An Unexpected Encounter ( Half Moon House, Novella 1) Read Online Free

Aurelia to the ground,
while simultaneously— heroically —keeping his mouth from
taking the same journey.
    This was no sharp-tongued spinster, no
scolding matron. No, nothing so predictable or off-putting.
    This was . . . interesting .
    A young woman stood next to him. Not grandly
beautiful at all, but made up of so many disparately pleasing parts
that he found he could not tear his gaze away. Her hair was
chestnut, thick and just slightly disheveled. Her eyes —the
lightest blue, but with a remarkable dark ring around the iris. He
might not have been able to turn from them, had her mouth not
begged for his attention. No spinster had ever possessed such
perfectly plump, full lips, stung pink just now from being pinched
in disapproval.
    Seconds and lifetimes passed as he stared.
Striking, that’s what she was. Not a conventional English beauty,
but an object of fascination, nonetheless. Like one of his beloved
machines, she was made of tiny, incongruous parts that came
together to make a wondrous whole.
    He continued to look until all the corners in
her face—on her large eyes and past the ripe curves of her
mouth—started to turn down. He let his gaze move on, then, to
encounter more curves, encased in a sturdy carriage dress of some
quality. The wrinkled skirts held testament to recent travel and a
portmanteau sat at her feet. His gaze flew up to meet hers once
more.
    Interesting . Yes. Still the right
word.
    “We don’t have to continue in this fashion
any longer, my lord,” Aurelia piped up. “Now that we have a
governess, I mean. Miss Moreton can bring me to the museum whenever
I need to come.”
    Edmund blinked and found it difficult to pick
up the thread of his previous complaint. He glanced down at his
ward. “I waited all afternoon, and the governess from the agency
never kept the appointment.” He frowned. “And her name was Mrs.
Kirk.”
    “There was some confusion,” Aurelia answered
earnestly. “That’s why they sent Miss Moreton instead—and rather
late.” She took a step closer. “I’m afraid I grew tired of waiting
and I . . . I slipped out again. Miss Moreton caught me on the
front walk, but by then I just had to come.” She looked down at her
shoes. “Sometimes it’s all that helps.”
    Edmund softened. That had to be the single
longest stretch of words Aurelia had ever strung together in his
presence—and the absolute first thing of a personal nature she had
revealed.
    “Miss Moreton didn’t think I ought to go
alone, but I was insistent, so she came along. We’ve got along very
well.”
    He glanced over to find the young woman
directing a hard stare at the girl. “Is this true?” he asked
her.
    She kept her eyes on Aurelia. “We have got
along remarkably well.” She turned to him and raised a saucy brow.
“My lord, is it?”
    He made her a quick bow. “Edmund Banke, Baron
Cotwell, at your service, Miss . . . Moreton?”
    She nodded and dipped into a curtsy.
    “And are you not a bit young to be thinking
of going into service as a governess?” If she felt free to be
saucy, then he would indulge in the direct approach.
    “She’s just exactly the right age,” Aurelia
insisted. “She talks to me. And she listens , too.”
    Something passed between the two of them.
Something Edmund noted, but could not label. And for the first time
in a long time, something unfurled in his gut, something
wistful—and unacceptable.
    “Please, sir,” whispered Aurelia.
    Edmund would have given a great deal more to
answer the plea in her voice. He hitched a shoulder and addressed
the young woman. “In truth, you could not help but be an
improvement on our last nurse.” He used the excuse to run his eye
over her again. “Have you held such a position before?”
    She didn’t answer for a moment, only looked
long between him and his ward. He noted the clench of her jaw
before she answered. “No, sir.”
    “What could you bring to the post, then? What
sorts of things do you feel qualified