“And who cares about Latin and Greek, anyway?” Con argued. “I know Papa does. But it’s not as if we are ever going to speak them, is it? We can do those things ourselves, anyway. She’s not at all stuffy, and she lets us spend extra time on the subjects we’re interested in.”
“But she doesn’t let us get away with anything,” Alex assured him. “We don’t just like her because she lets us do what we please. We have been working much better than usual, haven’t we?” He turned to his twin for confirmation.
Con nodded. “That’s right. Really, Theo. It’s easier to think when we’ve had a chance to be outside some, and I like arranging our classes the way we want them.”
“Don’t tell Mother to let her go,” Alex pleaded.
“I won’t. At least, not yet.” Theo told his brothers. “I probably should, but I like her, too.”
“Thanks!” Con bounded to his feet, grinning.
“You’re the best,” Alex added.
“I just wonder why she is pretending to be a tutor,” Theo explained.
Alex nodded. “It is odd. I suppose, well, she must not have any money, don’t you think? It would be better than being a maid.” His expression made it clear that he had some doubts on that subject.
“Has she done anything else odd? I mean, aside from not knowing the subjects. Have you seen her doing anything? Has she asked you questions about—I don’t know, anything tutors normally don’t ask about?”
The twins frowned, thinking. Finally Con said, “I don’t know. Not really. She takes books from the schoolroom back to her room—I think she’s reading ahead in our texts.”
“She’ll feed our pets. And she even picked up the boa,” Alex said in a tone of some awe.
“I think Henderson might not be her last name,” Con said quietly.
“What?”
“You didn’t tell me that!” Alex looked at his brother accusingly.
“I’m not sure.” Con looked uncomfortable. “It might not mean anything. But I noticed her handkerchief one day. It had a monogram on it, only the big initial was an M, and the little ones were M and C. There wasn’t an H at all.” He looked at Theo pleadingly. “But there’s probably a reason, don’t you think?”
“Mm,” Theo murmured noncommittally. He was sure there were any number of reasons for the discrepancy. Unfortunately, he could not think of a good one.
“She’s not wicked,” Alex said firmly, seeing his older brother’s hesitation. “I’m certain of it.”
“She’s not,” Con added.
Oddly enough, Theo thought, he agreed with the boys. Despite the evidence to the contrary, he had trouble believing that Miss Henderson—or whoever she was—was deceiving them because she was wicked.
He nodded. “Don’t worry. I will not say anything until I find out more about Miss Henderson. And don’t you, either,” he added, with a warning look. “Don’t tell her we have spoken about any of this.”
The boys promised solemnly, then took off at a run for Thisbe’s laboratory. Theo settled back on his bench to think.
He was probably playing the fool, he told himself. Letting a pretty face lead him into thinking that the person who owned it was as attractive inside as out. All her actions pointed to the fact that she was deceiving them.
But what could be her purpose?
The most likely reason, he thought, was that she was planning to steal something from the duke’s collection room. His father had one of the most extensive and valuable collections of early Greek and Roman artifacts in the country. Among the broken shards of pottery and lava-encased utensils were things of such beauty and age that collectors would pay a pretty price for them.
Still, they were not items Theo thought an ordinary thief would take. The statues and the large vases were not that easy to transport, for one thing, and, moreover, it would take knowledge of Greek and Roman artifacts to know which things were the most valuable. There were many other valuables in the house—jewels, silver and coins—that would be worth more and were more easily identified and carried than Papa’s ancient vases and marbles.
Was Miss Henderson a connoisseur of classical art herself? It seemed unlikely that such a person would be sneaking about disguising herself as a tutor. More likely she had been commissioned by a collector—some jealous rival who wanted some piece or pieces for himself? Or a dealer, say, who knew that anything in the Duke of Broughton’s collection was among the best pieces to be had?
But why wouldn’t that person hire a male to masquerade as a tutor to the twins? It would be more logical. Their radical-thinking mother had been willing to hire a woman, but it had been a risky thing to try. Even the duchess might have felt it inappropriate to have a woman supervising two boys who were only a few years from manhood.
He shook his head. Obviously, he was going to have to get some answers. And until he did, he would be keeping a close eye on the duke’s collection room…and on Miss Henderson.
A faint smile touched his lips at that thought. It would be no burden to keep an eye on Megan Henderson.
*
MEGAN KEPT HER GAZE on the floor as she went down the stairs to the dining room the next morning, searching for any sign of the key she had dropped. She saw it nowhere, either then or on her way back up the stairs after she and the twins ate breakfast.
Worry about the key gnawed at the back of her mind all through the boys’ lessons. While the twins were taking their play break in the morning, she hastened downstairs to the duke’s study, but much to her chagrin, the duke was seated at his desk, reading a book, so she had to beat a hasty retreat. Later, after the boys had gone for their science lesson, she once more started downstairs, but before she even drew close to the study, she heard Theo’s voice in the hallway, so she whirled and ran back up the stairs.
The last thing she wanted was to run into Theo. She had the awful feeling that she would blush as soon as she saw him, remembering how she had acted last night. Indeed, she hoped that he would not be at the table that evening at supper.
Her hopes were dashed as soon as she walked into the dining room with the twins. Theo was standing near the end of the table, chatting with Reed and Anna. The three of them glanced over when the twins clattered into the room, Megan right behind them, but only Theo’s gaze went straight to Megan’s face.
Just as she had feared, a flush rose up her throat, and she looked quickly away. She could not deny, however, that even in her embarrassment, she had felt a flash of heat ripple through her abdomen in a way that had nothing to do with embarrassment and everything to do with desire.
Megan dug her fingernails into her palms as she made her way to the table, determinedly not looking over again at Theo. She refused to allow him to unnerve her, she told herself. Whatever strange and awful power he had over her, she would fight it and win. She had to.