An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(52)

CHAPTER 10




It took some time to get their things packed back up and into the carriage—and even longer to persuade the twins that it was time to pull down their kites and go. So it was drawing close to teatime when they finally returned to the Moreland mansion.

Con and Alex ran down the hallway and into the drawing room, followed more slowly by Theo and Megan. The boys were already into the middle of an excited recitation of their visit to the museum when Theo and Megan stepped into the room.

Megan came to an abrupt halt, somewhat surprised by the number of people in the room. Normally, by teatime, most afternoon callers had gone, and only the duchess, and sometimes Anna and Reed, took tea with the boys and Megan.

This afternoon, however, sitting with the duchess were her two daughters, Olivia and Kyria, as well as Anna, Reed and Thisbe. There was also another woman whom Megan had never seen before. She was strikingly beautiful, with raven-black hair and eyes of an odd blue shade that was almost lavender. Her skin was a creamy white, and her curvaceous body was clad in an elegant purple afternoon dress that deepened the color of her exotic eyes. Although she was not young, perhaps in her mid-thirties, she was one of the most beautiful women Megan had ever seen, one who could almost rival Kyria in looks.

Beside her, Megan heard Theo let out a soft, wordless groan.

A smile spread across the lovely woman’s face, and she nodded to Theo. “Lord Raine, what a pleasant surprise to see you here.”

“Not such a surprise, perhaps, since it is his home,” the duchess put in dryly.

Megan looked at the Moreland women with interest. All of them wore an expression of determined politeness, and there was the faintest air of tension in the room. Megan was immediately intrigued.

“Lady Scarle,” Theo said, giving the woman a polite bow. “Please allow me to introduce you to Miss Henderson. Miss Henderson, Lady Helena Scarle.”

The other woman gave Megan a frosty nod, her eyes sweeping down Megan’s plain brown dress. “How do you do, Miss Henderson?” Her attention went immediately back to Theo. “How kind of you to take your little brothers to a museum.”

“It was Miss Henderson’s idea,” Theo replied cheerfully. “They just allowed me to tag along.”

“Indeed?” The purplish blue eyes returned to Megan assessingly.

“Miss Henderson is our new tutor,” Con explained. “She took us on an ‘educational excursion.’” He flashed a grin at Megan as he repeated the phrase she had used.

“Ah, I see.” Lady Scarle’s face relaxed, and she turned from Megan, obviously dismissing her as unimportant. “You must tell us where you went, Lord Raine.” She addressed Theo again and patted the seat of the chair beside her invitingly. “Come, sit down and tell us all about it.”

“Oh, I think Con and Alex were already doing an excellent job of that,” Theo replied, ignoring her suggestion to sit.

“Yes,” Kyria said. “Do go on, dear.” She smiled brightly at Con, then at Megan. “Please sit down, Miss Henderson.” She gestured toward the empty chair between Lady Scarle and herself. “Mother was about to ring for tea. We can hear all about your adventures at the museum while we have it.”

There was a certain light of amusement in Kyria’s eyes that Megan suspected was directed toward Lady Scarle, who appeared rather put out at Kyria’s suggestion that Megan take the seat the other woman had offered Theo. Having taken an immediate dislike to Lady Scarle, Megan was happy to put the woman’s nose out of joint by sitting down next to her.

“Why, thank you, Mrs. McIntyre,” she responded and sat down, flashing a grin at Kyria.

“It seems a trifle unusual,” Lady Scarle stated, “for the children and their governess to take tea with the family, does it not?”

Her words earned her a swift glance of dislike from most of the other occupants of the room. If the woman had an eye for Theo, as Megan suspected she did, she had certainly taken a misstep with the Morelands in this regard, Megan thought.

“We don’t believe in excluding our children from family gatherings,” the duchess told her crisply. “I believe that the way the aristocracy has traditionally handed the care and education of their offspring into the hands of others is a poor way to raise children and has a certain unnatural coldness that is harmful not only to the family but to society itself.”

“You are quite right, Mother,” Thisbe agreed and turned to Lady Scarle, saying flatly, “We were all raised by Mother’s precepts, beginning with Theo and me, and I think we are all most grateful to her.”

“Indeed, I did not intend any criticism, Duchess. It was merely surprising to me, having been raised much more traditionally.” Color flamed high on the other woman’s cheeks, and Megan could almost feel sorry for her. But then the woman shot a look of cool contempt at Megan, and Megan decided that she was not sorry, after all. “Even when we children were allowed at tea, our governess was rarely involved.”

“She’s not our governess,” Alex put in, his jaw set in a mutinous way.

Megan knew that Lady Scarle had earned the twins’ implacable enmity by implying that they were young enough to have a governess.

“She is our tutor,” Con added. “And she is the best one we have ever had, too.”