An Unexpected Countess

by Laurie Benson

  Hart rubbed his eyes as if it would erase the pain he had seen in Sarah’s face when she realised she had lost the diamond—pain he was responsible for. ‘A graveyard.’

  ‘How marvellously sinister! Well done. Well done!’ He downed the entire glass of champagne and smacked his lips. ‘Well, let’s see it.’

  ‘What do you plan to do with it?’

  ‘I intend to hold on to it until I need funds. Then perhaps I will sell it. Discreetly, of course. Maybe I’ll ask you to facilitate a sale for me some day.’

  Hart hesitated slightly before placing it on the table. Prinny tore into the silk like a child receiving their favourite treat after being deprived of it for months. He held the substantial stone up to the light. The pale yellow diamond sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the windows from the gardens.

  ‘Stunning,’ Prinny said, letting out a breath.

  It was and handing it over should have been a wonderful feeling, but Hart just felt sick.

  ‘Well done,’ Prinny said again. ‘I knew you would find it.’

  ‘How? How did you know I would find it? Why did you single me out to do this?’

  ‘It’s that brain of yours. You are smart and cunning. I had no doubt trusting you with finding this diamond would get me what I wanted. Going after what you want and getting it is in your blood. It is who you are.’

  Hart fell back, stared up at the ceiling and scoffed. ‘If only that were true.’

  Prinny studied him while he poured himself more champagne. ‘You don’t believe you were born for the kind of work you do? Winter has remarked he can count on you to provide sound intelligence to keep me safe and he relies on your uncanny ability to analyse clues. You’ve done very well for yourself with those horses of yours. It’s inside you.’ He poked him in the arm. ‘In your blood.’ He sat back and turned his attention again to the diamond.

  It was the second time he had referred to Hart’s blood. ‘What do you know of my blood?’ he replied offhandedly. He was tired...tired from lack of sleep, tired from wondering if he should have given the diamond to Sarah and tired from not knowing who he really was.

  Prinny froze momentarily and then waved his hand casually, not looking Hart in the eye.

  Hart sat up and leaned over the table between them. ‘What do you know?’

  Prinny lowered the diamond to the piece of white silk on the table and picked up his fork, still not looking at him. Hart would be damned if he didn’t get answers. He grabbed Prinny’s hand before the man started to attack his pie again.

  ‘What. Do. You. Know. About. My. Blood?’

  ‘I have no notion what you are talking about.’

  He purposely caught Prinny’s eye. ‘I think you do. I’ve risked my life getting information to keep you safe. I found that damn diamond for you! You know something about my past. About my blood.’ He saw it. He saw the guilt in Prinny’s eyes. ‘You know who my father is.’

  The colour drained from the Prince Regent’s face and the fork he was holding clattered to the table. He picked up his glass, but the champagne sloshed around so much he put it back down.

  Hart tightened his grip. ‘Tell me what you know.’

  ‘Blackwood is your father. Why would you think differently?’

  ‘Because I know the truth and so do you.’

  Prinny jerked his wrist out of Hart’s grip and stood up. Walking over to the windows overlooking his garden and St James’s Park beyond, he rubbed his sweaty brow. Hart stood but didn’t move from his place at the table. Although he wanted answers, he wasn’t certain he was prepared to deal with the truth. And he had no doubt that Prinny knew the truth.

  ‘Come here, boy. I will not be discussing any of this from across a room.’

  Hart grabbed the bottle of champagne, took a long swig and crossed the room with it. He placed it on the base of the life-size marble statue of a barely clothed woman tucked into the nook beside the window and combed the lock out of his eye.

  Prinny stared out the window. ‘How did you find out?’

  ‘Blackwood told me.’

  That caught Prinny’s attention and he turned to Hart. ‘That’s surprising. He told you this recently?’

  ‘He did. Although he doesn’t seem to know who the man is who took his wife. But I think you do. You and my mother were intimate friends. I came here with her as a child. I think she told you and you didn’t have the decency to tell me any of this.’ His voice was harsh and he was trying to remain calm as he fisted his hands at his sides.

  ‘Perhaps we should sit down.’

  ‘No.’ He stepped in front of Prinny, preventing him from walking away. ‘You will tell me now. I don’t need to sit.’

  ‘Maybe I do.’

  ‘You will not move from this spot until you tell me.’

  ‘No one speaks to me that way, boy. I do what I want, when I want. I am your regent!’

  ‘Is that all you want to be to me? Fine! I thought we were friends. But I see I was mistaken.’ He spun around and stormed towards to the door, needing to get far away from this man and that diamond that had cost him so much.

  ‘Do not turn your back on me!’

  ‘You never had issue with it before,’ he bit out as he continued walking. ‘You never requested I treat you as if I’m just one of your subjects.’

  ‘Because you’re not.’

  ‘No. You have shown me today that is all I am.’ He took two more steps and then he stopped. His breathing was heavy as he looked back at Prinny, who had not moved from his spot. He marched back to him. Every muscle in his body was strung tight as they stared at one another. Then he saw it in his eyes. ‘Tell me it is not so.’

  Prinny did not move.

  ‘Tell me!’

  ‘It only happened once.’

  It was taking every bit of restraint he had not to plant his fist in Prinny’s face. ‘Once was enough, it seems.’

  ‘Your parents were at a house party I was attending out in Sussex. Blackwood had been found in a rather compromising position with one of the maids. Your mother was mortified. She had always been a dear friend. I found her in the dovecote that afternoon and tried to console her.’

  ‘By getting between her thighs? You thought that would help? How could you seduce her when she needed a friend?’

  Prinny raised his hands in a placating gesture. ‘It wasn’t like that. It just happened. Surely you of all people could understand that?’

  ‘The hell I can! I can keep my damn trousers buttoned. I’m not going around London preying upon unsuspecting women. I’ve taken necessary precautions to prevent any woman I’ve ever been with from conceiving a bastard. Don’t think to compare me to you! Or are you going to try to convince me my mother was some whore who begged you for it?’

  Prinny leaned over him as if he would strike him with his hand. ‘You watch your mouth. Your mother was a fine woman. A fine woman. I’ll not have you disparage her.’

  ‘So it was you. You saw an opportunity in her distress and you took it!’

  ‘Don’t paint me as the villain in this. Things happen. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It just happened.’

  ‘You mean I just happened. Me. You took my mother up against a wall in some dovecote in Sussex and I happened.’ His anger was like fire burning through his body. It was taking all his self-control not to smash his fist into Prinny.

  ‘If you want me to say I regret what happened that day between your mother and me, I won’t. I don’t regret it. And I have never regretted for one moment that you are my son.’

  Just hearing the man call him his son made him want to vomit. ‘And you never thought to tell me this.’

  ‘Blackwood claimed you as his son. How could I tell you otherwise? I swore to your mother I would never tell anyone.’

 
‘I’m not just anyone!’

  ‘No. No, you are not,’ he said softly.

  ‘Who knows about this?’

  ‘They are dead now.’

  ‘Who knows?’ he demanded.

  ‘Your mother, of course, and your grandmother. It is why she would bring you to visit me as a child after your mother passed. I have always treated you kindly. I have always treated you like a son. Which is more than you can say for Blackwood.’

  All the implications of this revelation were assaulting him at once. Each time he had provided Winter with information that kept Prinny safe, he was actually protecting his own father. And he had known Princess Charlotte. Although she wasn’t around court very much, they had been introduced and had spoken on a few occasions. He had attended her funeral and mourned her death along with the rest of the country. She had been his sister!

  Bloody hell! That meant that King George was his grandfather! He pushed his palm into his forehead to prevent his brains from shooting out.

  Prinny stood less than a foot away, silently watching him.

  ‘I will never forgive you for this,’ he said on a strangled breath.

  ‘For being your father?’

  ‘For keeping this from me for all these years.’

  This time when he stormed towards the door, he didn’t look back.

  * * *

  A short while later he found himself wandering aimlessly along Piccadilly and wondering why his life had been turned on its head. He felt completely betrayed.

  No longer would he help Winter protect the royal house. He was finished and he would let his friend know his decision tonight. Prinny was his father. And he wasn’t feeling the least bit charitable towards the man at the moment. He wasn’t certain he ever would.

  He had royal blood in him. He had aunts and uncles he was barely acquainted with. None of them would ever know he was a member of their family.

  He was deeply and profoundly alone.

  In the past when he was at his lowest, he would turn to Julian. Julian had always grounded him in some way. But lately his friend’s calm, level-headed presence hadn’t been what he needed. In all likelihood, today wouldn’t be any different.

  He wanted Sarah. He wanted to tell her everything. And knew her reaction to the news that he had royal blood would be entertaining, if nothing else.

  But he couldn’t tell her. He couldn’t go to her. And he needed to stop thinking about her. Things were over between them. She didn’t want him. She didn’t want to marry him and had made it clear that after losing the diamond to him, she wanted nothing more to do with him.

  He had to get away—far away from London. He considered going to Paris, but that only made him think of Sarah and the Sancy. And the fact she probably hated him for getting the diamond.

  Florence. He would go to Florence where he didn’t speak a word of Italian, but certainly he could hire an interpreter. It would be warmer and sunnier from what he heard. Italy it would be.

  But before he left, he would get his things in order and visit Julian one last time.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Three days later

  ‘She isn’t even a year old,’ Julian said with a quizzical brow, eyeing Hart as they stood outside his home on Grosvenor Square.

  Hart combed the lock of hair away from his eyes with his gloved hand. ‘I’m aware of that.’

  ‘She doesn’t even know how to walk yet.’

  ‘Your point?’

  Julian cleared his throat and rubbed his lips. ‘Have you thought this through? Thoroughly thought this through?’

  ‘Just take it.’

  ‘It’s too much.’

  ‘I want her to have it.’

  ‘She can’t accept it.’

  ‘I insist.’

  The front door to Julian’s enormous house opened and Katrina hurried down the steps, adjusting her wrap. ‘I thought that was you, Hartwick.’

  ‘Hart has brought a present for Augusta.’

  ‘That is very kind of you,’ she said, looking down at his hands. Confusion crossed her brow. ‘What is it?’

  Julian gestured towards the impressive, four-year-old colt in the street with its fine black coat shining in the sun.

  Katrina barely glanced at it before she was looking at Hart again. ‘It’s lovely.’ She could have at least paid some attention to it.

  ‘He should be,’ Julian replied. ‘This is the thoroughbred Hart bought at Tattersall’s recently.’

  Her eyes widened and she looked back at the horse. ‘But didn’t you pay...?’

  ‘Entirely too much,’ Hart said, fiddling with the reins in his hand.

  ‘Hart is leaving for Italy and, since he will not be here for Augusta’s baptism, he is giving her this horse as a gift. I told him she cannot accept it.’

  ‘You’re leaving?’ Her voice went up an octave. ‘When?’

  ‘Kat, did you hear what I said? He is giving Augusta a thoroughbred racehorse that cost a small fortune.’

  ‘Yes, yes, I heard you,’ she said over her shoulder while facing Hart.

  Something was wrong. Hart had never seen her behave like this.

  ‘I think we should convince him it’s too generous a gift to give her.’

  She turned back around to Julian. ‘Yes. You are right. I will talk to him. Why don’t you go inside and finish working on your speech?’ She shooed him with her hands. ‘Go. Go. Go.’

  Julian stood his ground. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. ‘Why are you trying to talk to him without me?’

  ‘I’m not.’

  He crossed his arms. ‘You most certainly are.’

  ‘It’s nothing.’

  ‘If it’s nothing, then tell me.’

  She bit her lip.

  ‘Don’t think to distract me, Kat. What is going on?’

  Hart’s stomach dropped and he broke out into a cold sweat. ‘This is about Sarah, isn’t it?’

  ‘Sarah?’ Julian said, looking between the two of them. ‘What about—Wait.’ He turned to Hart. ‘When did she become Sarah to you?’

  ‘We can’t talk about this out here.’ Katrina turned back towards the house. ‘I’ll send a footman out to hold your horse. You’re going to need it. Meet me in the Crimson Drawing Room.’

  A few minutes later the three of them stood in the drawing room behind closed doors.

  ‘I can’t believe you kept this from me,’ Julian muttered to his wife, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  ‘I only took her to the Everills’ house that one time so she could search for the bracelet. That was the only time I helped...aside from St James’s Park. But that was during the day and Sarah wasn’t dressed like a man. And then there was the time I helped her draw Lady Everill’s bracelet.’

  Hart was waiting for her to tell Julian about his part in this. Each time she opened her mouth, he thought she would accuse him of somehow cheating Sarah out of the diamond.

  ‘And she left here, dressed as a man,’ Julian all but shouted. ‘While I sat in this very house, she left my house dressed as a man. And you allowed this?’

  Katrina twisted the fabric of her skirt. ‘Well, we were discreet, weren’t we? You didn’t know until I told you.’

  ‘This was my grandmother’s idea, wasn’t it? I’d wager she even gave Sarah the clothes.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous. They are the clothes Sarah had made for the Finchleys’ masquerade last year. And your grandmother knows nothing of this. So I suggest you keep your voice down before she does.’

  ‘I am aware she can be impetuous at times. But this is foolish.’

  Julian’s assessment of Sarah irritated Hart. He wanted to defend her in some way.

  ‘I know that,’ Katr
ina continued. ‘I tried to stop her, but she would not hear of it. I told her I would go with her and she said this was something she had to do alone. But I am worried for her. That’s why I wanted to talk with Hartwick.’ She turned to him in desperation. ‘You need to find her. She is going to meet the blackmailer. It’s not safe for her to do it alone.’

  Blackmailer? She was being blackmailed to find the diamond? Oh, God, what had he done?

  ‘Why didn’t you come to me with this?’ Julian asked, taking her hand. ‘Why go to him?’

  ‘Because you are asking me questions,’ she said impatiently with her nostrils flaring. ‘He is not. And he is trustworthy. He kept our secret when you and I met in Richmond before we were married. I feel guilty telling both of you, but I am afraid for her safety. She was to turn over the diamond today, but she wasn’t able to get it. So she went to leave an empty box there instead.’ Katrina glanced at Hart and he knew she was aware he had won the diamond. ‘She plans to wait to see who goes to retrieve it. What frightens me is that she refused to tell me what she plans to do next. You know how impetuous she can be.’ She bit her thumb.

  Hart took a step towards her. ‘What will happen when she doesn’t hand over the diamond?’

  Katrina’s brow wrinkled. ‘She didn’t tell you? I assumed you knew.’

  He didn’t even know she was being blackmailed. Dammit! He should have pressed her to give him an answer. He could have asked her and she would have told him eventually, he knew that. He’d been selfish, so selfish, because he’d known that finding out her reason for needing it would have changed everything. His damn honour! What did that matter now? Blackmail was personal. What scandalous things had Sarah done? And now she was placing herself in danger. He could not let anything happen to her.

  ‘Where did she go?’

  ‘She went to St James’s Square.’

  He dodged around Katrina and went for the door. He’d be damned if he let Sarah face her blackmailer alone.

  * * *

  The birds chirping in the branches above Sarah were beginning to grate on her nerves. Couldn’t the noisy flock congregate somewhere else? She had been sitting on this bench in St James’s Square for what felt like hours and her gaze hadn’t wavered from the pale stone pavilion to her right. The only thing in the three-sided enclosure was a stone bench that stretched from one side to the other with a box underneath. In that box she had placed her small empty box—the box she hoped would lure her blackmailer out to fetch it.