An Unexpected Countess

by Laurie Benson

  As he reached the top of the stairs, he found her waiting for him in the shadows, looking out over the rows of graves nestled under the trees. The backs of the arched tombstones were visible in the bright moonlight.

  He sucked in a breath of the cool night air as his heart started pounding. It was the thrill of the chase. All his life he had proved his worth by winning—and winning came naturally to him.

  Looking at Sarah, he tried to hold back his smile. ‘We are in search of someone with the initials J.H., if you agree that is how the clue should be interpreted?’

  She reached into her pocket and stared down at the link in her hand. ‘It appears to be the logical assumption.’

  ‘How shall we divide the stones up? I’ll leave it to you.’ He should have been the one to decide since it had been his idea to look here. But if he allowed her to select which rows they each checked, she could not accuse him of scouting out the graveyard beforehand already knowing where the tombstone was.

  She looked pale, or maybe it was just the light of the moon. She swallowed and shifted in her stance. ‘I’ll take the back six rows and you take the front six. That divides it up evenly.’

  With a nod, he sauntered to the first grave. Well, Lady Mary Marow, you are not the one I need. Or you, John Seaton. Or you, Arabella Seaton. He was moving down the first row at a rapid clip.

  This would be over in minutes. In minutes, one of them would find the diamond and the other would give up their key. Why on earth could she need it? Her family appeared to have a comfortable amount of wealth. Why did she seem so determined to get her hands on it, as if finding this diamond was the most important thing to her?

  He slowed his pace.

  Across the rows, she trudged along from stone to stone. There was no energy to her movements—no excitement in her demeanour. Something was wrong. This wasn’t the Sarah he knew. The Sarah he knew thrived on trying to best him.

  He pictured what she would look like when he told her he had found the diamond. He felt his stomach turn. He needed this diamond to settle his debt to Prinny. But what would it cost him?

  She glanced behind her and they stared at each other across the silent graveyard.

  This was it between them. He felt it in his bones and she knew it, as well. What they had shared together, whatever it was, was dying a quick death. After the diamond was found, he would have no reason to seek her out. There were no more chances of them running into each other over the clues that needed to be uncovered. There would be no secret conversations about who had an idea of where the diamond might be hidden. She would go back to being someone he very rarely saw at his friend’s house or across a ballroom.

  She had already told him she would not marry him. He couldn’t go on having sex with her without eventually wanting to spill his seed inside her. It was Sarah. It would be inevitable.

  This was it.

  When she turned back to continue her progress, he broke out into a cold sweat.

  Aside from a few close friends, the people in his life who had come to matter to him had always been taken away. Always. He’d be a fool to believe anything different.

  Hart never thought much about divine providence. But now he closed his eyes and took an uneven breath. He would leave it to fate. If he was meant to find the diamond first and hurt Sarah in the process, he would. It was as simple as that.

  But when he tried to walk on, his feet felt as if they were rooted to the ground like a mighty oak. She was already on the second row of tombstones. Apparently she had no reservations about finding the diamond before he did. Taking another breath, he walked to the next grave.

  The loud curse left his lips before he could stop it. Her head snapped up and she ran towards him.

  J.H.

  It wasn’t a name. The image on the link from the bracelet was an exact replica of the stone. There was no second guessing between the graves of people who shared the initials J.H. This was it. His walking stick fell from his hand. He dropped to his knee on the damp grass and traced the letters with his finger as if he couldn’t trust his own eyes.

  Sarah reached his side. Her hand flew to her mouth as she let out a gasp. She hadn’t run far to reach him, but you would never know that by the way she was breathing. Falling to her knees next to him, she stared at the gravestone and her hand started to tremble.

  This was precisely what he hadn’t wanted to see. Her reaction was painful to watch. She was clearly upset and he was the one who had done that to her.

  ‘Sarah—’

  ‘You won.’ She swallowed hard. ‘You found it.’

  ‘It’s possible the diamond isn’t here.’

  She finally looked him in the eye. ‘It’s here.’

  He pulled out his knife from his boot and she scrambled to her feet. ‘What are you going to do with that?’

  What did she think he intended to do? Stab her for her key? ‘I’m going to dig for the diamond.’

  ‘Now?’ Her eyes went wide.

  ‘We are alone. It’s late. I would think you would agree this is the ideal time to dig for it.’

  She rubbed her forehead. ‘You have no qualms about defiling someone’s grave?’

  ‘Defiling someone’s grave? How far down do you think I’ll have to dig?’

  She visibly shuttered. ‘I can’t watch.’ She spun on her heels and began to walk away, rubbing her arms.

  ‘Don’t go far. I will need that key of yours.’

  He began to scrape away at the grass closest to the stone. Soon he was digging into soft, damp dirt thanks to the rain earlier that day. About six inches down, a scrap of dirty oilcloth caught the tip of his knife. Slowly he pushed the dirt away with the side of his blade and dug around what appeared to be something wrapped in brown oilcloth about the size of his cupped hands. He lifted it out of the ground and looked over at Sarah’s back.

  ‘I have it.’

  She peered around her shoulder as if in pain. When she looked down at the package, she let out a breath and walked to his side. He filled in the small hole and wiped the blade of his knife on the inside of his coat.

  ‘We can take this back to my set at Albany and open it there. It is only around on Piccadilly and I’m certain since you are in men’s attire there will be no trouble escorting you inside. I fear if we stay here for too long someone will spot us.’

  She shook her head. ‘That will take too long and I have to get back home.’ She glanced around. ‘We need to do it now.’

  A part of him, a very small part, hoped he wasn’t holding the diamond. There was a chance this was just another clue to its whereabouts. He continued to tell himself that as he sat back on his heels and placed the package on his lap—and as he cut the cord that held the package closed.

  But when he unwrapped the oilcloth and looked down at the square mahogany box, he knew he was holding the Sancy in his hand.

  She looked around once more and knelt near him with plenty of space between them. Earlier in the night they could barely keep from touching one another. Now an ocean might as well have separated them.

  ‘You found it.’

  Her admission should have pleased him. He had won their wager. Under normal circumstances he took great satisfaction in winning—but not tonight. There were two small keyholes on opposite ends of the lid. That would explain the need for the two keys. He took his key out of his waistcoat pocket and unlocked one of the sides.

  This was it. This was what he had wanted. And yet he felt his life would never be the same after he opened this box.

  He held his hand out for her key and she placed it in his palm without one word of protest. Her key was a perfect match for the other lock.

  Only the box wouldn’t open. Dammit, what had he missed? He tried turning the right lock and then the left, but the lid wouldn’t move. He tried turning
the left side first and that did not work either. Was there some other clue they were missing?

  ‘Try turning both keys at the same time.’

  She held the box steady for him as he took her suggestion. The click from both chambers brought a smile to his face. ‘How did you know to do that?’

  ‘I took a guess,’ she said with a shrug.

  Well, that was a damn good guess. He lifted the lid and there, nestled in white silk, was the Sancy. It was a multifaceted, shield-shaped stone whose colour, in the moonlight, was difficult to determine. But he knew from Prinny’s description that it was a pale yellow. Lifting the heavy stone from its nest, he placed it in Sarah’s palm.

  She looked down at it with pain in her eyes. In less than a minute, she handed it back to him and stood. ‘Congratulations, my lord. You’ve won.’

  My lord? Was this how it was going to be between them? Hadn’t their time together meant anything to her?

  ‘What will you do with it?’ Her voice was but a whisper.

  ‘I have a debt to settle. The Sancy was the payment.’ He should be feeling satisfied, but looking at the sadness she was attempting to hide from him was painful. ‘Sarah, what would you have done with the stone if you had won it?’

  She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t really matter, does it? You have won.’

  ‘Sarah, we need to talk.’

  ‘I need to leave. The hour is getting late and soon the sun will be up. I must return home before anyone sees me.’

  She was doing the honourable thing. She wasn’t trying to cajole him or beg him to give her the stone. There were no tears. She was honouring the terms of their wager. Sarah Forrester was an admirable woman. He put the diamond back in the box and locked it up. ‘I will walk you,’ he said, standing.

  She met his gaze directly with eyes the colour of his favourite 1811 cognac. He would miss those eyes.

  She shook her head. ‘No, it wouldn’t be wise for you to accompany me.’

  ‘It’s not wise for you to be walking around Mayfair at night...even if you are dressed like a man.’

  ‘It never bothered you before.’

  But it did now—deeply.

  He knew that once she turned around he would lose her. And he realised he would never be quite the same when he watched Sarah Forrester turn and walk away.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sarah hurried past the gentlemen’s clubs on St James’s, across Piccadilly and up Berkeley Street on her way home. Unshed tears rimmed her eyes, making it difficult to see, and a deep sense of despair hung over her. She continued to ask herself what else she could have done to get the diamond. In her heart she knew there wasn’t anything. Hart had given her that extra chance to find it. She knew how competitive he was, so the gesture surprised her. But he had won it fairly. What kind of person would she be if she somehow went back on their agreement and tried to steal the diamond from him?

  Now she had nothing to exchange for the letter.

  As she walked along the gate surrounding Berkeley Square, a tear slid down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly, afraid that once one tear fell, thousands more would follow. It was understandable to be this upset over the loss of the diamond. She would be forced to face her parents in the morning and tell them everything. And yet there seemed to be something else lying heavily on her heart.

  She ran through her garden and, instead of entering her home through her father’s study as she had the other two nights she had been disguised as a man, she climbed her trellis, needing the comfort of her room as quickly as possible. Except when she climbed over her petite iron rail and stepped into her bedchamber, her eyes immediately went to the red-and-gold rug by the hearth and she broke into silent sobs. Clasping both hands over her mouth, she sank to the floor. She had lost everything...the diamond...her chance at protecting her family...and the man she loved.

  She knew it now. She loved him. But her pride was too great. She would never beg Hart to carry on with what they had shared that night in her room. He was a man who did what he wanted when he wanted. After witnessing him with Lady Helmford, it was obvious the man wanted more than Sarah. And he was an English lord, so they were destined to live an ocean apart.

  She was a fool for allowing herself to fall for him even just a little bit. He filled her heart when she was with him and knowing she didn’t have any place inside his was crushing. After throwing aside her hat, she lowered her head to her knees. Their time together was over and she was going to have to find a way to accept that.

  But thoughts of him and the idea of telling her parents about Alexander kept her up most of the night in tears.

  * * *

  The next morning, walking downstairs, she was almost tripping over her own two feet from exhaustion. The scents of warm bread, chocolate and coffee were getting stronger as she passed Bayles on the way to the dining room. When she realised what was in his hand, she stopped suddenly and turned around.

  ‘Have some letters arrived?’ she asked needlessly, staring at the small stack.

  ‘Yes, miss, I was just about to bring them in.’

  She stuck her hand out. ‘I’ll do it.’

  Bayles looked between her and the stack in his hands. After all this time, their very English butler still didn’t know what to make of her forthright manner and unconventional way of doing things.

  ‘They are just letters. I assure you my parents will not mind if I am the one to deliver them.’

  ‘I have not had the opportunity to sort them by recipient.’

  She waved her hand casually. ‘I don’t mind doing that.’

  Reluctantly, he placed them in her palm, and she waited for him to disappear down the hall before she thumbed through them. Her stomach dropped.

  There, in the pile, was a small letter addressed to her father by the almost-rudimentary hand that she recognised. Slipping it into her pocket, she stole away to the drawing room.

  The letter was brief, instructing her father to place the diamond in a box under the bench in the pavilion in St James’s Square in three days. Once he had the diamond, the letter implicating her brother would be left in the box the next day. She had run out of time.

  ‘There you are,’ her mother said, entering the bright yellow room as Sarah quickly slipped the note back into her pocket. ‘I was on my way to see what was keeping you. You’re as pale as a ghost. What has happened?’

  Sarah pasted on a smile and shook her head. ‘Nothing. I did not sleep well.’

  Her mother took her hand. Concern was etched on her face. ‘Come with me to the dining room. A nice cup of chocolate might be just the thing to help. And I have received good news. Your father has just informed me that Captain Van Syke will be in London this week. He is a rather dashing young man and very kind. Do you remember him from the summer ball President and Mrs Monroe held before we left for London?’

  ‘Are you going to tell me you will be inviting him to dinner?’

  Glancing at her from the corner of her eye, her mother smiled. ‘It would only be the gracious thing to do since he is so far from home.’

  ‘Mother—’

  ‘Is it so terrible that I want you to find a nice husband?’

  It wasn’t. Sarah knew her mother was throwing men her way because she loved her and wanted her to be happy. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she would ever be happy with any man aside from Hartwick.

  Her mother was a good, caring person and didn’t deserve to have her wounds of grief reopened. There had to be something Sarah could do. There had to be one last thing she could try before she had to tell her parents about Alexander. It was time to meet this danger head on. It was time to do whatever it took to prevent them from learning about her brother’s treasonous act.

  * * *

  Hart yawned loudly as he was escorted down the ha
llowed halls of Carlton House on his way to see Prinny. He had gotten no sleep last night—not one wink. Part of him wondered if sleep would come once the diamond was in Prinny’s possession.

  He was shown into the dining room that was adjacent to the conservatory that overlooked St James’s Park, an interesting location since the first clue in discovering the whereabouts of the diamond had been found there. His friend sat at the head of the table, resplendent in his fine attire for the day, digging into a pie of some sort with abandon.

  Prinny gestured with his fork to the chair to his right. ‘Ah, won’t you join me, my boy?’

  Hart dropped down and leaned his head back to rest on the top of the red velvet chair.

  ‘You look as if you haven’t slept all night. Whoever she was, I hope she was worth it.’

  The statement made Hart’s chest hurt and he rubbed it as if somehow that would help. Various bottles were in front of him in crystal decanters. Even if he were to drink the lot, it wouldn’t ease the pain of losing Sarah.

  ‘Take whatever you wish,’ Prinny continued, as an empty crystal glass was placed down by Hart from one of the liveried servants.

  He just moved it to the side. Prinny took note and stopped eating to eye him suspiciously.

  ‘I am beginning to believe this is not a social call.’

  Hart shook his head, not having the energy to answer.

  Prinny sucked some morsel of food from his teeth and watched him. Waving his meaty hand, he dismissed every servant from the room and lowered his fork. ‘You have it.’ It was a statement, not a question.

  Hart rubbed the package containing the Sancy that was wrapped in white silk and was in the pocket of his long black coat. He needed to turn it over to settle his debt and prove to Prinny he could find it. That was why he had spent all this time searching for it. That was why he should be thrilled he had found it.

  ‘I do.’ It came out morose, although Prinny didn’t seem to notice.

  A broad smile pushed up Prinny’s full cheeks and he reached for a glass of champagne. ‘Capital! I knew you could do it!’ He leaned on the table towards Hart and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Tell me where it was hidden.’