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as little to do with her as possible.’

      ‘Would that I might!’ Olivia said feelingly.

      The Colonel frowned. ‘Do you fear she will try to exact retribution for your having come to me after she refused your requests?’

      Now that she knew she had her employer’s support, Olivia was quite sure of holding her own. ‘I can deal with Mrs Wallace.’

      He smiled slightly and once again she was caught unawares by the strength of his sheer masculine appeal. Goodness, what a transformation when he smiled! He should do it much more often.

      ‘I’m sure you can, my Managing Miss Overton,’ he was saying. ‘But if she does give you any trouble, you are to inform me. Also if she baulks at providing any other supplies you feel the girls need.’

      ‘If she is so unpleasant, why do you not discharge her?’ Olivia asked—and then remembered that, as an employee, she had no business asking such a question.

      Instead of putting her in her place, though, the Colonel sighed. ‘After reducing the staff to a skeleton level and spending most of my time away from the house, I had to leave someone in charge. Why my brother hired the woman, I have no idea. Once things are in better order and finances improve, I intend to replace her.’

      ‘Providing her with a good character so you may pass your problem along to another household?’

      ‘You are impertinent, you know,’ he said, giving her a reproving glance.

      ‘I, too, have managed a household,’ she reminded him. ‘To be charitable, perhaps she would be happier in a larger household with more staff to manage.’

      ‘And to underscore her importance,’ the Colonel said.

      ‘Precisely.’

      To her surprise, the Colonel chuckled again. ‘I should like to have been a fly on the stable wall when you commandeered that pony cart. What exactly did you say to John Coachman?’

      Feeling a little embarrassed, she confessed, ‘I used my “Mistress of the Household” voice and simply ordered him to prepare it.’

      ‘Ah, yes. Behaving as if one has the authority to command something generally gets results—whether or not one actually has that authority.’

      ‘To be fair, he was hesitant at first. But a governess does have charge of the children, and once I demonstrated my driving ability, he was content to see us go.’ She smiled. ‘He probably reasoned that, if anything untoward transpired, since he’d not had orders to refuse me, I would mostly likely bear the blame of it.’

      ‘I imagine he did.’ The Colonel shook his head. ‘You are the most insubordinate subordinate I’ve ever encountered.’

      ‘Well, sir, you may be a colonel, but this is not the army and I am not your corporal.’

      ‘What are you then, I wonder?’

      She looked at him...and something flashed between them. An odd sense of being kindred spirits, underlain with a strong physical attraction that sent a wave of warmth through her. The feeling of connection was gone almost before she was aware of it, but the simmering heat remained, exciting, energising...and dangerous.

      Before she could pull her shaken senses together, he looked away. ‘We still have the matter of your purchases,’ he said, all business again. ‘By the way, how did you pay for them? Petty larceny from the household funds?’

      ‘Certainly not. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mrs Wallace carried the precious “household funds” around on her person. I used my own funds.’

      The Colonel cocked his head at her. ‘Have I paid you anything yet?’

      ‘No, sir. I... I have a small amount of my own laid by.’

      ‘Then I shall see you reimbursed at once. Can’t have you drawing down your pin money buying necessities for the children.’

      Her light mood faded as she recalled just how little money she had left. ‘No, that would not be wise.’

      ‘Very well. What was the total?’

      After naming the sum, she tried to rally her suddenly sagging spirits. After all, she wasn’t going to be discharged, she would have important work to do, making her charges feel comfortable in their new home—and maybe, if the Colonel really wanted to do better by them, she might figure out a way to coax him to interact more with them.

      The orphaned girls so desperately needed a permanent, protective presence in their lives. She could only sympathise, as she yearned for one, too—but at least she had Sara in London to turn to, should matters become truly dire.

      After counting out what he owed her, the Colonel closed the desk drawer. ‘Very well, Miss Overton. You will let me know if you encounter any difficulties with Mrs Wallace—or if you feel the girls are in need of anything else.’

      Might as well start now. ‘There is...one more thing. You are their last remaining close relation, you told me. I’m sure they would adjust more quickly, feel less frightened, lost and alone, if they could get to know you better.’

      Immediately, that forbidding look came over his face, the same look she’d noticed before when she’d mentioned him seeing more of the children. ‘As I believe I already told you,’ he said, his tone noticeably cooler, ‘I’m busy and away from the house on estate business all day, almost every day.’

      ‘Do you know what Elizabeth said to me in Bristol? What convinced me I would have to apologise and try to retain my position?’

      The increasing grimness of his expression warned she was once again risking an abrupt dismissal. Too certain he needed to hear the child’s comment to back down, she met his gaze unflinchingly.

      For another fraught moment, she thought he meant to tell her he had no interest in childish confidences and send her away. Instead, with a wry grimace, he said, ‘I suppose you are going to tell me, whether I want to hear it or not.’

      After biting her tongue to keep herself from responding to that provocation, she said, ‘Once we had made our purchases and were preparing to leave town, Elizabeth asked if I would be taking them back to Somers Abbey—or if I was going to leave them in Bristol with someone else. Please, Colonel, if you could just let me bring them in to see you occasionally, so they might start to feel they can rely on you and be reassured that you won’t simply pass them along to—’

      ‘Enough, Miss Overton,’ he interrupted, a sharp look of—surely it wasn’t pain?—crossing his face. Standing abruptly, he walked to the bookcase and halted there, his back to her. Though she ached to say more, she made herself remain silent and waited.

      Finally, he turned back to her, his expression tightly controlled. ‘I will do as much as I can. I rely on you to reassure them.’

      She knew better than to press him further. At least he hadn’t ordered her out of the room this time. ‘Very well. Thank you, Colonel.’

      ‘No, thank you, Miss Overton. For helping me “discharge my responsibilities”.’

      So he did feel he should do more for them. She had the grace to feel a little ashamed at pushing him so hard. ‘That was unfair. I am sure you are quite capable.’

      He sighed. ‘This time, I sincerely hope to be.’

      With that enigmatic utterance, he nodded a dismissal. Giving him a curtsy, she left the room.

      Late that night, Olivia tiptoed into the quiet nursery to check on the girls. As she’d hoped, her two charges slept peacefully, their small bodies covered from head to toe in thick flannel nightgowns and tucked in under heavy woollen blankets.

      She smiled, remembering Elizabeth’s awe when she’d first donned the nightgown. ‘Oh,

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