Only four more weeks! Elise had assured her that Lord St. Claire Richmond was always back in London by the New Year, so she would have to endure his unwanted gallantries and seductive ways for only twenty-eight more days at the most; 668 hours: 40,000 minutes, more or less.
She adjusted herself to a more comfortable position on the low chair by the hearth in the morning parlor but did not often dare to raise her eyes from her mending. Whenever she did, Lord St. Claire, who sat with his sister-in-law and her guests, would catch her eye and smile or do whatever it was he did with those amazing blue eyes of his. Somehow, with just a glance he could take her breath away.
Why did he insist on singling her out for his subtle flirtation, Celestine fumed, presenting an outwardly calm demeanor as she stitched a hem on a tablecloth. Though she sat in the parlor with the family, she had purposely put distance between herself and the others. She knew that Lady Langlow was a stickler for a rigidly observed partition between the classes, and as a governess she had descended from her born position as a lady of gentility. The marchioness was a snob, in other words, though she would surely not describe herself that way. Nor would society. Those of her own position would say that she knew her place and expected others to, as well.
Celestine brooded on about the brother of her employer. The only place she had been safe from his flattery and smiles was the schoolroom, but as it was the holiday season Lady Langlow liked to see her little girls, dressed prettily and on their best behavior, down in the drawing room for company and she wanted Miss Simons there as well.
Her only salvation was Mr. Foster, the vicar, who was kind and gentle and would sit beside her and make pleasant, unthreatening conversation. He didn’t flirt and he didn’t say inappropriate things or embarrass her. But the vicar only visited occasionally, twice since Lord St. Claire had arrived, and only stayed a half hour when he came.
If she had not been dependent on her position in the household for her livelihood, she would have had no compunction about putting the nobleman in his place. As it was, all she could do was retreat and try to avoid him. And wonder why he plagued her so.
Gwen was getting tired, Celestine thought, hearing the familiar whine in the child’s voice as her mother attempted to coax a song from her younger daughter. There were two neighborhood ladies visiting and Lottie was having a wonderful time being plied with attention and sweetmeats. But Gwen was tired and was not behaving as well as she sometimes could.
“Perhaps I should take Gwen upstairs, my lady? She might be sleepy.” Celestine stood, coming out of the shadows as she spoke. Attracting anyone’s attention was far from her mind, but she was aware that St. Claire’s gaze had swiveled toward her at the sound of her quiet voice.
“That may be best, Miss Simons.” Lady St. Claire gratefully handed Gwen over to the governess. She was a good and indulgent mother, but not the most patient person in the world. She was occasionally harder on Gwen than was necessary, especially concerning what she thought of as the girl’s stubborn refusal to learn more quickly. She refused to acknowledge that Gwen was not as quick mentally as Lottie and should not be judged by the other child’s precociousness.
The little girl was, indeed, sleepy, and held her arms up to be carried, so Celestine picked her up, staggering under the little girl’s dead weight. Either the child was growing heavier or she was not as strong as she used to be. The wear and tear on her muscles was excruciating and her fingers ached where the weight of the plump child strained them. But then a moment later she felt the child being pulled from her arms and found that his lordship was taking his niece from her.
“Let me carry her for you. She is too heavy and you are not overly strong, I think.” St. Claire gazed down at her with some concern.
To Celestine’s surprise the expression seemed genuine, and it was accompanied by a smile; not a flirtatious smile, just a friendly smile. Lady Langlow cast a suspicious look their way, and Celestine blenched. Her ladyship’s suspicions must not be aroused, or her position was in danger, as she had learned from the marchioness’s own mouth. If Miss Chambly had been dismissed, Celestine was in danger from the aristocrat’s gallantry, too.
“I can carry her perfectly well, my lord!” She tried to take Gwen back into her arms. “Please, I am used to it, I—”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” he said brusquely, cutting off her babbling. “Lead the way, Miss Simons. I only want to be of service to you, you know.”
“Oh, very well,” she sighed. She dared not catch a glimpse of Lady Langlow’s face, as she hastened to precede her tormentor from the room and up the long staircase. Her cheeks burned and her movements felt jerky and inelegant, so very aware was she that he was behind her and watching her progress, no doubt. When they got to the third floor and then the room Gwen shared with Lottie, Celestine turned, one hand on the porcelain knob. “I’ll take her now, my lord. I’ll put her to bed for a little nap and make sure Elise knows.”
With sparkling blue eyes, he put one finger to his lips. “Shhh. She’s already asleep, and transferring her would just wake her up. Open the door, if you please.”
And he was right, of course. Gwen was asleep on his shoulder, one thumb in her mouth. Celestine did as she was bid and followed him in as he glanced back at her. The room was decorated in pastel shades of green with cream accents, a pretty, restful room with a small chamber off of it for Elise, the children’s maid.
“Which bed?” he asked.
“Which . . . oh, which bed is Gwen’s!” She flushed guiltily, aware that she had been too conscious of his strong form and masculine scent to remember that he wouldn’t know which bed was the little girl’s. Such inattentiveness was unlike her, and she couldn’t imagine what had gotten into her. She was normally so sensible. She pointed to the one near the wall and rushed over to it, pulling down the heavy brocade cover.
St. Claire, with a gentleness astounding in such a normally careless man, laid his niece down on the bed and Celestine pulled up the covers. The governess then tucked the little girl in, smoothed back an errant curl and kissed her forehead.
She rose to find St. Claire’s eyes on her. She straightened and started to move past him.
“Wait,” he whispered, laying one hand on her arm. “Why do you always run away from me?”
“I don’t run, my lord.” She gazed toward the door with longing. The warmth of his hand burned through the light fabric of her sleeve. Why did she suddenly feel so breathless?
“Yes, you do; you run. And avoid me whenever I come near you. Am I so hideous?”
The question caught her by surprise and she looked him full in the face, straight into glinting eyes, bright with humor and warmth. He moved closer to her and she felt her free hand creep to her bosom, over her pounding heart. “Hideous? Of course not, you are exceptionally . . . you know you are very—”
“And you stammer in my presence.” His voice was deep, with a seductive timbre that carried only to her. “Am I so frightening, my dear?” he continued.
Every sense in her body was alert, aware of him. He was warm and strong and smelled of spice and tobacco, with a hint of fresh outdoors. She was so close that when she glanced up, she could see the faint dark shadow of whiskers along his strong jaw. She didn’t think she had ever been this close to a man in all her years—or maybe it only felt that way—and it was arousing disturbing sensations. Her heart pounded, her blood coursed hot through her veins and her breath was coming in short gasps.
“No, of course not, it’s just . . .” She sighed, pulled her arm from his grasp and moved past him out to the hall. He was impossible. And impossible to hate although she had tried, knowing his actions could lose her her position. Why did he have such a profound effect on her when she knew him for what he was, a heartless flirt who had cost the last poor girl her position with the St. Claires and apparently did not care?
He caught up with her, gently closed the door behind him and took her hand in his. She gasped and pulled it away, hiding it behind her with the other, twisting them together in her skirt.
“I must go,” she said, and ran down the hall to her own room, closing the door.
St. Claire heard the faint scratch of her latch being fastened and chuckled to himself. She tried to pretend indifference to him, but she was not indifferent. Far from it. It was like Eve and the serpent, he thought. She was sorely tempted by him, and he had only to name the time and place for her to succumb completely. Women were so very predictable.
• • •
It was her evening off at last, and Celestine dressed carefully for choir practice in the village church. She donned her second-best dress, a lavender muslin with a fine lawn tucker and pale green ribbons. Then she slipped on her best gloves and fit her bonnet, hideous creation as it was, on her neat brown hair. Mr. Foster would be there, and she liked to look her best. She flushed faintly at the turn her mind had taken. It had not escaped her notice that the vicar was uncommonly polite to her and went out of his way to secure her company if he was able.
Was she hoping for marriage, perhaps? Yes, she supposed she was. Marriage, a home and a family to look after would be the pinnacle of her dreams. Was it too high to look, to think that the vicar of Ellerbeck might choose her in marriage? Not at all, she told herself stoutly, as she was of very good family, landed gentry of probably higher rank than Mr. Foster. She had nothing to be ashamed of in her background, even if she had sunk to paid employment. She stood in front of the scarred mirror, straightened her bonnet, and caught sight of her large gray eyes.
“Oh, Papa,” she whispered, caught as she always was by her resemblance to him, at least in the eyes. Poor Papa. Toward the end he had seemed to be all eyes, large and gray and luminous, as he lay, wizened and emaciated, in his bed of pain. And then on that last day, in his fevered agony, his eyes had looked sunken but oh, so peaceful when at last he said, “Celestine, I see the angels!” and had expired.
Brushing an errant tear from her freckled cheek, she did the one thing that always cheered her and took out the fine gold locket with the two miniatures, one of her mother and one of her father, and pinned it to her dress. She couldn’t afford a chain for it, but it would be pinned over her heart, where it belonged.
With a deep breath, she straightened her sleeves, donned her gray pelisse, worn at the cuffs but still serviceable, and descended to the front hall to await Elise and Mrs. Jacobs, the housekeeper. Their one weekly indulgence was choir practice, and going out the front to the carriage was a concession to practicality, that being the easiest place for the coachman to pull up.
Albert, one of the footmen, bowed to her. “The rest are already in the carriage, Miss. Coachman said to hurry; he don’t like the cattle to stand in this cold weather.”
Celestine bustled out, down the front steps, and took the groom’s arm as he helped her up into the coach. Inside were Elise, Mrs. Jacobs, and . . . Lord St. Claire!
“My lord,” she breathed, forced to take a seat by him as the housekeeper and maid shared the other seat with their backs to the horses.
His wicked grin in the dim confines of the carriage rattled her nerves. What was he doing? Why was he there?
“Miss Simons. I felt a desire to hear the choir at practice for the Yuletide festivities I have heard are the highlight of the year in Ellerbeck.”
Elise giggled and the housekeeper beamed beneficently on the younger brother of her employer. Such condescension on his part was an enormous compliment.
“Surely you have seen the Christmas pageant before. I am informed that it is performed every year,” Celestine said, her voice sharper than she had intended.
“Ah, but you are wrong, Miss Simons. Oh, perhaps in my youth, but I did not spend much time here as a child, as you know. We often traveled to my maternal grandmother’s for Christmas, so no, I have not seen the Ellerbeck festival for many years.”
“But do you not spend every Christmas here?”
“Almost every one,” he admitted. “But I still have not attended the Christmas pageant in years.”
“We are honored by your presence, my lord,” Mrs. Jacobs said, ponderously.
“Surely our little choir is not worth your notice, sir, not when you have no doubt been in boxes in London and heard the best sopranos, the most accomplished of tenors—”
“I think our little choir is quite fine,” the housekeeper said, bridling at the implied criticism. She had picked up an elaborately genteel accent from Lady Langlow’s maid, though she didn’t always remember to use it, so she pronounced quite as quaite and fine as fane. She dropped it as her defense of the local choir became more boisterous. “Mr. Jenks, the choirmaster, why he’s bin to London himself and heard some o’ that foreign rubbish and says, give him an honest English voice any day!”
Celestine flushed. “I did not mean to insult our intrepid band of singers, Mrs. Jacobs.”
After that, Celestine stayed silent, gazing out the window at the darkened landscape, touched by faint moonlight, listening to the nobleman’s fulsome praise and Elise’s giggled responses, offered as counterpoint to Mrs. Jacobs’s heavy courtesy. She pondered the man’s actions in accompanying them. What could he be about? Was he so starved for something to do that he considered a choir practice entertainment?
They all disembarked at the church, their male companion helping each down from the carriage. He held Celestine’s gloved hand just a fraction longer than necessary, and his warmth penetrated through the material.
She turned to him, undecided about his motives, and gazed up at his smiling face. “No matter what Mrs. Jacobs says, you must know that our little group is nothing special to hear.” She glanced up the dark walk, where Elise and the housekeeper were already entering the vestibule of the church. She must not hang back too long with Lord St. Claire or it would surely be noted. “You would have been better off staying at Langlow and asking Lady Langlow to favor you with a tune on the piano. She has a lovely voice.”
“I have heard Elizabeth sing many times, and this evening jaunt has other joys that Langlow doesn’t boast,” he said, pulling her closer to him.
Celestine could not make out his meaning, nor the teasing tone in his voice. She was sharply aware of the heat that emanated from him and the spicy scent of his hair pomade. He smelled and looked absolutely delicious and she was sure he knew it. Though she could not summon the energy or desire to pull away from him, she attempted to ignore the way he squeezed her fingers gently and then put his hand in the middle of her back as they moved toward the church. She was horribly conscious of it, though, the warm pressure causing a flood of pink in her pale cheeks.
She had never thought herself susceptible to masculine good looks, but it seemed she was as silly as the greenest girl. Was it just his looks that made him so desperately attractive, or was there something more she was sensing? Was that why women everywhere fell for a handsome rogue, because they convinced themselves there was something more under the attractive façade? Or was it that handsome men learned early how to use their appearance to influence and seduce women?
They followed the others in through the side entrance, through the dark, echoing hall, to find the rest of the choir already assembled. There was a murmur of whispering voices when they saw the marquess’s brother, but the choirmaster, a rotund little martinet, called for order and immediately told them the program of rehearsal. Celestine forgot anything but the music, the best part of the evening for her.
She mounted to her position, closing out all other thoughts but the program of practice for the evening. At least in this she could find peace. The whispering died down, and Mr. Jenks brought the little choir to order. Then they started.
St. Claire sat in the chill darkness in the family seat, a high-walled box that allowed him to see the choir, illuminated by smoking tallow candles only, but not the rest of the church behind him. Soon, the assembled voices filled the air and he sat back to listen. The governess had been right. The choir was not any different than a hundred country choirs in a hundred country churches.
Celestine. That was her name, though it didn’t really suit her. It should be appended to some gloriously angelic little creature with flaxen hair, rosebud lips and heavenly blue eyes. And she was not that, nor would she ever be. She would suit the name Jane, or Mary, or Ellen, plain honest names to go along with her looks and personality. Why was he expending so much effort and so much time to awaken her interest? Boredom? Pique? It seemed the more she put him off, the harder he tried. It was no longer just to spite his sister-in-law, but for the challenge the mousy governess represented.
He gazed up at the choir, housed in an intricately carved section of seats to the right of the altar, as they sang the “Coventry Carol.” Just then, the chorus of voices hushed to a gentle croon. A clear soprano solo took over, and St. Claire was amazed to see that it was Celestine who sang, her high voice fluting through the darkened chapel and soaring to the heights, echoing in the empty church. Her face was a study of rapture, eyes closed and mouth mobile with the angelic tones she was creating.
Celestial. At least her voice was that, if her appearance wasn’t. He closed his eyes and rested his head back against the heavy English oak of the St. Claire box. With a voice like that she belonged in a chorus of angels, and there he was, trying like the dark angel, Lucifer, to pull down that delicate, fluttering creature for his own needs.
He would enslave her heart, seduce her into acquiescing to caresses that could possibly lose her position, though such was not his intent. He didn’t want Elizabeth to let the girl go. But that was what had happened to the Chambly chit. Just for that one moment he sickened himself. Why could he not leave the poor creature alone in peace? Why indeed?
The words of her song, an ode to the Christ child, faded from his consciousness, leaving only the light, clear tones soaring to the heights of the vaulted ceiling, tugging his long-fallen heart along. As it followed Celestine’s glorious voice to the upper reaches of the church, his heart opened to questions long suppressed. Where was he going in life? What did he really want from an existence that often bored him with its endless social round?
He waited for an answer, clear and lucid, to flutter into his heart and nestle there like a trusting dove. He wanted an answer, needed an answer, but the only one that came was that he had absolutely no idea what he wanted from life! He had never given it a second’s thought in all his misspent years. Beyond the moment, which consisted of seducing a new mistress, or attaining a young girl’s trust, or winning a bet or a game of cards, or downing a fine bottle of Bordeaux, he didn’t know if there even was anything he wanted from life.
There was certainly no need for him to have a purpose. His brother filled the post of marquess with great dignity, intelligence and stolid worth. August had an heir in Gus, and a spare in Bertie, making St. Claire a useless adjunct to the family—an unneeded twig on the family tree. Oh, he had his own estate, Questmere, only fifty or so miles from Langlow, as a matter of fact, but it was capably looked after by a bailiff and would descend to Bertie if anything should happen to him. He visited it only occasionally on his way to or from Langlow to make sure everyone was happy and healthy, which they always were.
He could go his own merry way for the rest of his life and it would affect absolutely no one. He knew that August was getting impatient with his dilettante’s life and was pressuring him to find a young lady from the ton to grace his table and his bed, and to start producing little Richmond babies. But it seemed a useless sort of time filler, to find a young lady for whom any husband of sufficient birth would do and start siring more tiny aristocrats to populate the ton.
He frowned in impatience with himself. Why all the introspection suddenly? Why this sudden urge to find purpose to life? But still his mind toiled on as the beautiful voice soared and swooped, echoing against the high, vaulted ceiling. Questions with no answers. Questions with unsatisfactory answers. Such as . . . had anyone in his whole life ever needed him? The young ladies he squired during the season needed him to lend them countenance as they gracefully swayed to the waltz. They needed him to collect their fan for them when they forgot it in the box after the opera. They needed him to court them, so they could marry well and not disgrace their families. Needed him? Any other man of sufficient birth would do.
It was all so much refuse, litter on the wending roadway of a long and boring life. The years ahead stretched out into one long, intolerable highway of tedium and forgotten dreams, years spent frantically playing at being busy as he moved from house party to London season to country gathering, with or without a family of his own.
He sighed and stretched out his long legs, the organ music of the Ellerbeck music master filling the quaint church with seasonal carols. For some reason he thought of Celestine, her freckled face and great luminous gray eyes, gazing at him with a tormented expression on her sweet, serious countenance.
Luminous? Sweet? Yes, she had those qualities, and likely more. He was doing her a disservice by trying to engage her interest when there could be no ending for it but hurt feelings on her part and empty triumph on his. Somehow in the sacred atmosphere of St. George’s his heart, that long-silent organ of feeling, whispered that he was being thoughtless and cruel, callous to a young woman who must need her position very much. For a young woman of birth and breeding to descend to the rank of a governess, there must be a certain amount of desperation.
It would not do. He must not torture her like that. She was vulnerable to him; he felt it in the very marrow of his bones, and he had been a seducer for long enough to know something like that. He felt a trembling deep in his chest as Celestine’s lovely voice filled the cool darkness once more. It occurred to him that he held her very fate in his large hands. Tears sprang to his eyes. Horrified by his weakness he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and swiftly wiped away the telltale moisture. He was becoming maudlin.
But for those few minutes in the dark it almost seemed that he could hear the sound of angels in her voice, the sweet celestial sounds of heaven, the world beyond St. Peter’s jealously guarded gate. The imagery was irresistible. He was a supplicant outside that gate, on his knees, begging for entrance. And a stern man in white robes asked him that dreaded question: “What have you ever done in your life that is worthy of entrance here?”
If he had never added anything to the plus side of his ledger, at least he would not add this one thing to the negative side. If he did not do another thing in his life, at least he could say to himself that he had left Celestine Simons, virtuous governess, heart-whole. He would leave her virgin heart in peace to find happiness with the vicar perhaps, or some other worthy, dull, honest man who would make her a good husband.
• • •
Celestine lagged behind a chattering Elise and smugly satisfied Mrs. Jacobs as they walked down the short hall to the great gothic-arched wooden doors that led to the outside. Even her conversation with Mr. Foster, brief as it was, had been carried out in a distracted state unlike her usual calm serenity. And the vicar had felt her distraction. He had frowned and bid her “Good evening” coolly.
But another long ride back to Langlow with Lord St. Claire loomed, and she was in no state for it. She always felt fragile, like glass, after a practice in which her solo parts were rehearsed. Singing the holy songs in the sacred confines of St. George’s left her weak and trembling, with a heart so open and full she was always afraid she would weep. Or be shattered by an unkind word.
But when she joined the two ladies it was to find a gravely attentive Lord St. Claire. He handed each of them into the carriage in turn with no lingering pressure or teasing words, and was quietly deferential, treating each woman exactly alike. Her heart flooded with gratitude and relief as he politely turned his remarks to the maid and housekeeper after one questioning glance at Celestine’s drained, pale face.
She had a few moments to gather her wits as Mrs. Jacobs prosed on about the rehearsal, ending with an arch question to the man sitting opposite her.
“And now what do you think of our choir, my lord?” Her double chins quivered in expectation of his answer as her beady eyes glared through the dimness.
“Quite extraordinary, Mrs. Jacobs, just as you said.” His voice was quiet and serious.
Celestine stole a glance at him in the semidarkness. His noble profile was absolutely still for once, with no laughter or teasing looks being tossed this way and that, and no trace of sarcasm in his low, melodious voice. He was handsomer than any man she had ever seen, and even more so, she thought, in his quiet reflection. His nose was straight, his chin firm, his lips . . . best not to think too much about his lips. She often found herself watching them when he spoke, relishing the fullness of the bottom one, and the even white teeth behind.
“I was especially moved by Miss Simons’s solos,” he continued, gazing straight ahead. “They were—”
“Ever so nice, she sings, don’t she? Though her voice is so very high, ain’t it?” That was Elise, buoyed enough by the practice that she ventured an opinion even in such exalted company.
There was a moment of silence from Lord St. Claire, then he spoke again. “I have heard many vocal performances; Miss Simons is right when she said that earlier. But there was something about her singing that left me breathless. It was sublime. I was transported; that is the only word I can think of to describe my feelings. I felt like the gates of heaven had been opened, and I was chosen to hear an angel sing. It was an unforgettable moment that will live in my heart for a long time.”
His voice was absolutely serious and Celestine, in her vulnerable state, felt the tears well up and a lump form in her throat. She choked them back. Not now! she fiercely told herself. But they would come and she must ignore them. They flowed down her face, dripping off her chin onto her gloved hands, twisted together over her reticule. She cloaked a sob with a quiet cough. Then, in the dimness, she felt a pressure on her hand and a large square of fabric, a man’s handkerchief, was being pressed there. One swift glance told her it was Lord St. Claire, though he was not drawing anyone’s attention to her emotionally fragile state.
What a puzzle he was, she thought, as she pressed the deliciously scented square to her eyes. The pressure on her fingers ceased and he left her to her recovery, engaging the other two in a conversation that needed no contribution from her.
• • •
She wept silently, he thought, withdrawing his hand after putting his handkerchief in hers. It seemed his one weak compliment had burst some dam of reserve and her tears had flowed just as his had in the still, resonant reaches of the church. He was touched beyond belief that mere words, a trifling commendation from him, could break her reserve.
Had he ever touched a woman’s heart that way? He was awed by the powerful sensation he had of holding her living, beating heart in his hands and keeping it safe. He wished he could be of more comfort. If only he could put an arm around her shoulder and draw her head down to rest on his chest, she could weep unrestrainedly while he soothed her. He felt an odd tug in the region under his breastbone, as if someone had a string tied to his heart and had pulled it gently. Was he ill? Was this awkward emotionalism the precursor to a bout of the grippe?
He wished to offer Miss Simons aid, and all he could do was keep the chattering maid and the self-satisfied housekeeper busy so they would not inquire after Miss Simons’s silence. He would give her time to recover. And he would leave off his pursuit of her. She was worthy of his respect and self-control, at the very least.
She would suffer no more at his hands.