The Governess Game (Girl Meets Duke #2)(71)

“Chase, what are you talking about?”

“Our wedding. What else should I be talking about?”

“I don’t know. Something that might actually happen?”

He pushed his plate aside, propped a forearm on the table, and leaned forward to speak in a low voice. “I told you last night, this means always. You said you wanted that, too.”

“Of course I want that,” she whispered back. “But marriage?”

“You said you wouldn’t be my mistress.”

“You said you couldn’t offer me anything more.”

“I changed my mind,” he said.

“So did I,” she replied.

He tapped one finger on the table. “I’m confused.”

“Consider this. If the comet is my comet, I can find someone who’ll pay to name it. Perhaps enough that I can be an independent woman with a home of my own. Your lover, not your mistress.”

“I’ve had my share of lovers, and several other men’s shares, as well. I don’t need one more.”

Alex sighed. “You can’t marry me. My father was an American who made his living in trade. My mother was an illegitimate mestiza. I was christened Catholic. I’ve no money, no relations. For heaven’s sake, you’re going to be a duke. I’m the governess.”

His eyes flashed with emotion. “After months of needling me about commitment, you’re refusing my proposal. You’ve spent all summer telling Rosamund and Daisy that a woman can do anything. Now you’re going to tell them you can’t be a duchess. Were you lying to us all this time, or are you deceiving yourself now?”

“I don’t know.” A lump thickened in her throat.

He reached across the table and took her hand in his, tenderly stroking the back of her fingers with his thumb. “I’m sorry. We needn’t sort it all out this morning. I just want to be with you.”

“I want to be with you, too.”

He kissed her hand. “Then let’s go be together at home. I miss our mattress.”

She loved that he called it their mattress.

She loved him.

Maybe . . . just maybe . . . this time, her hoping wouldn’t end in disappointment. Perhaps dreams could come true. She wasn’t wishing on a star. She had a comet now.

Adding in the coach journey, by the time they returned to Mayfair it was mid-morning. Alex planned to do nothing with the day, save for dragging herself into the house for a bath and a nice long sleep—in Chase’s arms, if it could possibly be managed.

Upon arriving at Reynaud House, however, their plans for a rest were immediately abandoned. Mrs. Greeley rushed from the house before the carriage had even come to a halt.

“Oh, Mr. Reynaud. Thank the Lord you’ve returned.”

“Good God, what is it?”

“Rosamund and Daisy, sir. They’re gone. They’ve run away.”





Chapter Thirty-Two


“Run away?” Alex echoed, hoping that she might have misheard the housekeeper.

Mrs. Greeley broke down in tears.

Chase didn’t wait for further confirmation. He bolted into the house, and Alex followed him.

Together they rushed up to the nursery and across the room to the open window. A knotted rope ladder dangled from the windowsill down to the street.

Oh, no. Oh, Lord.

Alex flew to the girls’ trunk and dug through it frantically, all the way to the bottom. Just as she’d feared. “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“Rosamund’s bundle. I came upon it by accident once, weeks ago. She had money squirreled away. All those pennies and shillings added up to a significant amount. There were other things, too. Like maps and coaching timetables.”

“And you didn’t do anything about it? Christ, Alex.”

She wilted under his stare. “I didn’t want her to know I’d found it.”

“You should have told me. You should have taken it away.”

“She would have only packed a new one. The best way to keep her from running was to make her feel she had a home. And I thought she was feeling that way lately. I can’t imagine what might have changed her mind.”

Chase shook his head. “The letters. It has to have been the letters.”

“What letters?”

“Letters from every decent boarding school in England, offering the girls admission. I left them on the desk last night.”

“Oh, no.”

“She probably came down hoping to pocket a shilling or two and saw them.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “Where will they have gone?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps toward a port city.”

“A port city?”

She briefly closed her eyes, feeling sick. “They may be planning to pose as boys and find work aboard a ship.”

Chase swore with a viciousness to rival even the most black-hearted pirate.

Alex cursed herself. She ought to have known. Rosamund hadn’t joined the piracy game to indulge her whims. She’d been paying attention. Not only gaining the skills required of a ship’s boy, but learning how and where to find work. All this time, Alex had been striving to make the girls feel they had a home. Instead, she’d given Rosamund lessons in how to run away, so fast and fearlessly that no one could catch them.