Chapter One
1815: North Yorkshire Moors, Haroth Hall
“Lady Beatrice, however did you manage to get your lovely curls into such a mess?” Alice questioned the five-year-old, trying to hide her exasperation. “We need to look our best for the new duke, so let me put some extra pins in your hair.”
“I want Nanny to do it,” Lady Beatrice demanded, throwing one of her childish tantrums. The little girl didn’t like how her governess tugged her blonde curls.
“I know you do but look over there.” Alice pointed as she allowed Lady Beatrice to look over at Betsy, her nursemaid and nanny. “She’s so very busy with Jacob. He is much younger than you and takes a lot longer to get ready.”
Lady Beatrice smiled as her nanny waved back. “He’s only two,” Betsy called over. “You can’t be expecting him to dress himself yet,” the old nanny tried to explain to the little girl.
“What’s a new duke, Miss Alice?” Lady Beatrice asked, confused over what all the fuss was about anyway. “And why is Papa not going to say hello to him too?”
Alice looked over at Betsy, worried about how to answer such a question. The Late Duke of Haroth, Lord Robert Tilbury, had only died a month ago after being murdered in a highway robbery. How to explain that to his children was still something Alice struggled with. She’d been their governess since the birth of Jacob after their mother died giving birth to him. Alice adored the children with all her heart, and her heart ached sorely at the latest tragedy to hit their lives.
“If we get ourselves ready, we can go along and find out who the new duke is, can we not?” Alice tried, though she knew there was no way a five-year-old would ever understand the seriousness of the situation.
How does one tell a child that the man they’re about to meet is taking over her father’s estate? Not only that, but the new duke might also send the children away if he was so inclined to do so. Lord Phillip Tilbury was the younger brother of their father. He’d been abroad for so long that many household servants couldn’t remember much about him. The servants who could remember him had all said that he had been unruly and a bit of a rake as a youngster.
When the late duke inherited the Estate of Haroth, his younger brother had gone to oversee the plantation in the Americas. Now though, he’d been recalled to take over the main estate and step into the role of the dukedom.
“Hurry up in there,” a voice called out. ‘The carriage is arriving down the driveway.”
It was Clara’s voice, the housekeeper of Haroth Hall, warning them all to get a move on. Alice looked over at the open nursery door, but Clara had already disappeared past it. She was no doubt dashing down the main stairway to join the line-up of servants, all awaiting the arrival of their new master.
“Are you ready, Nanny?” Alice asked as they needed to join the line of servants together.
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Betsy replied. “But don’t go too fast down those stairs. My old bones won’t do rushing.”
“Come along then, Lady Beatrice,” Alice said, taking hold of the little girl’s hand while Nanny carried the two-year-old toddler, Jacob.
The dark wood staircase shone shiny with beeswax polish, as did the matching dark wooden panels on the walls. Alice stopped on a little landing halfway down, waiting for Nanny to catch up. She took the moment to peek through the staircase window and see if they would make it on time.
“Oh dear, he’s already getting out of the carriage,” Alice cursed. If he was a stern type of fellow, he would be annoyed at them for being late.
“Oh, deary me,” Nanny said, puffing loudly. “Let me catch my breath a moment, dear. We seem to have been rushing all afternoon.”
Alice waited and continued to watch the scene outside unfold while Nanny held onto the dark balustrade.
“What can you see out there, Miss Alice?” Nanny asked.
“He looks like a handsome fellow,” Alice replied, smiling because she liked what she saw. “Tall, like his brother. Very well dressed, considering he’s not long since crossed the Atlantic.”
“Who are you looking at, Miss Alice?” Lady Beatrice asked, trying to clamber onto the window’s large ledge.
“It is the new duke and is your uncle too,” Alice told her.
“What is an uncle?” Lady Beatrice asked as Alice picked her up so she could see through the glass.
“It means he is your papa’s brother, and he’s going to love you, I am sure of it,” Alice explained. She’d been praying at the back of her mind that he wouldn’t be too strict with the children as they weren’t used to such ways.
“Is Papa there?” Lady Beatrice asked, excitement in her little voice.
“No, little one, not today,” Alice answered, worried at the disappointed look on the little girl’s pretty face.
“Here, Nanny, let me carry Lord Jacob, and you take Lady Beatrice’s hand,” Alice suggested. “We need to get moving because he’s making his way down the line of servants.”
“I want to be with you, Miss Alice,” Lady Beatrice began to cry. “Papa will not be there.”
“I know little poppet. Nanny and I will be right by your side,” Alice said, taking hold of the little boy so they could speed up. “And I am sure your uncle will be a very nice gentleman.”
Without carrying Jacob, it meant that Nanny could move faster, and the small group hurriedly set off to get outside.
“Now then, we want no chattering once we go through the doors,” Alice instructed Lady Beatrice. “There will be plenty of time for that later. For now, we need to show your uncle how well-behaved we can be.”
Lady Beatrice didn’t look too keen, but for the most, she was a good girl and always did as her governess asked of her. As they dashed through the large, double doors standing open, they went to join the end of the line of servants. Alice and Betsy took their places, along with everyone else. Alice held onto Lord Jacob, and Lady Beatrice stood between her nanny and governess, holding both hands.
Alice hoped the duke hadn’t noticed their late arrival because he’d been busy speaking to each servant. He was taking his time, asking them their names and what they did. The sound of his deep, tenor voice soothed Alice’s mind, making her think that he might be a kind gentleman after all.
Her heart raced as he came closer, with no idea why she felt so nervous. From what she’d seen through the window, he had a charming presence about him. His hair was dark like Lord Robert’s had been, and he had thick, dark brows, lending him a manly appeal.
It dawned on Alice that while they got the children looking near-on perfect, she was all rumpled from rushing. Always, she wore her hair pinned up in a bun, and now, curly straggles were tickling her cheeks, so she knew it was falling out. Her dark green dress had become a little creased from kneeling on the floor to ready Lady Beatrice, but it would have to do. Hopefully, he would concentrate on his niece and nephew, not on her.
She could see that William, the house butler, was accompanying the duke along the line, and he could be a stickler for tardiness.
Please, William, don’t go pointing out my untidiness in front of the new duke, Alice prayed silently.
Although very fond of William Banks, she knew he would not be happy if anything were out of place at this most important of times. To take her mind away from her panic, she looked upon the angelic face of little Jacob. His big blue eyes soon cheered her, along with his large baby forehead that didn’t quite fit yet to the size of his face. Jacob’s hair was almost white; it was so light, but she understood the children’s mother had been a blonde, much like herself.
“You have such cherry lips, my little precious,” she whispered as she pulled him close.
His baby chuckle was a little louder than she had meant it to be, and Lady Beatrice was not going to miss out on the fun.
“What’s Jacob giggling at, Miss Alice?” Lady Beatrice asked, tugging her governess’s dress and making it look even more crumpled.
Chapter Two
Phillip had been dreading this day. It had been bad enough attending his brother’s funeral only two days earlier, straight after he’d arrived from a long sea journey over the Atlantic. He’d written to the family solicitor that the funeral was to be a private affair of family members only. That was how his brother would have wanted it. Robert had never been one for ostentatious displays and would turn in his grave had Phillip organised a public funeral.
There wasn’t much left in the way of family, a few cousins and elderly aunts and uncles. Plus, a not-very-well-known stepsister, who he thought a flamboyant creature. Lady Davina Katz had been the daughter of a French woman whom his elderly father had married not long before his death. Phillip’s father, the Duke of Haroth, Lord George Tilbury, had never been one for showing off his wealth or socialising much, so how he’d ended up taking on such a young wife, no one had ever understood.
Being a second son, Phillip had been more than happy not to be the heir of the Haroth Estate, leaving it to his older brother Robert to take on the dukedom.
Instead, Phillip had gone abroad to oversee their sugar plantation in the Americas, shocking him to the core. Slavery was not to his liking, and he had at the very least managed to improve the workers’ lives, banning all punishments and making their working conditions more pleasant. In fact, he welcomed the agreement of the Vienna Declaration over the abolition of slavery. But he was an intelligent man and knew it was only the beginning; there was still a long way to go before the world could finally turn its back on slavery.
Not that Phillip had much interest in politics either. The influence of his mother’s caring nature had passed on to him and gave him a good understanding of the imbalances of wealth worldwide. Yet, here he was, about to meet the servants of Haroth Hall, most of them long-serving employees, who might even remember him as a boy.
As his carriage pulled up, he could see the servants lined up to greet him. Had he known that was going to happen, he would have stopped it, but all he could do now, to avoid embarrassing them, was to take it in his stride. Playing along, he walked down the line of around twenty servants, with the house butler accompanying him. On his part, he greeted each one as if they were a friend because he was not going to be a formal duke; that was not his way. Nor had it been his brother’s way before him.
The one thing he was most nervous about was meeting his brother’s children. Although he’d been surrounded by children on the plantation, they’d not been related to him. Having left England some eight years ago to run the sugar plantation, he’d never even met his brother’s wife, let alone his children. And now, their lives were in his hands, and it caused him much concern. It wasn’t until he was almost at the end of the line of servants that they suddenly appeared.
The butler, who’d introduced himself as Mr Banks, was presenting the housekeeper, who he addressed as Hughes. The one thing he hated the most about British servitude was how servants were referred to by their surnames.
He was busy asking Hughes her first name when the children came to join the line, along with two women. Having only glanced their way briefly, he smiled at the children, and his heart almost melted at the sight of them. His brother’s children were beautiful in his eyes, but he still felt a little nervous.
“… And so, I would like to use the Christian names we were all given by our parents,” he explained to Hughes. “May I ask your first name, madam?”
“Yes, though it’s highly irregular,” Hughes said, looking most perturbed.
The butler coughed from behind the duke, and Phillip could only assume he was hinting that the housekeeper play along.
“Well … yes … my name is Clara, Your Grace,” she answered, reluctant to part with her Christian name.
“I thank you, Clara.” He smiled at her with a slight bow of his head.
Now it was time to move on to the children, and as he took a step forward, the first face he saw was that of a stunningly beautiful woman. She was holding the little boy in her arms and looked almost as if she could be the boy’s mother; her hair was so light in colour.
“Ah, so this is little Jacob,” he said, looking into the bright blue eyes of a happy little boy. “That means that you are little Lady Beatrice, he added, leaning down to the small girl.
The girl moved to hide behind the dress of the fair maiden holding onto his nephew, Jacob.
“Well, Beatrice, I am your Uncle Phillip,” he said, realising his voice was too loud, which might have scared his little niece. “I am very pleased to meet you and your brother.”
“Come along now, Lady Beatrice,” the woman tried to encourage her charge from the folds of her dress. “We need to speak nicely to your uncle.”
Phillip didn’t push little Beatrice anymore and stood up to turn his attention to the two women with the children.
“I am Miss Evans, erm … I mean, I am Miss Alice, the children’s governess,” the blonde woman said, and he wasn’t sure who was the most nervous, him or her.
Turning to the older woman by her side, “And you are Nanny,” he said. “I know because I had fond memories of you when you cared for my brother and me.”
The older woman curtsied, “I am, Your Grace,” was all she said, appearing a little shy, so he turned to speak with the governess.
“I would like to meet with you later, erm … Miss Alice, and learn more about the children,” he said to her, smiling.
“I look forward to that,” she answered, smiling with a quiver on her bottom lip.
“Good, good.” He nodded, giving her a full smile. “The children are to be my top priority.”
“Of course,” she said with a croak to her voice. A strand of blonde hair fell into the middle of her face, tickling her nose, and he had an urge to stroke it away but pulled himself together in time.
“Following dinner then, Miss Alice,” the duke said her name on his lips, liking how it sounded.
Phillip stood in front of the main door and turned around to address the servants.
“I thank you all for your warm welcome,” he began. “You may think me unconventional, but I do not want the people I live with to refer to me as Your Grace. Please call me Lord Phillip if you must use a title and allow me to address each of you by your Christian names. I will not have many rules but let this be my first one. I will meet each of you again soon, and I want to learn more about you as individuals.”
With that declaration, he allowed the butler to lead him into the manor house.
“And I would know your name, too, Mr Banks, before we continue the tour?” he asked the old man.
“I am William, Your … erm … Lord Phillip,” he replied, also looking uncomfortable with his new lord’s ways. “I served your father and your brother too. Now, if you will follow me, I would like to show you around your home. Much will have changed since last you were here.”
“Let us keep the tour to the ground floor, William. I can’t see the bedchambers being much different, other than the décor,” Phillip said, not the least bit interested in the tour.
As they walked on, Phillip recalled the house layout as he’d lived there for the first eighteen years before leaving for the Americas. The butler informed him that an additional glass garden room had been built at the bequest of the children’s mother, the Duchess of Haroth, Lady Henrietta Tilbury. She’d loved to be surrounded by flowers.
The ballroom was a huge hall filled with large, framed artwork, mainly of his ancestors. Phillip walked over to a portrait of his father, which stirred sadness in his heart. Next to it was a portrait of his brother, a dimple at either side of his upper mouth, exactly as he remembered. As children, he’d always made fun of his brother because his ears stuck out, but now it was an endearing feature of his image. If only he’d been able to speak with him again, but tragedy had little respect for people’s wishes.
“I have seen enough for today, William,” Phillip informed him. In truth, he was choking back his spiralling emotions at seeing the pictures of his father and brother.
“As you wish, Lord Phillip,” William said. “Would you care to take tea?”
“No. I am going to the study where I will pour myself something a little stronger,” Phillip replied, knowing he needed a wee dram of courage to get through this.
Sitting at the desk he’d always looked upon as his father’s throne, he swilled the dark liquid in his glass. His father had always had a drinks cabinet in this room, and his brother seemed to have kept up the tradition. On the desk was a copy of his brother’s last Will and Testament, which he’d asked the solicitor to send him. Reading it through, it was clear that his brother never expected to die so soon. His last will had been drawn just after his wife had passed away in childbirth.
The law dictated that Jacob was far too young to be given the dukedom, so it had gone to Phillip, the next in line.
Phillip thought of the funeral, seeing the coffin going into the ground and knowing it contained his brother’s body. No one had ever been found for his murder. A robber had shot him on a lonely stretch of the highway to London. Phillip suspected that his brother had been targeted because highway robbery was not as common as it used to be. It was no doubt a premeditated robbery, and his brother would not have given in easily.
As brothers, they were both stubborn, inheriting that from their father. It was a good trait for most of their lives, but not in a robbery. Phillip was sure his brother’s stubbornness would have led to his downfall. Had he given in, he would likely not have been shot. There had been signs of a struggle, and all the bruising on his brother’s face showed that he’d fought his assailant.
“Why could you not just have given in, Robert, damn you!” Phillip called out, annoyed at his brother for fighting off his attacker.
But he knew he would have done the same. The brothers might have inherited their mother’s kindly heart, but they’d also learned their father’s shrewd business ways. One must fight to defend one’s rightful place in the world, but it would not have helped his brother’s cause.
A knock on the door brought in William, informing him that dinner was served. Phillip hadn’t realised how hungry he was and went to the dining room. There, he ate alone at the end of a very long, highly polished wooden table. As he finished his meal, he instructed William to set up a smaller table for future meals by the window.
Leaving the dining room, he headed towards the small parlour room when he bumped into the governess coming down the dark, wooden stairway. She lit up against the darkened background, glowing like an angel with her pretty face and light blonde hair. Though her dress was dark, to him, she looked beautiful.
“Ah … Miss Alice, how fortuitous that we meet again,” he said, bowing his head in greeting.
She remained on the steps, standing above him and looking down.
“Lord Phillip, I do hope I am not in your way?” she asked.
“Nonsense, I do not see how you could ever be in my way,” he replied. “In fact, if it is convenient for you, we shall have that talk now.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, raising her brows in surprise.
“Unless you are too busy, of course?” he added, not wanting to disturb her routine.
“The children are eating with Nanny,” she explained. “So, I am free.”
“ That is good,” he replied, trying his best not to show how much her presence affected him. “Shall we go to the smaller parlour room? I was making my way there.”
She continued down the staircase until she was standing by his side. He led the way towards the room where his mother did her sewing. Opening the door, he entered and continued to hold the door open for the governess to enter too. Purposely, he left the door ajar, knowing the lady wouldn’t like being alone with a gentleman. But this was more of a business meeting than anything else, as they needed to discuss the children.
Phillip sensed the sweet aroma of oranges as she passed him by, and he felt his loins stir at the thought of being alone with her. Of course, he would keep things formal, but he couldn’t help noticing the way her dark-green gown hugged the curves of her hips.
“A Governess’ Unbridled Passion” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!
As a governess at Haroth Hall, Alice Evans watches the alluring Lord Phillip Tilbury take over the reins of the estate and feels her heart quicken with each passing day. The charismatic and enigmatic new Duke seems to have a spellbinding effect on everyone he meets, including Alice herself. As she struggles to maintain her composure around her wickedly tempting boss, she wonders if giving in to her desires could lead her down a path of destruction.
Will her secret lust for the Duke be her ultimate downfall or will it unlock a passion she never knew existed?
The Duke of Haroth, Lord Phillip Tilbury, never expected to return to England, but duty called him back when his brother passed away, leaving two young children behind. As he returns from the West Indies, his encounter with the beguiling governess immediately ignites his deepest desires. With each stolen moment, Phillip’s lust grows stronger, but the looming threat of scandal and his family’s disapproval hang over him like a dark cloud and soon, he finds himself torn between duty and passion.
Will he stand up against his family’s prejudice to fight for his love?
With Alice and Phillip’s scandalous love affair intensifying, a shadow looms over their happiness as Phillip’s scheming step sister will stop at nothing to sabotage their relationship. With danger lurking around every corner, Phillip is forced to act fast to protect those he loves. Will their passion survive these sinister plans, or will it crumble under the weight of reality? Can Alice and Phillip’s love truly conquer all, or will they be torn apart by the forces working against them?
“A Governess’ Unbridled Passion” is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.
Hello my dear readers. I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek! I will be waiting for your comments below. Thank you so much! 🙂