If Lord Steadwell did want her gone from Nethercross, tomorrow would be soon enough to talk it over with the girls and make them understand it would be for the best. They would be better able to accept the news after a good night’s sleep.
“Come now, let’s get you ready for bed.” Grace strove to sound untroubled so the children would not worry. “I do not want to keep your father waiting.”
“What about our bedtime story?” Sophie asked as Grace pulled her nightgown over her head.
“It is too late tonight, I’m afraid. Perhaps tomorrow you can get ready for bed a little earlier and have two stories then.” Grace tried to sound as if she had no doubt she would be there tomorrow night to read those stories.
The two younger ones seemed to accept her reassurance, but she sensed Charlotte did not. At least the girl had the kindness not to burden her sisters with her worries. As soon as all three were in bed, Grace took a moment to sit with each of them before she headed off to meet with their father.
When she reached Lord Steadwell’s study and tapped on the door he called her to enter. She found him standing beside his writing table with his back to the window and his arms held stiffly behind him. His crisp features were set in a stern frown and his dark brows were drawn together.
For all his well-composed severity, he gave a start when she appeared—as if he had still not managed to reconcile his image of his daughters’ plain governess with her true appearance.
“Now, Miss Ellerby, you promised me an explanation for why you have deceived me from the moment we met.” It was clear from his harsh tone and stiff stance that none of the excuses she had given herself for her behavior would satisfy him.
He had already made up his mind to dismiss her. Nothing she could say would salvage the respect he’d once had for her. It was equally doubtful that anything she said could make him despise her more. That left her with nothing to lose and no reason to conceal a shred of the truth.
When Grace Ellerby entered his study, Rupert strove to conceal the shock and unease her presence still inspired in him. Ever since she had ambushed him with the revelation of her true appearance, part of his mind had struggled to grasp that his daughters’ mousy governess was the mysterious beauty from the masquerade. What troubled him most was that some deeply buried intuition seemed to have grasped this baffling contraction already. Could it be the same part of him that wanted to invite Miss Ellerby for a walk in the garden to discuss the matter? Reason warned that would be the worst of bad ideas.
Of course, reason was still vexed that it had not succeeded in getting him to propose to Mrs. Cadmore this evening. In spite of its urging and the lady’s pointed hints, he had remained stubbornly silent on the subject. He could hardly blame the poor woman for wanting to be certain of his intentions after he had shown her such particular interest. Yet Rupert knew he dared not take such an irrevocable step until he had sorted out his complicated feelings for Grace Ellerby.
Even as she gathered her composure to offer an explanation, he wondered how he could have been so blind to the beauty hidden only by an ugly cap and a pair of spectacles. Vexed as he was with her for making such a fool of him, he found it impossible to forget the slow-blossoming admiration and immediate fascination her two very different personas had inspired in him.
Which of them was the real Grace Ellerby? Or was that a woman he would not recognize at all—a cool, calculated deceiver with motives he could not begin to fathom?
“The truth is,” she began, “I disguised my appearance at first because I was not sure if I could trust you.”
“Trust me?” The words erupted from Rupert’s lips edged with bitter irony.
Grace Ellerby flinched—but whether it was from his angry outburst or from the pain of her conscience, he could not tell for certain. “I realize now that you are a gentleman of honor but I had no way of knowing it at first. I have been acquainted with too many of the other kind.”
“What do you mean?” Rupert muttered, though he could guess her answer after what he had witnessed between her and that sultan brute at the ball.
Her hands were clasped in front of her. Now they began to fidget. Her delicate features reflected the struggle within her—not wanting to speak of painful events from the past but knowing she had no choice.
“It began during my very first position when I was only nineteen—fresh out of school and hopelessly naive. The brother of my mistress paid me a great deal of attention, flattered me, claimed he loved me and persuaded me to fancy I was in love with him. I assumed he meant to marry me, only to discover that gentlemen like him do not want a penniless, orphaned governess as a wife. When he offered to buy me a house and set me up as his mistress, I ran away.”
“The gall of the brazen whelp!” Rupert cried before he could restrain himself. “I’d have thrashed any brother-in-law of mine who dared to conduct himself in such an infamous manner under my roof!”
It was more than righteous indignation that roused his anger. He envied the young fool who had won Grace Ellerby’s heart when it was soft and trusting.
She raised her gaze to meet his, clearly determined to make a full confession. “It was as much my fault as his. I was completely unguarded. I encouraged his attentions.”
Hard as he tried, Rupert could not let that go unchallenged. “But you said yourself, you were scarcely more than a child! How were you to know his intentions were so thoroughly dishonorable?”
“I was employed in his sister’s home,” she insisted. “I should not have permitted any familiarity between us. The experience taught me a painful lesson but a useful one I never intended to forget. At my next post, I tried to be more careful. I concentrated on my duties and went out of my way to discourage any attention from visiting gentlemen.
“That worked well enough for a while. But then a friend of the master’s took a fancy to me. For some reason, he seemed to consider my reserved manner a challenge. He set about to win my favors and the more I resisted the more determined he became.”
“Why did you not complain to your employers?” Rupert demanded in a sharp tone. His stomach seethed with indignant anger. He wished he had both the cads who had imposed upon Grace Ellerby in front of him so he could knock their vile heads together!
“I tried,” she insisted in a defensive tone as if she assumed his anger was directed at her. “I spoke to the mistress about my fears, but she refused to believe me even though the man had tried to flirt with me in her presence. She said it was not my place to criticize a guest in her home. I was left with no choice but to seek a position elsewhere.”