Falling for the Governess: A Historical Regency Romance Book Read online

  Falling for the Governess

  A Historical Regency Romance Novel

  Abby Ayles

  Edited by

  Elizabeth Connor

  Copyright © 2018 by Abby Ayles

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Be a part of the Abby Ayles family…

  Acknowledgements

  A message from Abby

  Introduction

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Epilogue

  The Extended Epilogue

  Do you want more Historical Romance?

  A Broken Heart’s Redemption

  Be a part of the Abby Ayles family…

  Also By Abby Ayles

  About the Author

  Be a part of the Abby Ayles family…

  I write for you, the readers, and I love hearing from you! Thank you for your on going support as we journey through the most romantic era together.

  If you’re not a member of my family yet, it’s never too late. Stay up to date on upcoming releases and check out the website for all information on romance.

  I hope my stories touch you as deeply as you have impacted me. Enjoy the happily ever after!

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  Acknowledgements

  Thank yous

  Thank you to my parents for their ongoing support. You have turned the world upside down and inside out in order for me to pursue my dreams. I love you.

  Thank you to my beta readers Carole Ryall, Kathleen Hugh and Danielle Carpenter. Interacting with you is so fun and I am so thankful to have you in my corner rooting for me every step of the way.

  Thank you to my editorial team for helping bring my words to life in the exact way I envision them to be said. You push me to be better.

  Thank you to the authors who inspire me. There is no world without love, and your books are the reason I’m here now.

  Most importantly, thank you to my readers! Whether you are new to my work, or a loyal fan, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  A message from Abby

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed every page and I would love to hear your thoughts whether it be a review online or you contact me via my website. I am eternally grateful for you and none of this would be possible without our shared love of romance.

  I pray that someday I will get to meet each of you and thank you in person, but in the meantime, all I can do is tell you how amazing you are.

  As I prepare my next love story for you, keep believing in your dreams and know that mine would not be possible without you.

  With Love

  Introduction

  Falling for the Governess

  The Marquess of Bellfourd has struggled to find his rightful place in life. This is mostly because it was never meant to be his. Upon the death of his elder brother, however, he has now been called back from his life in the Navy, to join at his father’s side, the Duke of Wintercrest. The only thing he finds more difficult than readjusting to the civilian life of a gentleman is being in the constant presence of a father who has up until this moment cared very little for him.

  The honorable Miss Isabella Watts, daughter of Baron Leinster, is living a nightmare. All in the span of a week, she hears news of her father's death, the removal of all she owns to pay off debts she had not known of, and to make matter worse, she has to surrender into the hands of her late father’s business partner. The awful Mr. Smith has taken it upon himself to make not just her life’s comforts disappear, but he is also willing to work any means of deceit to make her good reputation vanish.

  Isabella runs to the opportunity to teach a pupil far north from the London city she loves, for no other reason than to escape the clutches of Mr. Smith. When she enters the house of the Duke of Wintercrest, she learns that deep rift troubles the family and her dear student seems to be right at the core of it.

  Isabella is determined not only to finally seek refuge from her own villain, but also to help heal the wounds left in the hearts of Wintercrest Manor.

  However, all this might be for naught, when one misfortune after another seems to be continually shadowing the threshold of the duke’s home.

  Preface

  My dearest Louisa,

  I fear my heart is broken. It is with the saddest news I find myself writing to you today. Just yesterday I received a visit from Mr. Jenkins, my father’s lawyer.

  As you know, my father was on a ship set for Cayman Island in relation to his import business. As I had mentioned a few times at our last meeting, I was becoming exceedingly concerned since his vessel had not yet returned. Without any ill news, I hoped that they had only been delayed by poor wind and calm waters.

  Unfortunately, this is not the case. While in the tropics, father contracted a most dreadful fever. His most experienced sailors fell ill.

  To prevent the sickness from spreading, the ill were to be left behind to recover and return home aboard another vessel. My father was too prominent of a figure to just leave behind, and the MHS Poseidon decided to stay in Cayman Island for a fortnight to allow him to recover.

  I am told the fever passed. For that I am grateful, but why did my stubborn father have to push himself? I don’t know how to feel. You are aware of how much I disliked him going on these journeys to begin with.

  Having gained his strength back, father sailed Poseidon homeward bound, but his health took a turn for the worse.

  The ship's surgeon did all he could to help, but in the end, it was not enough. My father passed away a little over a month ago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There’s nothing I could have done, and I resent myself for that.

  Mr. Jenkins, having been informed himself just last night upon the arrival of the ship, came to bear me the sorrowful news this morning. He assured me that my father had the most lavished and honorable burial at sea that could be mustered for the situation.

  I am so overcome with confusion and sorrow, it is a wonder that I can even compose myself to scribe such a letter to you.

  Though father was always very busy with his business and adventures, he was a loving and attent
ive man. I feel my life vastly emptier without the assured knowledge that though he may be away, he will always return home here to Rosewater house.

  Mr. Jenkins has also informed me that I will need to come to his offices on the morrow to discuss my father's estate and I suppose, to some effect, what is to become of me.

  I cannot even imagine being able to subject myself to conversations of financial and worldly status when my heart is so full of turmoil.

  It is for this reason that I must offer my deepest regrets to inform you that I will not be able to accompany your excellent mother to tea. Please tell Lady Gilchrist that I send my deepest regrets.

  I hope that I will see you very soon, my dear Louisa, so that I may receive comfort from the words of wisdom you always seem to use so deftly.

  With humble heart,

  Isabella

  The next evening Isabella received a return letter from Lady Lydia in the five o’clock post.

  * * *

  My Dearest Isabella,

  It is with the heaviest of hearts that I give you my deepest condolences on your loss.

  I have informed her Ladyship of your necessity for absence from her humble event tomorrow afternoon. Though you will be greatly missed by not only my mother but all those who are to attend, we all understand your need for time to quietly reflect and compose yourself.

  Please do not fear for your well-being. Your father was a good man, and I am confident that he will provide for you even after the untimely event of his death.

  As soon as you are able, please come to call so that I may be able to comfort my dearest friend in her time of need.

  Your humble friend,

  Louisa

  Chapter 1

  Isabella’s eyes wandered lazily as she sat in Louisa’s comfortable drawing room. It was the smaller drawing room of her dear friend’s London residence, used for the entertaining of very intimate friends of the ladies of the house.

  Isabella was struggling to collect her thoughts or even know where to begin after the events that had transpired over the last two days. She did her best to keep her trembling hands clasped in the lap of her dark black cotton dress.

  Her hand rattled the teacup just slightly when she took it from Louisa's loving hands. Isabella was happy for the privacy such an intimate setting provided. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to hold her composure as she retold Louisa all that transpired.

  “I scarcely know where to begin,” she said after taking a small sip of courage.

  She didn’t have much appetite at the moment but felt the tea might help to clear her head. The last few nights had been restless and anything but rejuvenating.

  “Start with when you arrived at Mr. Jenkins’ offices yesterday. I am quite sure we will find a way to untangle any mess you may now find yourself in,” Louisa responded calmly.

  She was just two years older than Isabella but not the slightest in comparison to physical beauty. Where Isabella had rich, shiny black locks and emerald-green eyes, Louisa had mouse-brown hair, which rarely plaited as it should, and ordinary brown eyes.

  It did not prevent them from finding an inseparable bond as young girls at the prestigious Mrs. Mason's School for Exceptional Young Ladies.

  Louisa had always been a quiet child who often kept to herself. Isabella, on the other hand, was openly pleasant to be around and was commonly found at the center of the conversation, entertaining the other ladies of the school with wild tales heard from her father's adventures.

  Louisa, at first, had listened quietly to her tales, but Isabella saw more to Louisa than her shy exterior. Much as Isabella had expected, Louisa was the most kind and giving young lady she had ever met. Her friendship and confidante was something she treasured all through her youth and young adulthood.

  “I suppose you’re right,” Isabella responded with a steadying breath before setting the tea down.

  “I arrived at Mr. Jenkins office yesterday morning. I was surprised when I was shown in to find Mr. Smith already there.”

  “Mr. Smith? Your father’s horrid business partner,” Louisa clarified, and Isabella nodded in agreement.

  “I had done my best to avoid him at all costs since that dreadful event four years ago. It gave me quite a shock as it had not been mentioned to me that he would be there.

  Though now looking back on it, it was certainly reasonable that he should be there as we discussed my father’s estate.”

  “Of course, you are not expected to have the clearest of minds in such a time,” Louisa said attempting to erase any guilt Isabella might feel on her state of propriety.

  “That awful man,” Isabella stated, now with her green eyes full of anger. “He didn’t even stand at my entrance, and in truth, I didn’t see him at all from his chair at the back of the office till Mr. Jenkins motioned to him during the conversation.”

  Isabella thought back to that horrible meeting four years earlier. She had been barely seventeen at the time, having completed her schooling and finished her first season out among society.

  It was a small dinner party that her father was having at their very own Rosewater house. She had been all aglow with the excitement of her season and the joy of having her father momentarily home with her.

  Mr. Smith was there, of course, since he was Baron Leinster's closest friend and business partner. Isabella had not paid him much attention as he was even older than her father and she could never imagine him having interest in such a young girl.

  As the evening transpired, however, Mr. Smith found a chance to enter into a private conversation with Isabella. It was then that he requested that she consider him a suitor and accept his proposal of marriage.

  Isabella was so shocked by the declaration that all she managed to say was ‘but you are so old.’ It was probably not the most polite thing for her to say, but so often when she was shocked, she tended to speak truths without thinking.

  Isabella was young and full of spirit. She had received much attention from various social gatherings of the season. She was not so conceited enough to think she was above those outside the peerage. Isabella had always assumed that with her father's honorary title she would find herself a gentleman in the society she had been raised to be a part of.

  Of course, having affection for her future husband was a necessity for her, his status had not been. Even so, she would never have imagined marrying such an older, coarse man at such a young age.

  She did her best to regain her composure and thank Mr. Smith but politely decline. He became enraged by her very respectable but negative answer and made quite a scene of it.

  From that day on, Isabella had done everything in her power to not be in the company of Mr. Smith. It was not always an easy task when he had such close financial relationships with her father.

  “Mr. Jenkins informed me that my father had left his import and export business to Mr. Smith.”

  “I suppose that seems reasonable enough,” Louisa said. “After all, as partner, it would only be right that he inherit the whole of the business. And I suppose you are to be left Rosewater house and a living?”

  “That is the worst of it. Mr. Jenkins informed me that all of my father’s estates had been specifically put in the charge of Mr. Smith, having no other male family member. He then informed me that my father had also collected a large sum of debts,” she lowered her voice, “gambling.”

  “Oh dear. Had you any idea of these debts?”

  “I was aware of his enjoyment of gentlemanly horse races. I suspected the thrill of it was much like that of a boy crossing the sea. But I had no idea that he was in such a poor situation.”

  “What does this mean?” Louisa asked with fear in her soft doe eyes.

  “Well, Mr. Jenkins said that he had been in conference with Mr. Smith all morning and had made several arrangements.”

  That moment, when she finally looked over her shoulder to find Mr. Smith sitting behind her would most likely haunt her the rest of her days.

 
He had stood then and walked forward, wholly unearthing himself from the morning shadows the windowless office provided.

  He was much older now than would be expected for the four years that had passed since his proposition. His hair was long and straggly on the sides and completely missing on top. Instead of choosing to wear a wig, he tied the straggled strands back with a ribbon.

  His face was worn and marked by the years he, himself, had spent as captain on a merchant ship before striking business with Baron Leinster.

  Though his clothes were of a gentlemanly style, they were worn and soiled badly. The edges of his coat were stained with dirt.

  Undoubtedly, his lifelong bachelorhood had led to the inferior care of his outward appearance. He smiled smugly, showing his blackened tooth, something she remembered quite clearly from her first encounter with him.

  Quite awkwardly Mr. Jenkins had fiddled with some paperwork on his desk. He was a rather young man for his position, only recently taken on by her father. Her interactions with him, however few, had always been enjoyable ones.