8. Blackmail

Chapter eight

Blackmail

" H ave a seat, Lady Louisa." The Earl of Kendall gestured to a chair positioned near his desk.

Louisa lifted the hem of her skirts and sat down. No sooner had her weight left her slippers than a feeling of imminent doom came over her.

What was that he called you?

"I see you don't deny it."

"Pardon me, my lord, but my name is Miss Lymington—"

"Lady Louisa Lymington, daughter of the late Duke of Warrenton."

Louisa's full lips set into a straight line.

How did he discover your identity?

"Lymington is a common name—"

"Not that common." He cast her a look of sympathy. "You must realise that I am much of an age with your parents and that I knew your mother."

"But I look nothing like her!"

"In colouring perhaps, but there is something about the eyes. They sparkle when you speak French. And that tone of voice is unmistakable."

Louisa's right slipper began to tap anxiously against the floor. "Well, now that you know, what do you mean to do about it?"

Lord Kendall raked a hand through his silver-streaked black hair. "First of all, I mean to ask some questions. Why masquerade as a governess?"

"It's not a masquerade," said Louisa stiffly. "I am eminently qualified to be a governess, and I believe your nieces are benefiting greatly from my instruction."

"I'm certain they are," said Lord Kendall dryly. "Or at least, two of them are. But I don't suppose your uncle knows that you've undertaken the position." He paused. "Well? Does he?"

"No." Louisa had no intention of saying anything further. Just because he had been perspicacious enough to ferret out her identity did not mean that the Earl of Kendall needed to know everything about her affairs.

The earl reached for a stack of stationery on the desk. "Then I had better write to him and apprise him of the matter."

"No!" said Louisa. She fixed a steely eye on him as if he were one of her charges instead of her employer. "You will do no such thing."

"I daresay he's ill with worry. I would be if one of my nieces had disappeared."

"Yes, well, my uncle's different from you." Louisa swallowed. That was an understatement. "He has no sentimental attachment to me, and his sole goal is to force me to marry so he can gain control of my fortune."

"Hmm." Lord Kendall's face looked disappointed. "Perhaps you're less sensible than I gave you credit for. Is that trunk you brought with you full of Mrs. Radcliffe novels?"

No doubt he thinks you as silly as his niece Penelope.

Louisa's brown eyes sparked with fire. "I assure you, my lord, I am not exaggerating in the least."

Lord Kendall reached for his pen. "And I assure you, neither am I."

There was no help for it—he meant to notify her uncle. Something desperate must be done. Louisa leapt to her feet. "I shall tell him you compromised me."

"Pardon?" Lord Kendall's chiselled jaw fell open in shock.

Louisa leaned forward, hands on his desk as she faced him. "If you write my uncle and tell him that I'm here at Barrowby Park, I shall tell him that you've compromised me, and you'll be forced to marry me."

Lord Kendall's shoulders pulled back and his patrician nose wrinkled with disgust. "What a dreadful notion. I'm old enough to be your father. Whyever would you do such a thing?"

"Let's just say that you're a far better prospect than the husband that my uncle has picked out for me." She watched his eyes travel from the inkwell to her face. "I'm deadly serious, my lord. I will trap you into marriage if you betray my whereabouts."

Lord Kendall leaned back against the leather upholstery in his chair. His nostrils flared. "I don't take kindly to being blackmailed."

"Then let us pretend we never had this conversation," said Louisa. "Let us pretend that you have no idea who I am, and we can carry on as we have been doing the last several weeks."

"Can we?" Lord Kendall snorted. "You'll pardon me, Lady Louisa, but I don't exactly feel inclined to trust you. I've spent the better part of twenty years avoiding being snared into matrimony, and I don't intend to sit here at Barrowby Park waiting for the parson's noose to tighten around my neck."

"What will you do then?"

"Do? I'll leave and go to London. I've been meaning to take Penny there for the season, but we shall go early. We shall enjoy the stink of summer by the Thames, and I shall undertake to give her a little town brass before the season starts in earnest. And you, my lady, will remain here in Yorkshire, as far from my spotless reputation as possible, with Ginny and Milly to keep you busy."

Louisa pulled back from the desk in surprise. Instead of exposing her presence to her uncle, he meant to give her the exact refuge she needed. "You would trust me here alone at Barrowby Park with Ginny and Milly?"

"Of course," said Lord Kendall. He gave her a grudging grin. "You might be an unscrupulous blackmailer, but you are an exceptionally fine governess."