An Unexpected Countess

by Laurie Benson

  He froze.

  ‘But why would you have a link removed?’ Sarah’s mother asked.

  ‘The bracelet was too large for me. One would think it was made for a man’s wrist. And the image was not to my liking.’

  Both he and Sarah stared at one another before jumping to their feet. Hurrying with careful movements to get around the Dowager, they headed for the door. Once in the hallway, Sarah grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the deep, narrow alcove behind the staircase. Their bodies were practically touching in the small shadowed area.

  ‘Did you hear—’

  ‘I need to do this first.’

  She never got to finish her question because he crushed his lips to hers in a kiss. He really needed to stop being so impulsive. There must have been orange in the Everills’ punch because he could taste it faintly on her tongue as they deepened the kiss. He needed more and slid his hand up her side to cup her breast and give it a gentle squeeze.

  She pushed lightly against his chest. ‘You said you would behave.’

  ‘I’m trying.’

  ‘Try harder. You’re making it impossible to act with propriety.’

  The distinct sound of footsteps approaching was like a bucket of cold water on the passion simmering between them. He spun her around in his arms, shielding her with his body.

  She spun them back and tried to peek out from their hiding spot.

  Before she had the chance, he spun her back quickly and pushed her up against the wall so she could no longer move. Whoever it was kept walking, but their presence was enough to bring both of them to their senses. He had a diamond to find, and they had finally located another clue to help them do it.

  ‘You heard Lady—’

  ‘There’s another link,’ she whispered back, grabbing his hand. ‘That’s the clue we’ve been missing. Once we find it, it won’t be long before one of us has the diamond.’ Her body was practically vibrating with excitement.

  He wondered yet again why she needed it. It was just as well he didn’t know. He couldn’t risk being swayed by her reason—he would be torn between his own need to honour his debt and his desire to give this glorious woman everything she wanted. She was open and forthright, and if he asked, he suspected she would tell him the truth. He could already feel doubt begin to creep into his heart, along with confusion and indecision. He ruthlessly put a stop to it. He was one step closer to settling his debt with Prinny and now, more than ever, he needed to prove his worth to the man. Now, when his own sense of who he was had been thrown into question by Blackwood’s revelations. If, as Sarah said, he would be judged on his actions, then he needed to know he had honour, that he was a man who paid his debts. The diamond was his.

  He combed the lock of hair out of his eyes. ‘The link must be here. We are in the house and Lady and Lord Everill are occupied entertaining their guests. It’s the ideal time to search for it. I’ll get it and we can look at it together.’

  ‘Why should you be the one to go and find the link?’

  ‘Because I am adept at finding my way around a woman’s bedchamber in the dark.’

  She pursed her lips together in a thin line. ‘I have had experience in that, too, you know.’

  ‘Well, I know where women hide their jewels.’

  ‘I am a woman,’ she replied with clenched fists.

  ‘I—’

  She covered his mouth with her hand. ‘You need to stop talking.’

  His tongue travelled across her palm and she shook it out.

  ‘Sarah, your absence will be noted. You must return to the music room. I will go. I will meet you back there once I find the link. We can study it together and as per our wager, the first one to find the diamond will win both keys.’

  She let out a sigh and massaged her forehead as if it were giving her pain. ‘Very well, you go. But I need your word you will return with it, that we will examine it together.’

  He took her delicate hand and placed it over his heart. ‘On my honour. You have my word. I will not run off without giving you a fair chance to study it. Now, hurry back to the music room before the Dowager thinks I am tupping you behind a curtain somewhere in this house.’

  ‘Why would you believe she would think you and I were doing that?’

  He arched his brow. ‘You have met the woman, have you not?’

  She nodded thoughtfully. ‘Oh, you’re probably right.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sarah couldn’t stop tapping her foot and it had nothing to do with the song Mr Ebsworth was singing. What was taking Hart so long? She had been in this house before. She had been in Lady Everill’s room. She knew where the woman kept her jewels. He should have retrieved the link by now. Could he have run off without showing it to her as they agreed? No, he wouldn’t do that, would he? Unless his reason for searching for the diamond was something even more compelling than her own, something that would make him break his promise. If she had been the one to find the final clue, she would have kept the terms of their wager... Wouldn’t she?

  For the fifth time she casually glanced over her shoulder to look for him. This time he finally was standing in the doorway.

  And he wasn’t alone.

  Even though the woman’s face was turned away from her as she whispered in Hart’s ear, Sarah knew it was Lady Helmford—the same Lady Helmford who lived a few doors away from here—and the same Lady Helmford that Hart had been visiting the night they met on the rooftop after Sarah had searched this very building for the bracelet.

  Bile rose in her throat at the thought of him with that woman. She tried not to picture them together. But now that she knew the intimate details of some of the things he enjoyed doing, it was hard to push aside the image of him between the woman’s thighs. She was well aware of his notorious reputation. Their interrupted encounter under the stairs had left them both frustrated. She’d felt his hard length against her hip when she had been in his arms. Had he found his release with the Countess?

  Just as she was about to turn around and pretend to concentrate on the music, Lady Helmford whispered something else to Hart and he gave her a devilish grin and shook his head, that lock of hair falling over his eye. She had probably asked him if he’d had enough of her. Her glance dropped to the sleeping Dowager. She also knew what kind of a man Hart was. The woman was right. He probably had taken a woman behind a pair of curtains in this house—except it wasn’t Sarah!

  He had been gone much too long. Now she knew why and she wanted to cry.

  She jerked her head towards the front of the room and pretended to concentrate on Mr Ebsworth’s voice.

  Men are clods.

  Men are scoundrels.

  Men can’t keep their trousers buttoned!

  Those weren’t the words he was singing. But those were the words she sang to herself in her head.

  When Hart finally got around to sitting down next to her, he had the nerve to smile as if nothing was amiss. If only he knew how close he was from having her elbow shoved in his gut.

  ‘I’ve got it,’ he whispered in her ear before flashing her that charming smile of his and tossing that ridiculous lock of hair out of his eyes. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

  ‘Like what?’

  He narrowed those piercing blue eyes and studied her through his thick black lashes. ‘Like how you are looking at me right now. Is anything troubling you?’

  ‘No.’ She brushed the wrinkles out of her skirt and raised both brows in an attempt to soften her expression. He didn’t need to know she had been contemplating ways of tripping him and Lady Helmford. If she did it to both of them on the same night, would it appear suspicious?

  He went to hook his little finger around hers, but she moved her hand.

  ‘You’re certain nothing is amiss?’

 
‘I am fine.’

  Which should have told him she wasn’t, if he truly cared and knew her well enough. If he knew her well enough, he would know what was wrong. She wouldn’t have to explain it!

  She crossed her arms. ‘Why were you gone so long?’

  ‘It is much easier to manoeuvre your way through a house when all the occupants are either asleep or out. It takes skill and time to do it when servants and guests are walking about.’

  She glanced back at Lady Helmford, who gave her a friendly smile from where she continued to stand by the doorway.

  Sarah turned back around. ‘Where is it?’

  ‘It’s in my waistcoat pocket. Would you like to fetch it out for me?’ he asked with a wicked glint in his eyes.

  She chose to ignore his question. ‘Are you certain it is still there? Perhaps it fell out? Or someone took it?’

  His dark brows wrinkled. ‘No...it is exactly where I placed it.’ He glanced over at the sleeping Dowager and past Sarah to the five vacant seats next to her. ‘I can show it to you now.’

  From out of the corner of her eye she saw Lady Helmford make her way to her seat that was a few rows in front of them. When the lady sat down, Sarah turned her palm over in her lap. She watched Hart reach inside his waistcoat and drop a small gold square into the pale pink silk covering her hand. They both leaned down as she turned it over, exposing the painting on porcelain of a tombstone with the initials J.H. and a woman weeping beside it. Before she was even able to process the mourning image, he leaned over to her ear.

  ‘It’s in the churchyard of St James’s Church.’

  She glared at him. If she could shoot fire from her eyes, she would have incinerated him. ‘You looked at this already. That is unfair,’ she shot back.

  ‘No, I didn’t. It just came to me. My mind analyses things quickly.’

  And hers did not? What kind of an insult was that?

  ‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he said, curling her fingers into her palm to cover the link. ‘It is logical that the clue leads there. The first led to St James’s Park. The second, the belfry of St James’s Church. It is logical that the tombstone will be found in the churchyard of that church.’

  It made complete sense. She tightened her grip around the link, the edges of the gold digging into her palm. If the diamond was in the graveyard, he had won the wager. ‘What if it isn’t?’

  ‘If you can think of another place to look, go ahead.’

  His reasoning was sound. She would probably have guessed the same given the chance to study it. That insufferable man! He had looked at the link while he retrieved it. She just knew it. That would have given him plenty of time to formulate the whereabouts of the gravestone before sitting down next to her. He might have even been thinking it through when he was tupping Lady Helmford.

  ‘You studied this already and stole the advantage,’ she said, fighting to keep her voice at a whisper. But could she honestly say that she would not have given in to the temptation to look at the link had she been the one to retrieve it? Her parents’ happiness meant everything to her...but so did her honour and keeping her word. She huffed in frustration. How had this situation become so tangled?

  ‘On my honour, I did not. I recognised the shape, saw the Greek key border and put it in my pocket. I could have kept my suspicion to myself and gone to find the diamond on my own.’ His brows drew together in anger.

  ‘Why didn’t you?’

  ‘I am asking myself that very question right now.’

  ‘You already looked at it because you want to boast about finding the diamond first.’

  ‘You don’t really believe that I would do that to you, do you?’

  ‘I have no reason not to believe it.’

  His head jerked back as if she struck him. ‘Sarah.’

  ‘Do not “Sarah” me. There is no guarantee your guess is correct. Until we are certain, you are not getting my key.’

  His mouth thinned, appearing as if he was holding himself back from speaking.

  Eventually he rubbed his hand across his lips. ‘Very well, meet me at the entrance of the churchyard at three o’clock. Most people will be abed by then and the streets should be quiet. You will see that I am right and the diamond is there.’ His voice was low and clipped.

  ‘I will be there.’

  ‘I will count on it. And, Sarah...bring your key.’

  She lifted her right foot, but he stood abruptly and walked out of the music room before she had the chance to step on his shiny black shoe.

  * * *

  The full moon shone bright on Jermyn Street as Sarah stood against the brick wall of the churchyard with her hat pulled down low, waiting for Hart. She had been lucky so far. The street had remained deserted. He had said to meet at three. It was ten minutes past. The thought that he could have be detained by Lady Helmford made her clench her fists.

  Looking to her left and then right, she finally saw him strolling along the pavement as if he had not a care in the world, swinging his gold-tipped walking stick. Even though he was some distance away, she recognised his gait.

  When he reached her side, he tipped his hat in greeting. ‘Good evening, old boy. Fancy meeting you here.’

  She narrowed her eyes in response to his sarcasm. ‘You’re late.’

  ‘I needed to change my attire.’

  ‘I changed and yet I still managed to arrive on time.’

  Hart arched his brow and leaned closer. ‘Is there something in particular you wish to say to me?’

  She wanted to ask him if he had been with Lady Helmford, but he was not her husband—or her fiancé. He wasn’t even courting her. They had both agreed any physical relationship they had couldn’t continue past last night. She conveniently ignored the kiss they had shared at the musicale.

  ‘Unlike you, I do not have the luxury of returning home whenever I wish,’ she bit out. ‘The later it gets, the greater my chances of being seen by one of the servants in my home when I return.’

  He tipped his hat to her again in a cool manner. ‘My apologies. Do you have your key?’

  She curled her fingers around the warm metal in her pocket, praying she would not have to hand it over to him, and nodded.

  His eyes narrowed on her. ‘Sarah, why do you want this diamond so badly?’

  She looked away. ‘The reason I want it has no bearing on anything. You and I both want it. We cannot both have it and it cannot be split, so the reason why doesn’t matter.’ She finally looked him in the eye. ‘Unless you have changed your mind about wanting to find it.’

  ‘You will give me no explanation?’

  He had cheated her out of finding it and was probably coming from Lady Helmford’s bed. He didn’t deserve to hear the truth. She shook her head.

  His annoyance at her reply was evident in his expression. ‘I still want the diamond.’

  It had become fairly easy to read him when she looked in his eyes, but right now there was a look she couldn’t decipher.

  ‘I have a proposition for you,’ he said.

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘I’m of the firm belief that the diamond is hidden away in there, but I have not found it yet. I am willing to give you a chance to search the graveyard as well to find it. This way we are on equal ground and no one can be accused of unfair play. Whoever finds it first, wins our wager.’

  He was giving her this chance. She would be a fool not to take it. ‘Very well, I accept your proposition.’ She held out her hand and he shook it, as one would a business partner.

  ‘Shall we proceed?’ he asked, gesturing to the stone steps leading up to the churchyard that was high above Jermyn Street.

  With a quick nod, she marched past him. Her focus needed to be on the diamond and her family. The thought of digging into someone’s gra
ve was making her ill and she wasn’t completely certain she could do it. What if the diamond was amongst the bones of some poor, dead soul? Would their ghost return to haunt her? With her hand firmly on her stomach to hold in the contents, she took to the stairs.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The sight of Sarah stomping up the steps in front of him, knowing she was wearing those trews and boots under that black cape, should have been enticing. It wasn’t. She was angry with him. It was plain to see. Well, he wasn’t at all pleased with her either.

  How dare she assume he had lied to her about studying the image on the link before he showed it to her! And yet, through his anger, guilt churned in his gut that he had glanced at the image before putting it in his pocket. But he had only done so to make certain he was removing a link that was once part of the bracelet.

  He had the type of memory that could capture an image once he saw it and retain the details of that image for days afterwards. It was one of the reasons he was so good at cards. He simply would remember all the cards that had already been played.

  It was possible that some part of his brain had been trying to figure out where the gravestone was when he was on his way back to the music room. He hadn’t intentionally done it.

  When he’d spied Theodosia in the hall, she had proved an excellent diversion to keep his mind off the knowledge that he and Sarah would soon be at odds once again. Theodosia had a wicked sense of humour and they had chatted amicably before returning to the music room. She had enquired about seeing him again, since she had not heard from him since he left her room that night in the rain. He had politely declined, saying he was considering a period of abstinence for a while. Theodosia had smiled warmly, wished him well and said she hoped he had better luck at it than she had.

  When he walked back into the room, he’d been looking forward to being close to Sarah again, but something had changed. She’d been distant and very suspicious. She’d even had the nerve to accuse him of cheating on their wager. It was an insult to his honour that did not sit well with him—for many reasons. Not least of which that he had glanced at the image on the link.