The Governess Affair

one. It means that I solve problems, whatever the cost. I’m good at that.”
    “And so out of the goodness of your heart, you’re offering—”
    “No,” he said, leaning in. “You misunderstand. There’s no goodness in my heart—that’s what I keep trying to explain to you. You are a problem. It distracts me from my work to think of you here. To wonder…”
    She sucked in her breath and pulled away from him slightly. Her eyes seemed round and very gray. She scarcely moved. The air around them seemed suddenly charged. He couldn’t look away from her, and he could almost hear his words echoed back at him.
    It distracts me to think of you .
    It was almost nothing, that faint sense of attraction he felt. It was no more than the scarcely-heard hum of an insect. Insignificant enough that he waved it away. But she had just noticed, and that small hint of interest, mild though it had been, had washed the smile from her face.
    “Go away,” she said, her voice flat.
    No, she wasn’t here because of an employment dispute. Clermont had a great deal to answer for.
    Hugo reached down and plucked a spare twig from the ground and set it on the bench between them. “This,” he said, “is a wall, and I will not cross it.”
    Her eyes fixed on that piece of wood, a few scant inches in length.
    “I don’t believe in hurting women,” he said.
    She did not respond.
    “I do a great many things, and I’m not proud of many of them. But I don’t swear. I don’t drink. And I don’t hurt women. I don’t do any of those things because my father did every one.” He held her eyes as he spoke. “Now I’ve told you something that nobody else in London knows. Surely you can return the favor. What is it you want?”
    She shook her head slowly. “No, Mr. Marshall. I will not be browbeaten, however nicely you do it. I am done with things happening to me. From here on out, I am going to happen to things.”
    She raised her head as she spoke. And that annoying hum—that gnat-like buzz of attraction that he had so easily brushed away—seemed to swell around him like a growing murmur of wind.
    Her features seemed so crisp, outlined against the cool air. She had not a hair out of place. Still, she made him think of a bear, strong and certain, claiming her territory at the top of a mountain.
    Here, he thought, finally, was a match for him .
    There was no point being fanciful. What use had he with a bear? Still… Surely he could appreciate one when he saw it.
    “Brave words,” he said softly. “That’s what it means to be ruthless. After all, I happen to other people on a regular basis.”
    She glanced pointedly at the twig between them.
    Hugo made no move toward her. “I don’t suppose you know why they call him the Wolf of Clermont.”
    “His ruthlessness.”
    “But the specifics. You know how he came to work with Clermont?”
    She shook her head.
    He steepled his fingers and looked away from her. “Clermont would never have hired a pugilist as his man of business. But he always did like prizefights. And drinking; all dukes love to drink. He became inebriated one day after a fight, and spilled all his troubles to the champion.”
    “Dukes surely have a great many troubles.” She rolled her eyes.
    “It was the usual litany: old title, nothing but bills to show for it, and a less than sterling reputation to boot. The Wolf wagered him one hundred pounds that in six months, he could rearrange everything so that he’d have no more bill collectors hammering on his doors.”
    She was watching him. “How do you know this?”
    He waved his hand. “Everyone knows this—all the servants around here, in any event.”
    She nodded. “Go on. If this Wolf is to be my nemesis, I need to know everything about him.”
    “Clermont was not without resources. His estates brought in a pittance—with a few months’ grace, and the benevolence of a few lenders, all might have been brought around. But the duke didn’t have a few months. And so the Wolf focused on the duke’s most prominent creditor. Everyone has secrets, and that creditor’s secret was that his money had been made in the slave trade years after it had been banned. The Wolf made sure every sordid detail went to the papers. The family was shunned. And do you know what the Wolf did then?”
    She shook her head.
    He looked her in the eyes. “He paid the debt,” he said. “Publicly. Without once having to voice a threat, the Wolf made Clermont untouchable. Insist