“Second born sons usually go into the military. It is a tradition in many English families. After I attended university at Cambridge, my father purchased my commission and I became an officer. I received training in England and then was sent to Spain, where the Peninsular War was occurring. Do you know what that is?”

  Both boys shook their heads.

  “We have not discussed the Napoleonic Wars at all, my lord,” Miss Birmingham said. “That is why these two are so curious about them—and you. Perhaps you could give them a bit of background as to how they started and spread throughout Europe.”

  “I would be happy to, Miss Birmingham. But for me to do so, I will need an atlas. Or at least a globe.” He looked about the schoolroom and saw none.

  “That will involve a trip to His Grace’s library,” the governess said, rising from her chair. “Shall we?”

  The boys leaped to their feet and Charlie said, “Let’s go!”

  The pair hurried out the door, Miss Birmingham calling out, “Slow down,” but chuckling as she did so.

  He liked her laugh. Her mouth looked succulent, causing the urge to kiss her to return.

  Devin shook off the thought. “Shall we follow them?”

  “We better,” she said, amusement glimmering in her eyes. “If we don’t, who knows what trouble they might find along the way?”

  “It was good of my friend to take in his nephews,” he said as they started after Freddie and Charlie. “Especially since he was under no obligation to do so.”

  “From what I have overheard from servants talking, they think quite highly of His Grace. And not so highly of the last one,” she said.

  “I learned from His Grace that Freddie and Charlie are not twins, as I had first thought, but rather they came from different mothers.”

  The governess frowned. “Charlie has mentioned Freddie is the older of the pair. I merely assumed he meant Freddie was born a few minutes before him since both are six years of age.”

  “His Grace shared with me that Freddie’s mother was an actress and that the previous duke forced himself on her dresser.” He shook his head. “Charlie is the result of that encounter. When the dresser died in childbirth, Freddie’s mother generously took on Charlie and raised him as her own.”

  Anger sparked in Miss Brimingham’s eyes. “Getting two women with child is bad enough, but to abandon both these women and the children birthed?” She huffed. “I am only glad His Grace has proven to be a better man than his brother and taken in his nephews. I find these boys delightful.” She chuckled. “As long as I can keep them from trouble.”

  “Then we’d best hurry and catch up with them,” Devin said, happy to continue spending time in the governess’ company.

  Chapter Eight

  Julia’s heart raced as she and Lord Devin left the schoolroom. Though her voice sounded calm and even, her insides were churning in an odd manner. It was as if she were lighthearted and about to be sick—and yet there was some fun, fluttery feeling inside her.

  She knew this man affected her as no other had. That made him dangerous. Already, Lord Devin Hunt had put thoughts into her head that made her think she was descending into madness.

  And he had made her touch herself.

  Her face began burning in shame again. She was grateful he was still a few feet behind her, even though she knew he would catch up to her in a moment. She would do her best not to look at him. That would be key as far as surviving today went. Freddie and Charlie were fascinated by this new houseguest. She would allow the former military man to regale them with a few stories, hopefully an adulterated version of his war experiences, and then she prayed the boys might have their fill.

  Something inside her doubted that would be true. They were boys, after all, drawn to certain activities that men seemed to innately long to participate in. Boxing. Shooting. Riding. She actually had mastered both shooting and riding, simply because they were important to Papa and since she was to follow him about, she needed to be skilled at both.

  Instinct told her Lord Devin would be good at manly pursuits. And those pursuits that involved bedroom skills.

  Julia had never touched herself before in an intimate way until last night. She was efficient when bathing herself, never lingering on private areas. Yet when she lay in bed last night, sleep impossible, thoughts of Lord Devin touching her had filled her mind. Since he wasn’t there to do so, she did it herself.

  And found she enjoyed it. Quite a bit.

  If she, an unskilled, inexperienced female had found a bit of pleasure, how much greater could it be if Lord Devin touched her in those places?

  Julia shuddered.

  “Are you all right, Miss Birmingham?” he asked.

  “Quite,” she said brusquely. “Here is the library.”

  Thank goodness for having arrived at the library. She would stop thinking of Lord Devin’s hands on her. His lips on hers. His scent invading her.

  “Over here, Miss Birmingham, Lord Devin!” called Charlie. “I have a globe.”

  “There are plenty of atlases here,” Freddie added. “Uncle Win won’t mind if we pull a few out.”

  “As long as we replace them when we are finished with the lesson,” she said primly, seeing Lord Devin’s lips twitch in amusement.

  “What?” she asked. “Were you not told to put things in their proper place when you had finished with them?”

  “Not really. No one paid any particular attention to me when I was a boy.”

  The statement was purely factual, not meant to draw sympathy from her.

  But it did.

  She thought of him being the spare to the heir and how many fathers in the ton ignored all children who weren’t their heirs. Once again, Julia felt blessed that her own papa had spent so much time with her and they’d had such a close relationship, far closer than he had with the son that eventually took his title.

  The one who killed her mother.

  “Let’s see what you have,” Lord Devin said, joining the boys on the floor.

  Julia did not want to be the only one standing, so she also sat and reached for an atlas. Combing through it, she found a page of European countries, fairly up to date.

  “You might use this,” she said, handing it over to Lord Devin.

  For a moment, their fingers brushed against one another and her breath quickened. She averted her eyes and picked up another atlas, merely to keep her hands busy. After a few minutes of perusing what the duke’s library held, Lord Devin said he had enough to illustrate to the boys the points he wished to make.

  Before he began, Freddie said, “Tell it like a story. That’s how Miss Birmingham would do it. We like hearing stories.”

  Lord Devin nodded seriously. “I might need Miss Birmingham’s help then. I am a former military man, full of facts and statistics, and not a storyteller.”

  “Then I shall begin,” she said, taking the lead in the lesson. “Feel free to chime in whenever you wish, my lord.”

  Julia picked up an atlas and pointed to a shape. “This is Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. The fourth largest, I believe. It is a part of France and lies southeast of it and slightly west of the Italian Peninsula. See how Italy is shaped like a boot?”

  “I see it,” Charlie said. “Why does it belong to France? It’s surrounded by water. It looks closer to Italy. They should have claimed it.”

  “They did for several hundred years,” Lord Devin interjected. “At least the Republic of Genoa did. Genoa was a part of Italy. Corsicans spoke Italian, as well as Corsican. But the Republic of Genoa fell upon hard times and accumulated numerous debts. To pay off some of what they owed to France, they gave Corsica to King Louis XV of France. The people of Corsica weren’t happy about this and eventually asked England to help them break free. We did help to a certain extent but eventually Corsica returned to being ruled by the French.”

  She was glad he left out the bloodshed of the French Revolution and other details in his explanation. Nodding to her, she picked up the story.

  “About the time Corsica was given to France, a baby was born there. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte. Have you ever heard of him?”

  Both boys shook their heads and she had to realize they were only six and had no formal schooling before they had come to Woodbridge.

  “Well, Bonaparte entered a military academy in France and was educated there, going into the French army as a lieutenant.”

  “Second lieutenant,” corrected Lord Devin. “Of artillery. He then rose through the ranks of the French army. Over the years, he fought in places such as Italy and Egypt. Can you find those on the map?”

  Freddie quickly pointed out Italy since they had mentioned it before and Julia watched as Lord Devin guided the boys to Africa and Egypt, telling them a little more about Bonaparte’s rise as a hero in France. Then he nodded to her, giving her control again of the story they wove.

  “Bonaparte was popular and the French government was not. They had switched from having a king, as we do in England, to a different kind of government, which the French people did not like very much.”

  “Nice,” Lord Devin said under his breath, only audible to her ears.

  Yes, she had skimmed over the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Those were topics for children who were much older. Even as an adult, she had trouble understanding just how radical France had grown in such a short time, murdering their royal family and countless other French citizens.

  “Bonaparte became a war hero, helping France win some victories against her enemies. Then he took a high place in the government. Since the new government owed a lot of money, he sold a large portion of French territory in North America to the United States of America.”

  Once more, they consulted the globe and two of the atlases, looking at what the Americans had termed the Louisiana Territory.

  “That made their country really big,” Charlie said, clearly impressed by the size of the United States.

  “This Louisiana Territory was far away from France and mostly wilderness,” Lord Devin said. “Bonaparte had closer places on his mind.”

  “Is he the man you fought against, Lord Devin?” Freddie asked.

  “I fought against him and his older brother, Joseph. Bonaparte took the millions he received from the United States and declared himself Emperor of France the next year. Emperor is like a king,” Lord Devin added. “Then he began conquering country after country. That means marching troops in and taking over a place, against the wishes of the people who live there.”

  He pointed out to the boys each of those countries Bonaparte had swallowed up. They appeared to be in awe that so much land had been gobbled up in so short a time.

  “That’s a lot of places to be . . . what did you call him?” Charlie asked. “Imp?”

  “Emperor,” Julia said. “He also made three of his brothers kings of some of the various countries he had conquered. Although Bonaparte thought about crossing the water and trying to take over England, he decided against that. He did hurt our trade, though.”

  “How?” Freddie asked, clearly fascinated.

  “We make a lot of goods here in England that people from other countries buy, as well as sell some of the food we grow to other nations. Bonaparte’s ships blocked our ships from sailing into ports of all the places he had taken over. That hurt our economy.”

  “So we had to fight him, right?” Freddie said.

  “We did,” Lord Devin said. “We fought against his brother, Joseph, here.” He guided them to find Spain and Portugal on the map. “I fought here. Then in Belgium.”

  “I see that!” Charlie cried, pointing out the small country.

  “Eventually, England and her allies—our friends—defeated Bonaparte.”

  “Did you kill him?” Freddie asked, a little too bloodthirsty for Julia’s tastes.

  “No,” Lord Devin said, his gaze meeting hers.

  She knew he would edit the next part of history. No sense in describing the Little Corporal’s exile and escape, where he came close again to victory. Best to let Freddie and Charlie know a bad man had been put in his place.

  “He was exiled to an island England owns. Far away. St. Helena’s Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Africa. Let’s look for it.”

  The boys found it after a little help and Charlie asked, “Is he still there?”

  “He is.”

  “Who did you fight after Bonaparte lost?” Freddie wanted to know.

  “I was a part of the Occupation army in France. We didn’t do any more fighting because the war was over. The Occupation army was made up of soldiers from England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. All four of those countries helped one another in fighting and defeating Bonaparte. We remained behind in France to help them form a new government and get back on their feet again.”

  “On their feet?” Charlie’s nose crinkled up.

  “That is an expression,” Julia told him. “France and their emperor had been defeated. The country had no leader to step forward and guide it. Those four governments and their soldiers are helping France to stand on her own two feet again. That means, as a country, she will one day manage her own affairs.”

  “Why do you say her?” Freddie wanted to know. “Why is a country a girl?”

  “It is custom,” Lord Devin said. “Countries—and ships—are always females.”

  “That’s silly,” the boy said.

  “Nevertheless, it is proper,” Julia said in her governess voice, brokering no nonsense. “Do you understand all of this? Or do you have any questions for Lord Devin?”

  “How long will that army stay in France to help the people?” Charlie asked.

  She saw Lord Devin choose his words carefully. “I believe by this time next year, they will be going home and France will once again rule herself. A peace treaty was signed. France had to give back the land that Bonaparte took from other countries. A new king was chosen from the family who used to rule France before Bonaparte made himself the French emperor. The new king is trying very hard to help France become a good country again.”

  Freddie closed the atlas he held. “I like finding countries on a map. Or the globe. Can we do more of that, Miss Birmingham?”

  “Of course, we can,” she promised. “We will also be learning about places long ago that still exist today. Ancient Greece and Rome, to begin with.”

  “Here’s Greece on the map,” Charlie said eagerly, pointing it out.

  “Very good,” she praised. “We will also study our own country’s history and look at the different counties that England is divided into.”

  “Counties? What are those?” Freddie asked.

  “Think of them like the rooms in a house,” Lord Devin suggested. “If England were Woodbridge, it stands as a whole house—just as England is a country—but the house is made up of many rooms. Some large and some small. Counties are portions of England.”

  “What county are we?” Freddie asked.

  “We are in Essex,” Julia told him. “Here, let me show you.”

  She opened another atlas and found Essex.

  Charlie looked to Lord Devin. “Where are you from, my lord? Where did you grow up?”

  “Here. In Kent.”

  “Those are pretty close together. Maybe we can go see your house,” Freddie eagerly suggested.

  “We’ll see,” Lord Devin said.

  His tone might have sounded optimistic but Julia saw his eyes were bleak. Apparently, there was some distance at best or animosity at worst between Lord Devin and his brother, the Marquess of Bedford.

  “I think that is enough geography and history today,” she told her pupils. “Place everything back where it was.”

  “Can I come look at these sometime?” Charlie asked.

  “I want to look, too,” Freddie said. “Uncle Win wouldn’t mind.”

  “As long as the library is free and you promise to always replace what you look at in its original spot, I don’t see why not.”

  She started to rise but found one foot asleep. Lord Devin leaped to his feet.

  “Allow me to assist you, Miss Birmingham,” he said gallantly, capturing her hands in his and swiftly bringing her to her feet. So swift, in fact, that she crashed into his chest.

  “Oh!” she said, startled.

  He steadied her and then squeezed her fingers before releasing her.

  Julia’s belly exploded with a mass of butterflies beating their wings wildly within her. She licked her lips and saw his gaze fell to them, causing her cheeks to pinken.

  “I think that is enough book work this morning,” she told her pupils. “Shall we—”

  “Let’s go walk, Miss Birmingham,” Charlie said. “I like when we talk about the different plants.”

  “No, let’s ride,” Freddie said. “We can show Lord Devin around.” He looked to their guests. “We ride all over Woodbridge. We know everywhere to go. My pony is Blackie.”

  “Mine is Brownie,” Charlie quickly added. “And Miss Birmingham rides Whiskers. Like a cat!” He giggled.

  “We have taken up enough of his lordship’s time for one day, boys. Perhaps another time.”

  “On the contrary, Miss Birmingham, I have no other plans. I would enjoy seeing a bit of Woodbridge.”

  “Very well,” she said stiffly. “Boys, you may take Lord Devin to the stables. I will change into my riding habit and meet you there in a quarter-hour.”

  Julia left the library quickly, returning to her bedchamber. Her heart beat twice its usual rate. She glanced into the small hand mirror she possessed and saw the color high in her cheeks. She had to get control of her feelings where Lord Devin was concerned. He was a friend and guest of His Grace. She no longer was a part of the same social crowd and never would be. He could never be for her.

  No matter how much she wished it to be.

  Chapter Nine

  Julia cut through the kitchens, simply because it was the fastest way to reach the stables. When she exited the door, she found Lord Devin waiting for her.

  “I thought you were going to accompany Freddie and Charlie to the stables.”