Page 7 of A Governess' Unbridled Passion
A knock came on the door, and he looked up, hoping the children would come pouring into the room, bringing their lovely governess. He’d been around children on the plantation, but none had been in his care. Alas, it was William, the butler to Haroth Hall, and not who he’d hoped for.
“My apologies, Lord Phillip, but you have a visitor insisting on seeing you straight away,” William told him.
“Can they not wait?” Phillip asked. “Put them in the drawing room and tell them I am in a long meeting. That should put them off.”
As he finished his last words, a familiar-looking woman pushed her way past William, entering the room. Phillip looked on in surprise as the glamorous aunt from the funeral stood before him. She took off her gloves, one finger at a time, and slapped them into William’s hands.
“I must say, Your Grace,” she said with a deep husky voice, “I was very disappointed that I did not get to speak with you at my brother-in-law’s funeral.”
“Ah, Lady Davina, my stepsister, I do believe?” He checked because he wasn’t too familiar with her. He couldn’t remember much about her from his childhood. “Please, I insist you refer to me as Phillip; we are family, are we not?”
But then, she wasn’t much older than himself. His father had remarried a much younger woman, who’d already had a child, or so he’d understood it. It had even caused a bit of a scandal at the time. Not that he cared for English standards; no doubt the young bride gave his father much pleasure in the last years of his life.
The door opened wider, and the governess entered, carrying Lord Jacob in her arms and little Lady Beatrice by her side.
“Ah, children!” Lady Davina called out before he could say a word. “I am your Aunt Davina,” she said, turning to William, who looked as surprised as the rest of them. “Butler, arrange for a glass of French Claret. There’s a good chap,” she ordered.
“I don’t have an aunt,” Lady Beatrice spoke up, looking at Lady Davina with suspicion. “I only have my Uncle Phillip. My papa told me so.”
“I assure you, young lady, I am your aunt,” Lady Davina said as she leered down at the child. “You will call me Aunt Davina,” she added, pointing at Lady Beatrice with a long fingernail.
Lady Davina moved over towards the governess and pinched Lord Jacob’s cheek. “Aren’t you a sweetie pie.” She smooched at him, only to be met with a raucous wailing noise coming from his wide-open mouth.
The uproar caused Lady Davina to step back in shock. “Gracious me, nursemaid, can you not keep that child under control?”
“Actually, Lady Davina …” Phillip went to intervene.
“Oh no, no, no,” Lady Davina wagged her finger at him. “You must call me Davina if I am to call you Phillip; that is only fair, is it not?”
“Very well, Davina, this is Miss Alice, the children’s governess,” he said, opening out his arm to take in Miss Alice, who was busy soothing the boy. “The children’s nanny is standing behind. Betsy, over there.”
“I refuse to refer to the servants by their first names, Phillip. Whatever are you thinking?” Lady Davina snapped as he introduced them.
“Well, I highly encourage it,” he replied. “It is my view that if we live in the same house and see each other every day, so …”
“You there, Governess. What is your full name?” Lady Davina interrupted the duke as she homed in on Miss Alice.
“I am Miss Alice Evans,” Miss Alice replied, and Phillip noticed that she swallowed hard, looking wary of Lady Davina’s imposing stance.
“Well then, Miss Evans, take those children out of here so that I may talk to the duke in silence,” Lady Davina demanded. “I have private business to discuss. We cannot do so with that terrible wailing going on,” she added, practically shooing the children and their carers away.
“I am sorry, Davina, but the children are here at my request …” he tried, wishing he didn’t find his stepsister so damn alluring.
“Then you can meet with them later,” she replied. “As you say, you live with these people now.” She purred the words from her lips.
“My apologies, Miss Alice,” Phillip said, turning to the governess with disappointment in his eyes. “As you can see, I am unable to spend time with the children as I had planned.”
“Of course, Lord Phillip,” Miss Alice said as she looked back at him.
He noted that she referred to his official title, showing her discomfort at using his first name in front of their visitor. Smiling back at her, he watched as she led the children away, feeling bitter displeasure at this setback.
“Are you satisfied now, Davina?” he asked as the butler returned with her glass of wine.
She took it from the tray William offered her, and he thought he could do with a stiff drink too. “Can you bring me a dark rum, please, William?” he requested of the old man.
“One supposes that is a drink of the Caribbean?” Lady Davina questioned.
He turned to her and noticed how shapely her body was in the tight-fitting bottle-green gown. This was a very feminine woman who no doubt used her femininity to her advantage.
