Nell Read Online Free PDF Page A

the light of his candle, she saw his features had grown tight. ‘You are so young.’
    Impatient, Nell nipped this in the bud. ‘We have been over all that, Lord Jarrow. If you have something to say, speak plainly, if you please.’
    A sigh escaped him. ‘Perhaps I should have been plainer at the outset.’
    ‘That is past mending, sir. But the present will do very well.’
    He was obliged to admit that she was right. He smiled faintly. ‘Since you will have it, Miss Faraday, you must understand that we are informal here. Circumstances—into which I shall not drag you—are such that there are but five servants.’
    Nell could not help the shock. ‘Only five! In a place of this nature?’
    She then wished she had held her peace, for her employer’s features closed in. She noted the tightening muscle at his jaw and resentment in the dark eyes. Had shenot guessed he was purse-pinched? She had not meant to embarrass him.
    ‘I beg your pardon, sir. I was surprised just for the moment.’ She saw a slight relaxation in his face and hurried on. ‘I have met the butler and Detling, and you mentioned your housekeeper. Who are the other two?’
    Jarrow answered her smoothly enough. ‘Duggan, my daughter’s nurse. And then there is Grig, who is best described as a general help.’
    Nell felt absurdly guilty for his discomfort. ‘I dare say your household is small enough for them to manage?’
    ‘There is only my daughter and my brother-in-law beside myself. But, no, they can’t manage. Which is why I would not trouble Mrs Whyte, who is busy cooking dinner, with the trivial task of showing the new governess to her chamber.’
    Aware of sounding irritable, Jarrow made an effort to control his voice. Was it the girl’s fault that he had come to this? She was eyeing him with a look that he was at a loss to interpret, and he made a discovery. Her eyes were green. Not that blue-grey colour that was often taken for green. They were a clear and darkish green, like the forest just before dusk.
    She did not speak, and he felt all the more conscious of his unnecessary harshness. It behoved him to soften what he had said.
    ‘The truth is, Miss Faraday, that neither Toly nor myself make many demands upon the servants. Keston valets us both—which is to say he looks after our clothes. Neither of us is so pampered that we cannot dress ourselves, I am happy to say. We keep to these upper rooms for the most part, and our visitors are few and infrequent. We do no entertaining. Indeed, we have been quiet here for some time, even before—’
    He broke off. The governess was silent, and only a slight frown between fair brows showed that she had noticed his jarring halt. There was no reason not to say it. With difficulty, he resumed.
    ‘We could hardly have been anything but quiet here—since the death of my wife.’
    The compassion in her face repulsed him even before she expressed it.
    ‘Naturally you could not, sir. I am so sorry.’
    It was out before he could stop it. ‘Why the devil should you be? You know nothing of her!’ He caught himself up, clamping down on his hasty temper. ‘Don’t heed me, pray.’
    Nell felt the more sorry for him. She could not doubt but that Lord Jarrow was still raw from his loss. She wished she knew how long it had been. Not that it mattered. It had taken years before she could think of Papa with any degree of calm, with the result that she had banished all thought of him for fear of breaking down.
    There was nothing she could say to mitigate her employer’s pain, so she had as well hold her peace. His grief had best be left to himself.
    But Jarrow, having recovered his temper, was disgusted with himself. ‘You must think me a boorish creature, Miss Faraday, but I promise you I am not always so well fitted to this hideous castle of mine.’
    This was absurd, and Nell could not repress a reproving look. Lord Jarrow was moved to grin at her.
    ‘You are not come to be governess to me, Miss