Read Online The Governess Was Wanton by Julia Kelly - Free Book Online Page B

be involved in whatever had made his mistress so happy.
    â€œThank you, thank you, thank you. I promise it will be a night you won’t forget,” Lady Eleanora whispered.
    A little shaky with the anticipation and fear of her decision, Mary nodded. She just hoped it wouldn’t be a night she’d come to regret.

    Asten sat in the little schoolroom where he’d been taught as a boy, mulling over what had just happened. Appealing to a woman—even a governess of Miss Woodward’s talents—for help managing his own daughter might seem unmanly to some, but he didn’t care. Things were not right between him and Eleanora, and he was at a loss for how to fix them. All he knew was that he wanted his daughter back.
    Asking for Miss Woodward’s help had felt natural. Eleanora seemed to like her, speaking highly of Miss Woodward when he quizzed her during their Greek lessons a few days ago. It made him happy to hear the strings of a harp and pianoforte every morning before luncheon. He’d wanted to go investigate, but he didn’t want to stifle whatever magic seemed to be playing out in his home. This afternoon’s outburst aside, Eleanora seemed a little happier. It was so small a change that it would no doubt have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but he could see it. Whatever she was doing, the new governess was a positive influence.
    And then there was Miss Woodward herself. The woman was so competent one might think her all controlled calm except for the flashes that sparked behind her eyes from time to time. That’s when Asten sat up a little straighter and leaned in a little closer. He had a sneaking suspicion that beneath the lessons and high-necked, proper dresses, a vivacious, vibrant woman was straining to be let out. He wanted nothing more than to strip those layers away, revealing a little more of her with each question answered until she stood vulnerable before him, a mystery solved yet no less mysterious than before.
    And then there was the matter of Miss Woodward’s body. He wanted to lay her bare with such a power it squeezed his sanity like a vise. Every time he thought he’d succeeded in convincing himself that the initial flame of attraction that flared up between them after she’d so soundly put Lady Laughlin in her place was a trick of the mind, he’d catch a glance of her and she’d undo all of his best intentions. His blood would run as hot as it had when he’d stupidly grasped her hands just a half hour before. He’d done it because touching her felt natural, but there was no excuse for it. All he knew was that she drew him in with a power he couldn’t explain.
    It was all growing far too fraught, but he found himself looking forward to the moment in the early afternoons when she would escort Eleanora to his study and he’d get to speak with her for just a few choice moments. It hadn’t been much, but already she’d revealed a love of Trollope and Gaskell and a polite disdain for Dickens and Thackeray. She was as knowledgeable about history as his tutor had been, and she had an easy way about her in conversation. She’d slide easily from English to French and through to German all while standing there, his own Eve holding an apple in his doorway every day. He could far too easily see himself taking this woman into bed, whispering nonsense against her skin as he kissed lips, neck, breasts, stomach, hips. And then he wanted to lose himself in her and silence both their minds, pushing them until all they could do was give in to instinct.
    He shifted in his seat to relieve the pressure on his half-hard cock. An earl was not supposed to desire his daughter’s governess, no matter how attractive he found her combination of sharp intelligence and sly beauty. He had to nip this in the bud before he did something truly unforgivable like try to seduce her. What he needed was a distraction. One that would take his mind off her