even remember him as a boy.
As his carriage pulled up, he could see the servants lined up to greet him. Had he known that was going to happen, he would have stopped it, but all he could do now, to avoid embarrassing them, was to take it in his stride.
Playing along, he walked down the line of around twenty servants, with the house butler accompanying him. On his part, he greeted each one as if they were a friend because he was not going to be a formal duke; that was not his way. Nor had it been his brother’s way before him.
The one thing he was most nervous about was meeting his brother’s children. Although he’d been surrounded by children on the plantation, they’d not been related to him. Having left England some eight years ago to run the sugar plantation, he’d never even met his brother’s wife, let alone his children.
And now, their lives were in his hands, and it caused him much concern. It wasn’t until he was almost at the end of the line of servants that they suddenly appeared.
The butler, who’d introduced himself as Mr Banks, was presenting the housekeeper, who he addressed as Hughes. The one thing he hated the most about British servitude was how servants were referred to by their surnames.
He was busy asking Hughes her first name when the children came to join the line, along with two women. Having only glanced their way briefly, he smiled at the children, and his heart almost melted at the sight of them. His brother’s children were beautiful in his eyes, but he still felt a little nervous.
“… And so, I would like to use the Christian names we were all given by our parents,” he explained to Hughes. “May I ask your first name, madam?”
