An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(82)
She turned and hurried from the room.
CHAPTER 16
Megan was surprised, the next morning, to find that her interview with the duchess was neither as long nor as difficult as she had expected. The duchess was an imposing woman, but she listened to Megan’s explanation with a quiet attentiveness and an astonishing lack of rancor that led Megan to suspect that this was not the first time Theo’s mother had heard the story.
She knew she should resent the fact that Theo had obviously stolen a march on her and told the duchess all about her deception, but, frankly, Megan was glad that she was not having to face the older woman’s first reaction. She suspected that the duchess’s cool blue eyes could light with a temper to match her red hair, particularly if danger threatened one of her beloved children.
When Megan at last finished her statement, pleased that her voice had trembled only slightly, and added a final, heartfelt apology, the Duchess of Broughton regarded her for a moment, then sighed.
“I am sure you are aware, Miss Mulcahey, that I abhor lying,” she told her calmly, rising from her chair and beginning to pace. “However, in this instance, I suppose there was a certain amount of reason to your charade. Not knowing my son, you could not have realized before you came here that any tale of his murdering someone was bound to be nonsensical. And I cannot disdain the sort of love and loyalty for your brother that impelled you to try to bring down his murderer.”
“Thank you, your grace,” Megan said, making a point of getting the troublesome form of address correct. “You are very generous.”
“I am merely truthful,” the duchess responded. There was a twinkle in her eye as she went on, “I must confess that I was not entirely convinced of your qualifications, as Rafe had cabled the school where you received your training and received the less-than-reassuring news that it had closed down. Also, Anna experienced some…troubling feelings regarding you. Not, let me hasten to assure you, that she did not dislike you. She does like you, which made her doubts all the more upsetting to her. However, I trusted my instincts and those of the twins enough to let you continue for the moment. I was rather pleased, quite frankly, when Theo told me this morning what you were really doing here. It is so much more pleasant than thinking you were perhaps a thief.”
Megan struggled to keep from looking as astonished as she felt. “I—I don’t know what to say.” She smiled a little ruefully. “Obviously I must not have been as clever as I thought.”
The duchess smiled back at her. “Oh, you were clever enough, Miss Mulcahey. However, it is a mistake sometimes to confuse an easygoing manner with carelessness.”
“I can see that. I want you to know, ma’am, that I have been much torn, knowing the pain that what I believed was the truth would have caused you and your family. I am extremely fond of Alexander and Constantine.”
“As they are of you, my dear. Of course, I will begin to look for another tutor for the twins.” The duchess looked somewhat downcast at the thought. “In the meantime, I do hope that you will continue to stay with us as our guest.”
Megan stared, completely caught off guard by the request. “You want me to stay here? After what I have done?”
“Why, yes. We are all quite fond of you, not just the twins. And Theo tells me that you and he are going to look into the matter of this Mr. Barchester’s lies about Theo. It would seem the easiest thing for you to remain here. I do hope that your father and sister will come to meet us. Theo has told me how close he was to your brother.”
“Of—of course,” Megan agreed, her mind boggling a little at the thought of suggesting to her father that he call on the Duchess of Broughton.
“And if it would not be too much trouble…the twins seem to be doing so well under your tutelage. They are much more willing to work on their studies and stay out of mischief when you are overseeing them. If you could simply check on their work, keep them going in the right direction—only a few minutes a day, really—while I look for another tutor?” The duchess paused, looking hopeful and a little worried.
“Of course,” Megan agreed readily. “I will be more than happy to work with them.”
She started to take her leave, only to have the duchess hold up a hand and say, “By the way, my dear, if you are not a teacher, I confess I am rather curious. All those things that we talked about—the experimental teaching, the problems in the slums. What exactly is it you do, then?”
Megan smiled. “I work for a newspaper.”
“A newspaper? Really? How fascinating. Then the things we discussed—”
“I have written stories about them.”
The duchess brightened considerably. “I would so love to hear about them. Come here, my dear. Sit down and tell me about what you’ve written.”
Megan left the study a good thirty minutes later, feeling somewhat dazed. Things never went as one expected with the Morelands, she reflected.
Eager to atone for her deception with the duchess, she put in a full morning tutoring the twins. A good portion of it was spent going over the same territory she had covered with the duchess that morning. The twins, however, were far more interested in her brother’s death in the jungles of South America and her own plan to unmask his killer than in any of the social ills she had uncovered as a reporter.