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Chapter Three
    T he last person Jasper expected to meet on the back stairs was his children’s governess. In all the time Evangeline Fairfax had been employed at Amberwood, he had never once seen her around the house after the children were tucked in for the night.
    In fact, he hadn’t thought he would meet anyone on the stairs. He’d hoped to slip up to his bedchamber quickly and quietly before the ladies reached the second floor. His sudden encounter with Miss Fairfax sent a jolt of alarm through him, magnified by embarrassment over his furtive behavior. He struggled to catch his breath.
    Clearly he had given Miss Fairfax as much of a fright as she’d given him. She jumped back, a strangled squeak erupting from her lips.
    “Miss Fairfax!” Jasper clapped a hand to his chest in an effort to settle it. “What in blazes are you doing here at this hour?”
    She seemed to shrink from his question, but before she could answer, an alarming possibility occurred to him. “Is something wrong with one of the children? Alfie? Has he hurt himself again?”
    His agitation seemed to steady her. “No, sir, nothing like that. The children are all sleeping soundly after their play in the garden. I am here to apologize for arranging this house party without your permission and for pushing you to remarry.”
    “You are?” Her admission surprised Jasper almost as much as her presence. Miss Fairfax was a strong-minded woman, not inclined to back down. What had made her change her mind?
    She gave a convulsive nod. “I thought about what you said—how I would feel if our situations were reversed and you were trying to make a match for me. Of course, I would object to it in the strongest possible terms. I still believe it would benefit you and your children if you remarried, but it was wrong of me to force your hand this way. For that, I beg your pardon.”
    “You would not want to be married?” Jasper had never given the matter much thought until now. Never given her much thought, come to that. For all he’d noticed her, Miss Fairfax might have been a handsome, useful article of furniture in his home. He had never considered how she might feel or what she might want.
    The lady shook her head vigorously. “Not every woman is desperate to snare a husband. For many, the role of wife is one to which they are well suited, but I have always wanted to do something more with my life. Something important in the Lord’s service that will improve the lives of others. Perhaps that sounds foolish to you.”
    “Not at all.” In fact, her fervent declaration echoed a deep conviction in his soul.
    Perhaps Miss Fairfax sensed that and realized she might use it to her advantage. “Establishing a charity school is my calling in life, sir. I am certain of it. And that calling is not compatible with marriage. A man might be able to pursue his life’s work with a wife to support him, but I do not believe the opposite is true.”
    Jasper wanted to contradict her but found he could not. What man could abide having his wife devote all her time and energy to a cause, however noble, if it meant neglecting their family?
    That thought troubled him. Why should a woman be obliged to give up the comfort and love of a family in order to serve a higher calling while a man could have both? That was as unfair, in its way, as one class of people having too much while another had far too little. It also made him question whether he had neglected his family in the service of his cause.
    “My children need you just as much.” He was accustomed to giving orders, not pleading. But if he could keep Miss Fairfax at Amberwood, he would not feel he had failed his children. “They may not want for material things but they are motherless.”
    “No.” Evangeline Fairfax pointed an accusing forefinger at him. “I will not let you hold me here with guilt. I am giving you a month’s notice to find your children a new governess. After that, I intend to leave and