Tense beyond belief and gritting his teeth so hard it made his jaws hurt, Watson began to guide Lady Florentia back around the pond and through the maze, headed for the house.
“Quintin, please will you go on to the house and request some refreshments?” Watson suggested to the steward when he noticed him walking alongside Lady Florentia’s personal maid behind them.
“Of course, Your Grace,” Quintin responded, hurrying past the two of them and out of the maze, having grown used to it over the many years he had lived and worked at the manor.
Watson watched him go, for a moment wishing that he had switched places with him, if only for the simplicity of his life rather than the current situation that he found himself in. He could already imagine what his daughter must be thinking and how she might revert back to bad habits if she were so inclined to do so after such a knock.
He waited patiently until they were in the drawing room before he said to Lady Florentia, “I thought that we agreed you would not meet Lady Amy until I was prepared for you to do so.”
“Watson, I am truly sorry for springing this upon you, but I fear that you might never have been ready,” Lady Florentia replied, coming to stand behind him where he had taken to standing before the floor-to-ceiling window where he could just see over the rose garden maze.
Though he could not see them still lying there, Watson could imagine that Miss Percival and his daughter had gone right back to lounging. Maybe his daughter might even be comfortable enough with her current governess to express her concerns. In fact, he hoped that she would. At least then she would not be holding it all in.
Watson cringed a little when he felt Lady Florentia’s hand upon his back. He knew that she was right, and he might never have been ready for her to meet his daughter, but he also knew that he had every right to feel that way. For so long it had been only him and Amy. In fact, she was the only reason he was even entertaining the idea of courtship.
“Lady Florentia, you are too strong-headed,” he said simply, knowing it was his own fault. He had chosen Lady Florentia for her narrow-minded, intelligent nature, hoping that she would be a good influence upon his daughter for the fact that she was both of those things and yet always knew to be a lady and follow the rules.
“I was concerned, Your Grace,” Lady Florentia responded, clearly unfazed by his calling her strong-headed. “There has been much talk in town.”
Watson’s stomach clenched then. He had the horrible feeling that he knew exactly what the woman was talking about. Gritting his teeth, he continued to stare out of the window, disheartened by what she was practically accusing him of.We noblemen are always expected to be unable to keep our hands to ourselves, it seems,he thought, slightly annoyed by what Lady Florentia was already implying.
“Talk of what?” he asked when she did not immediately continue.
“Your governess,” Lady Florentia said and there was an edge to her voice that had been there in the garden, one that suggested she was most unimpressed. “And I have seen for myself now why they talk of her so. She is quite the handsome maid indeed.”
Watson could not stop the way that his entire body tensed at the mention of Miss Percival, nor could he ignore the fact that he disliked hearing talk of her from Lady Florentia’s lips.
“I cannot say that I had noticed,” he responded, feeling instantly ashamed of himself the moment that the words left his lips. Yet he knew it would have done no good to admit to Florentia that he found Matilda extraordinarily beautiful.
Lady Florentia stepped up beside him, her hands now clasped before her, seeming to stare out of the window also.
“Were you aware of the fact when you hired her?” she asked and even without looking at her, Watson could feel her looking at him from the corner of her eye.
“I was not,” Watson responded simply. Though he did not like the idea of being questioned in such a manner, he was well aware that it would only make the situation much worse if he were to try and deny answering the questions at all. “Mr Mulgrave was my eyes and ears during the hiring process as I have mentioned to you before and the old man is not one for picking up on appearances.”
Watson clasped his hands firmly behind his back and drew back his shoulders, hoping to look far less tense than he felt. Though he had chosen Lady Florentia for her no-nonsense attitude and her strength as well as her being easy upon the eye, Watson was struggling with the fact that very slowly, she was becoming quite infuriating and even a little annoying.
“Miss Percival was picked for her intelligence and her experience,” he continued when Lady Florentia said nothing. “And that is all I shall say on the matter.”
In truth, it did not matter to him what Lady Florentia thought of his reasoning for hiring Miss Percival, as either way, he would not be cowed into changing anything. Miss Percival was the perfect match for his daughter, something he had been looking for since the very first governess arrived at Thistledown Manor.
“Are you quite certain?” Lady Florentia asked and this time she turned to look at him openly, clearly expecting for him to change his mind. Sucking in a deep breath, Watson turned his gaze upon the woman, and held eye contact silently for quite some time.
“Yes, Lady Florentia. I am quite certain.”
Chapter 7
Though Matilda and her charge returned quickly to their reading, the governess could feel the tension coming off the young girl in waves. At first, she tried to ignore it, wondering whether the girl might need a few minutes alone with her thoughts to calm herself. Maybe then, she would speak.
But as the silence drew on and Amy continued to flick angrily through the pages of her book, not actually seeming to have remained on any one page long enough to have read it, Matilda knew she could wait no longer.
“Lady Florentia appeared to be quite the character, did she not?” she said, continuing to look at her book even though she was watching Lady Amy out of the corner of her eye, trying to catch the girl’s response without giving herself away.
“She is something alright!” Lady Amy responded, sounding quite angry. Out of the corner of her eye, Matilda saw the girl lift her arm swiftly and a moment later the governess heard something plopping into the pond beyond them. Matilda guessed that in her irritation, Lady Amy had thrown a stone or a twig. “She is insipid. She is arrogant. She is infuriating!”
Another plop came along with Lady Amy’s ranting and Matilda had to admit that the young girl had quite the vocabulary, especially when it came to things that boiled her blood.
“Am I wrong in believing that is the first time you have met the lady?” Matilda asked. Closing her book, she placed it back on the grass beside her and sat up so that she could look at Amy. She was more than a little relieved at how easily the girl was speaking to her, even if she was angry.