A cough arose from the corridor. Ashley lifted his head to find her maid glaring at him, displeasure evident on her face. “Miss?” she said.
Ashley set Sophia away from him a little and smiled at the look of wonder in her eyes. He liked the way he felt when he was in her company. He didn’t feel like a jaded old outcast. He felt like he had many, many years ago, when the world was his to conquer.
“Miss?” the maid said again, louder this time.
“Yes, yes,” Sophia said, her voice full of irritation. “I heard you.”
“Did you, miss?” the maid asked.
She should be sacked for such impertinence.
“Your brother said for me to join you here.”
“Of course, he did,” Sophia quipped with an eye roll. She stepped back from Ashley and he immediately felt the loss of her.
“I should like to have a word with you,” the maid said.
“Of course, you would,” Sophia said, her voice glib. She dropped into a playful little curtsy that brought a smile to his lips. She started to brush past him. But he caught her hand.
“Will I see you later?” he asked, allowing his thumb to brush slowly across the back of her hand.
“Will you be playing?” she whispered.
“I will,” he affirmed.
“Then I will see you later, I’m certain. Unless my brother locks me in my chamber.”
“Which very well may happen,” chimed the maid.
Over his dead body. “That would be tragic,” he said, instead. She winked at him as she moved toward the door. But almost as soon as she passed, Wilkins appeared. “Did you need something?” Ashley asked.
“The new governess,” Wilkins said. “There’s already a problem with her.”
A problem? The woman had just arrived. “What sort of problem?”
“I took the new governess to make Lady Anne’s acquaintance, and Anne refused to come out of the wardrobe.”
Good God, would his life ever become normal? Not bloody likely. “So, pull her out of the damn wardrobe.”
“The new governess attempted that. And Lady Anne bit her on the arm. Then she dashed from her chambers and now we cannot find her.”
Blast and damn. “Did she do much damage to the governess?”
Wilkins shrugged. “Negligible.”
Negligible for Anne was not the same negligible as for other children. Anne could do a lot of damage in a short amount of time when she set her mind to it.
Ashley swiped at his nose with his handkerchief as he walked toward the door. “How does it look?” he asked Wilkins, lifting his head a notch and scrunching up his nose.
“Painful,” the servant said, wincing a little in sympathy.
“Did I mop up all the blood?”
“Except for what’s on your cravat,” Wilkins informed him. Simmons would be none too pleased. Wilkins looked across the room and said, “And on the rug.” He looked a little perturbed at the latter. “I suppose it couldn’t be avoided,” he finally acquiesced.
“I suppose not,” Ashley said with a grunt, swiping at his nose one more time. Damn but that did hurt. It was no more than he deserved, however. “I should have let you set up an assignation for me, Wilkins.” It certainly would have been more convenient than falling for a pretty little lass with flashing eyes, the sweetest lips he’d ever tasted, and a will to match his own. Not to mention her pugilist of a brother. “Remind me where Anne hid last time?” he prompted the butler.
“No one can find Lady Anne when she does not want to be found, Your Grace. We usually have to let her come out on her own.”