"Stay Out of This, You're Only the Governess," His Fiancée Snapped — The Duke Stood in the Doorway
Chapter 8
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The Duke rose.And the double doors at the far end of the room opened—not by a footman's hand—and two small figures in white nightgowns came through them. Thomas came first with his jaw set, and Charlotte behind him holding the brown jug of daffodils against her chest with both arms, the water slopping over the rim onto the floor. They had crossed the whole house in bare feet because that afternoon Thomas had heard two maids on the stairs say that Miss Fenwick's trunk was corded.There was a ripple of laughter down the table—the kind that forgives children. Lady Arabella laughed with it, her hand pressed to her pearls, and said, "Oh, the naughty darlings, do forgive them! They are so excited about their new mama."Then she turned her head, still smiling, to the footman behind her chair, and said in a voice meant for him alone: "Take them up, and tell the governess she goes tonight, not tomorrow, and without a character."The footman did not move. He was looking at the Duke, and the Duke had heard every word. The whole table could see that he had heard every word.The twins reached him. Charlotte set the jug upon the cloth among the port glasses, where it stood dripping on the damask, and Thomas took hold of his father's gold-embroidered sleeve and said, in the clear, carrying voice of a child who does not know what a dinner party is for:"Papa, they've corded her trunk.""Whom do you want, Thomas?" the Duke said. He said it quietly, but the room was so still that it reached the far end of the table.Thomas did not hesitate. "We want ours.""Yours?""Our Miss Fenwick. She's ours, Papa. She's not the Hall's. She's ours."Charlotte, who had not spoken since the doors opened, put her face against her father's coat and said into it, "Don't let them take her."The Duke laid a hand on each small head. Then he looked at the footman. "Go to the schoolroom and ask Miss Fenwick if she will do me the kindness of coming down. Ask her. Do not tell her."Nobody spoke while they waited. The Earl's face had begun to change.When Lydia Fenwick came to the open doors in her plain green gown, with her hair dressed low, she stopped upon the threshold and came no further. And the twins went to her like water running downhill."Lady Arabella," said the Duke, "on Thursday, I came home a day early. I walked up the avenue in the rain because I wished to surprise my children. I stood in the doorway of my own morning room, and I watched you raise your hand to my daughter, who is five years old."The Countess made a small sound. The Earl's hand had closed upon the edge of the table."I watched one person in this house step between you and her. I heard what you said to that person. You said, 'Stay out of this. You're only the governess.' I have thought about that sentence for two days, madam. I find that I cannot marry the woman who said it."