The Secret Desires of a Governess by Tiffany Clare Page B

narrowed.
    “Or do you just dislike all your governesses?”
    “Don’t like learning. Martha says it won’t do me no good.”
    Abby had to bite her tongue on that. She’d discuss that inappropriate comment with Lord Brendall later on in the evening.
    “Learning, when done with a competent teacher, can be a great deal of fun and very rewarding. Will you at least trust me in that matter? Trust that I can fill our days with fun?”
    He looked back to the book, his eyes narrowed as he gave her a reluctant nod. So she hadn’t won him over yet.
    She’d work on that as the weeks unfolded. He would come to trust her and maybe even like her.
    “I simply wish to assess what level we need to start at in your curriculum. Is there another book you wish to read?”
    “No.”
    It took a great deal of will not to snap the book closed in frustration and toss the bloody thing across the room.
    Abby was beginning to wonder about her sanity in deciding on teaching as her path in life.
    “I’m trying to work with you, Jacob. If you dislike the story, we’ll find another.”
    He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “It’s not that.”
    “Then, pray tell, what is it?”
    “I can’t read the words.”
    Abby barely managed to suppress her gasp of surprise.
    He couldn’t read? How was such a thing possible? The poor child. And those bastard tutors and awful governesses before her! How dare they not teach him the most important thing there was to learn. He must have been sorely neglected in his studies. For heaven’s sake, she’d been reading by the time she was five. Both her sisters, too.
    “Then I will teach you.” There was no questioning that.
    He let out a long- suffering sigh. A boy of eight shouldn’t be driven to make such a sound.
    “Can I go now?”
    Had she been sure he wasn’t embarrassed about the situation, she’d have made him stay. But the child had trusted her with something he obviously didn’t share with everyone. Or perhaps he did, and they’d been too frustrated with Lord Brendall and the boy’s illiteracy to stay on.
    Closing the book gently now that all her frustration had dissipated, she replied, “I want you back here after luncheon. That should give me plenty of time to prepare some lessons for you this afternoon. If you don’t come back, I’ll have to get your father to retrieve you again and I don’t think he’ll be happy to know you disobeyed him.”
    Jacob looked at her, waiting for her dismissal.
    She sighed. “You can leave. But I want to see you back here in one hour.”
    He was on his feet and out the door before she could even finish her sentence. Had she been that impetuous as a child? She shook her head with a smile. Yes, she had been.
    While Jacob ate, she’d have to look for some lettered cards. If there weren’t any, she supposed she could make them. She wasn’t an artist like her sister, but she’d be able to paint something decent, and even a little fun for Jacob.
    It was that exact moment she realized that there was no question of her not staying.
    Now that she’d had the opportunity to sit with Jacob, she wanted to help him, especially since it seemed no one else cared for the boy’s welfare. Aside from his father, who had gone to the trouble to hire her and all the governesses in the past.
    She wanted to make a small difference to someone in the world.
    Added to that, she did not want to leave when she saw more to Lord Brendall than the casual observer might.
    There was something in his character that she craved to explore.

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Chapter 6
    Distraught at the fate of the woman who filled his heart, the prince vowed never to return to the monarch.
    —The Dragon of Brahmors
    “I’d like a moment to speak with you about your son, Lord Brendall.”
    The demand was clear and firm. Her tone brooked no argument.
    He turned his head toward her. Strands of hair covered one side of his brow, shading a clean view of her. He’d been doing nothing more than stare at the