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better of me than I do of her.”
    Kit immediately began to breathe easier. His face lit up with the brightest smile Hayden had seen from him in a very long time.
    “She will stay. I know she will,” the boy announced with happy certainty his father did not share.
    * * *
     
    She had always preferred temporary positions to longer ones, Leah reflected the next morning as she drove away from Renforth Abbey. But staying less than twenty-four hours was by far her shortest.
    It could also have been her most lucrative position yet, if she had accepted the duke’s offer. Since it had been clear nothing she said would change his mind about hiring her, why could she not have saved her breath and taken what he had been prepared to give her?
    “I do not regret rejecting his insulting offer!” she muttered out loud, the better to convince herself.
    She hoped her refusal had convinced the duke she was not speaking from motives of self-interest. She truly believed Kit needed someone to teach him, to amuse him and to advocate for him with his overprotective father. The boy needed someone who would treat him as a child rather than an object of pity.
    Peering out the carriage window, Leah took her final glimpse of Renforth Abbey and sent a dark scowl in the direction of the new range. Was His Grace standing at one of the windows this very moment, watching with an air of gloating triumph as his carriage whisked her out of his son’s life?
    Where would she go once she reached the village? Leah wondered as the trees closed in on either side of the lane, blocking any further view of the great house. She knew any of her friends would be happy to extend her their hospitality until she found a new position. But she hated to impose on them. Hannah and Lord Hawkehurst would still be on their honeymoon. Marian would be occupied with her precious baby while Rebecca and Grace were both expecting. Besides, Leah feared they would try to persuade her to change her mind about helping Evangeline set up their school.
    It would be better if she went to London and found temporary lodgings. From there she could write to her previous employers, inquiring if they knew of a family looking for a governess. All that would take time, though—time with no money coming in, only bleeding out of her savings, pushing her travel plans further and further into the future. For a moment Leah’s natural optimism deserted her. She leaned back in the handsomely upholstered seat in the duke’s fine carriage and heaved a sigh.
    But no sooner had it left her lips than she heard the muted thunder of galloping hooves and caught a fleeting glimpse of a horseman overtaking the carriage. Immediately, the vehicle began to slow and finally came to a halt. Leah was about to open the carriage door to ask what was going on when it flew open and the Duke of Northam climbed in.
    The poor man was the picture of exhaustion. In spite of her annoyance with him, Leah could not stifle a pang of sympathy. His eyes were bloodshot, and the dusky smudges beneath them darker than yesterday. His face was unshaven, the dark stubble further accentuating his pallor. Strangely, it made him more appealing rather than less.
    “Your Grace.” Instinctively she reached toward him, fearing he might collapse at any moment. “What are you doing here? Whatever is the matter?”
    The duke avoided her outstretched hand and hurled himself onto the seat opposite her with a sigh that echoed her recent one. “ You are the matter, Miss Shaw. You have filled my son’s head with the notion of having a governess and he will not rest until I persuade you to return to Renforth Abbey. I have been up half the night with him, only to fall asleep while you prepared to leave.”
    He looked as if he could sleep for a solid week without relieving his bone-deep weariness. Mr. Gibson had claimed the duke spent nearly every waking hour with his son. Did he also sit up with the child at night when he was ill or fretful? His