The Arrogant Duke

CHAPTER TWO

The following day after their arrival, Yvette informed Grace that Jessamine Thompson was in fact looking for a governess for her two young children. Yvette also informed her that Jessamine Thompson was currently residing with his older brother, Edward Knight, whom she was once betroth to.

At first, Grace hesitated to apply for the job offered by Yvette, but she couldn’t care less if she had to see Edward Knight everyday by accepting the job. Her son, James, solely depended on her now.

The inheritance James had left them upon his death was large enough to sustain the lifestyle they had in Boston, but it will not be enough to provide her son quality education for the sake of his own future.

“Mama, where are we going?” James asked his mother, as they walked a long road towards the Mansfield Manor.

“Mama is going to visit an old friend.” Grace replied promptly. “Now, promise me that you will be on your best behavior, alright?”

“I will,” James promised. “Will there be kids there, just like me?”

“There are,” Grace smiled. “A girl your age, and a boy a year younger than you are.”

“And will we get to play?” he asked excitedly.

“Maybe,” Grace was unsure herself. She was nervous, and she couldn’t deny it herself.

Although she and Jessamine had been great friends in the past, something always bothered her about being around Edward Knight, maybe his intimidating eyes? Chills ran down at the back of her spine just thinking about how he looked at her. The fact that she had eloped with another man for Edward made it even worse.

“Mama, who lives here?” James asked curiously at the sight of the Mansfield Manor. “Does the Queen live here? Lorelai told me that Aunt Veronica told her that the Queen lived in England. Are we going to visit the Queen?”

“No,” Grace laughed heartily. “But a Duke does live here.”

“What is a Duke?”

“You wouldn’t understand yet, James.” Grace told her son. “So, I will tell you when you’re all grownup.”

“When I am as big as Daddy?”

Grace simply nodded, “yes.”

Grace had been allowed by the butler to enter. Apparently, the Mansfield Manor had not changed butlers in the last five years. It was still kind Mr Ferris Parker who served the Duke.

“It has been a very long time, Lady Grace.” Mr Parker greeted cheerfully, he still remembered that the Lady Grace had been kind to him and his young family.

“It is Mrs Sullivan now,” she corrected. “But thank you, Ferris.”

“You’re very much welcome.” Mr Parker led her to the sitting room and ordered the footmen to serve teas and a snack for little James. He went to fetch the head of the household attendants, Ellen Moore.

Grace could hear chatter across the hall. “Lady Jessamine did in fact instruct me to hire a governess, if and only if she has reference. She would like to interview the applicant as well, but she is currently out with the Duke.” Grace presumed that it was Ellen.

“But she is no ordinary governess, Ellen,” Mr Parker insisted, trying to stop Ellen from walking inside the room without knowing that the applicant is a baron’s daughter. “She is Lady Grace Hamilton, daughter of the Baron of Guilford.”

“Oh my,” Grace heard Ellen gasp loudly. She ran inside the sitting room and curtseyed before Grace who sat stiffly on the settee. “I apologize for my loud mouth. I am sure that you heard me blabbering in the hallway. Forgive me.”

“No,” Grace shook her head. “Please stand up.”

“Your Ladyship,” Ellen kept her head down as she stood up.

“Please, I insist that I be called with my first name. Just Grace will do fine.” Grace said to her. “Besides, I am no longer a Hamilton, I am a Sullivan now, my husband’s wife.”

“But still,” Ellen swallowed hard. “You are still your father’s daughter.”

“I doubt that.” Grace saddened at the thought of her father disowning her. “Going back, the job?”

“It is still available, but the daughter of the Baron, a governess?” Ellen questioned. “I think it is not right, especially with Lady Jessamine’s children …”

“I have a child of my own,” Grace looked at his son, only to find out that he was no longer on the settee. “He must have wandered off somewhere. Ellen, I am not unfamiliar with work. I think that I am a very dependable woman. I’ve worked alongside my husband at his workplace a dozen of times before, and I believe that I am an intelligent woman capable of teaching and caring for little children as I have with my own son.”

Ellen appeared shock. “You will have to talk with Lady Jessamine, but for me I say that it is a ‘yes’. You have the job. You may use the guestroom at the west wing.”

Grace looked disappointed. “I can manage myself in the servant’s quarters well. Besides, I have a son. I could not possibly take a room where the Duke and his family rests.”

“I insist,” Ellen replied. “And so will Lady Jessamine when she arrives.”

“Is she with the Duke?” Grace asked curiously.

“Yes,” Ellen nodded. “But they will be arriving soon, so please make yourself comfortable. Your luggage will be sent up to your room, but where is your luggage?”

“I will take care of it.” Grace smiled reassuringly.

Edward jumped off of the carriage as soon as it stopped, it had been a long morning considering that he himself had to overtake the job that his workers had been doing for months without any progress being done.

He thought that he should treat himself to a glass of whiskey before sleeping the day off, but first he would have to see his niece and nephew, Georgina and Louis.

Mr Parker was quick to welcome the Duke home.

“The children?” Edward asked.

“I believe that they are in the garden, Your Grace.”

Edward said nothing more and proceeded to the garden.

As Edward looked around, he saw no traces of either Georgina or Louis in the garden. They were probably in the school room since it was already past noon. He knew that their current governess, Lorena will be leaving as soon as a replacement was found, but in the mean time she would have to serve the duke.

Edward turned to go to his study and proceed to drinking, but a voice that came from just around the large tree stopped him from doing so.

“Daddy,” a child? Could it be Louis? “Daddy?”

No, it was most definitely not their Louis. He would never address his father as ‘daddy’, it might be a child who accidentally trespassed in the property.

As Edward suspected, it was not Louis. It was a little boy with a head of curly hair and brown eyes. “Who are you?” he asked. “Why are you here?”

“My name is James,” the boy replied enthusiastically. “I’m looking for my Daddy.”

“Where is he?” Edward sit to the little boy’s level, clearly he was not British. He must be American, and clearly he did not know who he was. “I didn’t see your Daddy around here.”

“Well, Mama said that Daddy went to heaven. He hasn’t come back yet, so I was looking for him.”

Just who is this child?