Nick nodded. “Yes. Manners and pianoforte and how to dress. As you said.”
Her lips pursed. “That’s all a governess does, is it?”
“I’ve no bloody idea what a governess does,” he admitted. “I only know that I cannot teach her what a lady, or a woman, ought to know. That’s what I want you to do. Start with the basic information and...” He made a vague gesture. “I’m sure whatever you teach her will be fine.”
“How demanding,” she said under her breath.
“I will be reasonable,” he answered with dignity.
This time she couldn’t quite stop the incredulous laugh. “Virtually nothing you’ve done so far has been reasonable.”
He shrugged. “You’re one to talk, Miss Greene. Barging into a gaming hell after hours with a forged note and telling a complete stranger he would be an idiot to reject your proposal.”
Her face colored and she looked abashed. “Did I really say that?”
“Emphatically.” Nick grinned, forgetting that he ought to be businesslike and reserved with her now. “I quaked in my boots.”
She gasped. “You did not!”
“I would have, if I’d not been so astonished by what you said.”
She shook her head. Her blush was a beautiful shade of pink. “Astonished! Vexed, I would say.”
“Perhaps somewhat,” he agreed.
“Somewhat!” She was smiling, and Nick reveled in that. “I should hate to see you truly vexed, then.”
He laughed. “I must confess, Miss Greene, in my world, most proposals are transactional in nature. Nothing is free, and everyone has an ulterior motive.”
Her amusement faded. “I certainly did.”
He leaned back and regarded her thoughtfully. “Yes. But not for your own benefit. That was unusual.”
She looked away, nibbling her lip again. Nick stared at her teeth against her plump flesh and imagined her bitinghisskin, her lips moving over him...
“We haven’t discussed terms,” she said, still staring out the window.
Name them, he thought.Anything.“What do you want?”
She shot him a sideways look from beneath her lashes, and God help him, he thought for a second that she had understood him too well. That she could feel the desire burning through his veins, that she knew he wanted her enough to agree to anything. “Terms of my employment.”
Employment. She, his employee. He, in control of her living. The most unequal relationship. Breathing hard and trying to conceal it, Nick nodded curtly, forcing his mind back to that footing. Employee. Employer. A contract for services not to include anything of an intimate nature.
Nick was used to women wanting something from him. Running an exclusive gambling club appeared to confer an aura of danger and excitement on a man that women found attractive. He’d been flirted with, teased, and outright propositioned, and sometimes he found the offers tempting enough to accept.
But that wasn’t what Miss Greene wanted from him. Mixing pleasure with business only ruined both. Whatever his failings, Nick never neglected business.
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “I propose to engage you as a governess for my ward, Charlotte. I agree and understand that you will also continue to care for Lucinda as you see fit, and I agree to compensate you for her instruction as well. Would one hundred pounds per annum be sufficient salary for instructing two young ladies?”
Her eyes popped in astonishment at the amount. “Yes, indeed!”
“To achieve this, I propose that you and Lucinda move into my house in Portland Place. Charlotte will also reside there as soon as the petition is filed for the Sydenham viscounty. It’s a large house, mostly empty, but it will provide ample and comfortable accommodation for everyone. I am rarely there, but I have a superb staff. You may bring your own servants as well, if you wish,” he added as she opened her mouth.
She closed her mouth, nonplussed.
Nick tilted back his head. “In return, you shall surrender all your research regarding the Sydenham title and allow my attorney to conduct the petition through the appropriate channels. I don’t question your knowledge, your abilities, or your determination in assembling it,” he said as she colored up again, her eyes flashing. “It is not to snub you, only to put the matter into the hands of a well-qualified solicitor who has experience and connections to speed the process along. Because”—he leaned forward, his voice becoming coldly serious—“it will not be filed, nor spoken of, nor even mentioned in public, until there is no scintilla of doubt that it will succeed, and I choose Grantham to accomplish that.” He paused. “Do we have an understanding, Miss Greene?”
She sat stiffly, tensed as if about to lunge forward and slap him. Her hands were fists in her lap, one white knuckle showing through a small rip in her glove. Her bosom rose and fell rapidly, fluttering one of the ribbons from her bonnet where it caught on a button of her pelisse. If he weren’t so focused on her eyes, which blazed furiously at him, Nick would have enjoyed the sight.
