Lily George by Healing the Soldier's Heart

remain master of his emotions. He’d be working with Lucy for the foreseeable future, and it would do no one any good if he thought of her as anything other than a partner in this project. After all, it was hardly likely that she could care for a worthless cripple like himself.

Chapter Nine
    “O h, Lucy, don’t be angry,” Louisa pleaded as they headed upstairs to the schoolroom. “After all, Papa’s library does need work. Even you noticed how shabby it has gotten over the years.”
    Lucy wasn’t angry. She had had ample time to prepare herself for the inevitable confrontation with her charge from the moment Louisa ran upstairs to fetch her to the moment they both curtsied and left the room. The entire time she’d been coolly polite to the ensign, she’d been formulating just how to handle the matter of Louisa’s matchmaking in the back of her mind. And the solution dawned on her in that moment, like the sun breaking through the clouds.
    She would do nothing. Nothing at all.
    After all, anything she did would only fuel the fire of Louisa’s romantic daydreaming. If she allowed herself to show that Louisa’s actions in bringing the ensign to their home and having her work on a project with him threw her into a tizzy, Louisa would only continue to meddle. Louisa was determined to prove that the ensign and Lucy would fall in love like a couple in one of her romantic novels. But if Lucy grew nonchalant about the entire matter, then Louisa would lose interest and move on to something else, leaving her governess in peace. And perhaps Lucy could convince herself to truly be indifferent, as well. It was worth a try at any rate.
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucy mustered in her heartiest, snippiest governess tone of voice. “If his lordship wants me to assist in this project, I should be happy to oblige. Don’t take on so, Louisa.”
    Louisa paused on the landing and turned to face her teacher. Confusion quirked her eyebrows. “You—you mean you aren’t angry?”
    “On the contrary,” she replied briskly. Her plan seemed to be working—no need to stop it now. “I shall do whatever his lordship bids me to do. It’s my job to do so after all.”
    “Oh.” Louisa looked distinctly crestfallen, her shoulders sloping in disappointment. “I thought I would get a tongue-lashing.”
    Lucy managed a bright laugh and continued her progress up the stairs. This was going better than she had thought. “Not at all. Now, this afternoon I should like it if you would spend some time working on your father’s library. Sketch out a few designs for furniture, if you like, and jot down any thoughts you have for furnishings. I want to have something to share with the ensign once we begin going over his plans.”
    Louisa grumbled her reply, and Lucy was hard put to smother her grin. Served the little meddler right. She loved Louisa, but she had to learn not to interfere in other people’s affairs. Lucy would see to it that the girl spent as much time working on the library as the ensign. That would be her restitution for interfering in her instructor’s life. And by the time the library was refurbished and life returned to normal, ’twas quite likely that Miss Louisa Bradbury would be sick of the sight of libraries, blueprints and architectural renderings.
    They worked in the schoolroom side by side until the shadows began to lengthen on the wall. ’Twas late afternoon—time to bring an end to the school day. As Lucy and Louisa began packing away their things, Sophie and Amelia bounded into the schoolroom— Sophie’s rosy cheeks and starry eyes indicating a high level of excitement.
    “I leave tomorrow for Brightgate,” she announced breathlessly, grasping Lucy’s hands. “It’s all arranged. Aunt Katherine is taking me.”
    “That’s wonderful.” Lucy squeezed Sophie’s hands. Though Sophie wouldn’t admit her feelings for Lieutenant Cantrill, they were as obvious as the dimples in her cheeks. This trip would