Mrs. Munroe met his stare with a staggering boldness. “Send me back?” For the lady’s bravado, a hint of panic underscored her words.
The woman had a rather bothersome tendency of parroting back a man’s words. He nodded. “I will also send you with a letter informing Mrs. Belden of your suitability.” For anyone other than his minx of a sister. He strode over to the bell-pull, rang for a servant, and then stalked over to his desk.
Gabriel claimed his seat and tugged open the drawer. He removed a sheet of velum and reached for his pen…when his skin pricked with awareness. With a frown, he picked his head up. The young woman stood at the center of the room, her hands planted akimbo in a move that was not at all polite, proper, or spiritless.
“Did you just dismiss me?” A thread of steel underlined the lady’s softly spoken question.
He opened his mouth to ask which manner of dismissal she spoke of, but considering he’d summarily dismissed her twice, wisely pressed his lips into a line. A faint muscle twitched at the corner of the lady’s eye, hinting at her annoyance.
He set his pen down and leaned back in his chair.
Interest stirred. Odd, he’d taken the colorless creature as the cowering sort. This woman with her fiery eyes and frowning lips demonstrated more bravado than he’d credited. Still, by her words and actions to this point, she’d proven herself unsuitable for the post. “You are upset, Mrs. Munroe,” he said patiently, adopting the tone he’d used on his injured mount when the creature had stepped on a burr during a ride through his country estates several months past.
She narrowed her eyes and took a step forward. “Are you speaking to me as though I’m a wounded pup?”
It had been his loyal mare, but by Mrs. Munroe’s thinly veiled fury, she’d little appreciate that slight distinction.
The office door opened and they both looked as one to the entrance. His loyal butler, Joseph—who’d been with their miserable household since Gabriel had been a mere child, beaten and bloodied by his violent sire. “You rang, my lord?”
“Would you—?”
She planted her arms akimbo. “Are you dismissing me again?”
The lady’s indignant tone cut into his orders. Had the insolent young woman challenged him—in the presence of his servant? He looked to his butler. By the smile pulling at Joseph’s lips, the other man was thoroughly enjoying Mrs. Munroe’s bold showing—at Gabriel’s expense. He tamped down his irritation and gave Joseph a pointed look. The old servant wisely backed out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him.
Gabriel returned his attention to the companion.
She swung her gaze away from the door and over to Gabriel once more. “You intend to send me away.” There it was again. That panic that flickered to life in the woman’s eyes.
Remorse tugged at him. “I do.” Still, his sister’s well-being was far more important than this stranger’s pride.
Mrs. Munroe’s shocked gasp filled the room.
Life had instilled in him the necessity of blunt honesty. Those sentiments protected a person from being guided down a path of foolish hopes and weakness. Though he felt a modicum of pity for the instructor sent to him from Mrs. Belden’s, he’d not be weakened by that useless emotion. Was the proud woman fearful of returning to Mrs. Belden’s without the assigned post? Dread, desperation, and anger paraded across the expressive lines of her face. He braced for her to employ tears or her womanly wiles.
Which is why her calm practicality took him aback.
“But you do not even know me,” she said with a far more steady tone than he believed her capable of in this moment.
Gabriel drummed his fingertips along the arm of his chair. She dropped her gaze to his hands. Annoyance flashed behind the young woman’s eyes and he stilled the distracted movement. “You are determined to have this post, aren’t you, Mrs. Munroe?”
She tipped her chin up. “I am. I came here to fulfill the role of companion and I’d see to that responsibility.” Then she added as if more an afterthought, “Mrs. Belden would be disappointed if one of her instructors was rejected in the respective role.”