The Desires of a Countess

by Jenna Petersen

  He burst into loud laughter that didn’t sound happy even to him.

  Noah shut his eyes with a pained expression. “I’m sorry, Simon. I didn’t know. But that doesn’t explain…”

  “Explain what?” All the anger Simon had refused to show Ginny, he now released against her brother. “What is there to explain? She can’t stand me. She doesn’t want to see my lowly face again.”

  He reeled toward Noah, who sidestepped him and sent him sprawling to the floor again. Simon considered just laying there, but enough of his drunkenness was wearing off that he decided to get up. A man had to be on his feet to get more liquor.

  “Innkeep!” he bellowed in the echoing room. “Where’s my port? I’d like to take it in the West Drawing room.”

  “I think you’ve had just about enough.” Noah caught Simon’s arm to keep him from falling one more time. “I need you sober if we’re going to figure this out.”

  “Figure what out?” Simon asked though he let Noah ease him into a chair. “What’s happening?”

  Noah crouched down before him and snapped his fingers in front of Simon’s eyes. Simon blinked.

  “Hey, focus. Listen. Are you listening?” Noah asked. Simon nodded. “Good. Because you need to hear what I’m going to say. Ginny is in love with you. Anyone would be a fool not to see it. The way she threw herself into preparing for the wedding leaves no doubt in my mind she wants to marry you. So whatever she told you was caused by something else that happened. Something that sent her running.”

  Simon stared at Noah, this man who shared Ginny’s eyes. And in them he saw the truth.

  “Do you understand me, Simon?” Noah asked, accentuating each word slowly.

  Simon nodded. “Perfectly. Franko, get me coffee. Strong.”

  This time, the butler appeared with a bow. “Yes sir. And it’s Franklin.”

  Simon waved the man off. “I’m still a bit foggy.”

  Noah let out a laugh. “A bit?”

  “Very foggy.” Simon scowled. ”You don’t have to be so damned pleased about it. The woman I love told me she can’t stand me. You’d get drunk, too.”

  Noah considered that for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I can imagine I’d get much more than drunk if Marion told me such a thing. But right now you and I have to figure out what caused my sister to act so erratically.”

  “Hey,” Simon took the coffee his footman brought him with a nod. “How did you know what happened, anyway?”

  Noah shrugged and stifled a grin when Simon nearly spit his first sip of the strong brew across the room.

  “I didn’t know about you and Ginny. She sent each member of the family a letter that arrived this morning. Essentially, she cut all of us out of her life for a second time. She said she was returning to Westdale and she never wanted to see any of us again.”

  Simon shook his head. “No. That’s not right. She was very happy to be forming new bondsh with all of you.”

  Simon winced at his slur. He had to focus now. Why had he drunk so much? His head was starting to throb.

  “That’s what I thought, so I was certain her change of heart had something to do with you. That you had hurt her somehow.” Noah cocked his head. “But now I’m more worried than ever. A broken heart I could manage, but there’s something more going on here.”

  Simon frowned. “She did seem upset when she came here last night, but I thought it was only because she of what she told me.”

  Simon tried to focus back on the exchange he’d been trying so hard to forget. Ginny had said those words, those horrible words. He’d held her while he tried to make her explain. And then her torn dress when she’d pulled back. He had dropped the fabric and-and a piece of paper.

  “Wait. There was a note,” he said as he downed another large gulp of coffee. “Somewhere.” For the first time, his eyes focused when he looked around. “What happened to my sitting room?”

  The formerly stylish room was now torn to shreds, vases broken and chairs destroyed. Even the picture that had once hung above the mantle now stuck out at an odd angle across the room.

  “I don’t think I’m the one to ask about that,” Noah said with a chuckle. “Now what was this about a note?”

  “Before she started her claims that she didn’t want to be with me,” Simon said, trying his best to pick his way through the destroyed room while he maintained his precarious grasp on balance. “She told me our mutual friends have run off together to elope.”

  “Harriet and-?”

  “Harriet and my best friend Adam Scott. Apparently they fell in love beneath our very noses.”

  Simon tried to nod and walk at the same time and nearly went down in a heap. If Noah hadn’t been right behind him to steady him, he would have met the floor for an intimate conversation.

  “You and my sister have been rather tangled up in each other,” Noah said with a smirk. “Which is why you’re in this mess to begin with.” The smile fell. “Not that I approve.”

  “You know,” Simon said as he kicked at some broken glass to see if the note was under it. “I don’t think you hate me as much as you like to pretend.”

  “Probably not.” Noah grinned as he dropped to his knees to search under an overturned chair. “But I won’t like you completely until you’ve married Virginia and I see you’re making her happy.”

  Simon considered that as well as his addled mind would allow. “That seems fair.”

  “So how did you come upon this note of hers and why is it on your floor?”

  Simon squinted. Had this room always been so blasted bright? “When I tore her pocket, the paper fell. I was too upset to think it was important, but perhaps it is.”

  Noah’s hand stilled where it hung and his gaze slowly turned to Simon. Fire glowed in it. “You tore my sister’s gown?”

  Simon raised his hands in surrender. He couldn’t take Noah Jordan in a fight. At least, not in his current state.

  “It was an accident,” he said. “She pulled away and my hand caught her pocket. I would never lay a hand on your sister in violence.”

  Noah’s eyes narrowed, but he returned to his search. “If you did, I’d rip both your arms off.”

  Pursing his lips, Simon muttered, “You should talk to her about Henry.”

  Noah’s face came up, but instead of asking what he meant, he glared at Simon. Then he said, “Look at what I found.”

  He held up a folded missive that had been pinned under Simon’s knee.

  “Very good. Now let’s just hope it isn’t Harriet’s elopement letter but the other item Ginny was carrying.”

  Simon took the note and opened it. It wasn’t Harriet’s letter. He frowned as the remainder of his drunken haze fled to be replaced by anger and terror.

  “Noah, you’d better read this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because what I read has to be a figment of my drunken imagination. It just can’t be true.” He shook his aching head as shock washed over him to eliminate some of his drunken cloud.

  “Wait,” Noah said as he read. “This says that Ginny-”

  “Killed my cousin Henry. And some bastard is blackmailing her over it.”

  ***

  Ginny sang softly as she rocked Jack back and forth. He wasn’t enjoying the travel. In fact, he was inordinately cranky. Probably her son sensed her fear and was reacting to it. Surely her terror was palpable to the child. It certainly was to her. She could feel it in her every heartbeat and taste it on her tongue. Bitter.

  The last two days had passed like some nightmare. Not only had Robert forced her to write terrible letters to her family cutting herself off from them for a second time, but he’d made her pack up and schedule an immediate return to Westdale the same night.

  Worse, their driver was one of his choosing rather than any servant who might be sympathetic to her and her plight. The large, silent man had barely looked her way. She had a feeling he was being paid well to ignore her.

  The pace had been grueling. They
only stopped for a few hours so they could trade horses, then rode on. All day and all night. It was like the hounds of hell were on their heels and Robert was determined to get ahead of them. If they kept up their pace, Westdale was only two days away.

  Ginny wasn’t sure she would make it that long. She’d been sick every morning and dizzy even when she was sitting in the incessantly rocking carriage. At first she thought her illness was due to lack of sleep and fear, but then she’d realized with alarm that it was more. She was late on her monthly courses.

  There was a very real possibility she was carrying Simon’s child. Every time she thought of it, her hand strayed to her belly with fierce protectiveness. A baby. If that were true…

  What would she do?

  She had promised she wouldn’t keep Simon from a child they produced together. Now she wondered if it would be possible to reunite them. It would require the truth. And that was something Robert wouldn’t allow her to tell.

  But perhaps it was worth the risk once she returned to Westdale.

  The carriage slowed and finally pulled to a stop. She shivered. Robert had ridden up with the driver for some parts of the trip, but she dreaded the times when he’d come into the carriage with her. The way he looked at her…

  The door opened and Robert looked inside.

  “Do you need some time on your feet?” he asked. “We’ll have a few moments while we change horses.”

  She rolled her eyes as she gently laid Jack on the seat. He was exhausted and she didn’t think he’d wake while she stretched her legs and possibly cast up her accounts yet another time.

  Robert reached out a hand and Ginny gingerly took it. How she hated touching him. Every time she did, she wished she could take a long bath to rid herself of his residue.

  “Are you still feeling ill?” Robert asked as she walked away from the carriage where the driver was hitching a fresh set of horses.

  She stretched her aching back and tossed a look of pure hatred over her shoulder. “Will it make any difference? You’ll still blackmail me, won’t you? You’ll still ride at this ridiculous pace you insist on pressing.”

  Robert smug smile answered her question.

  “Yes, I will. You know, this would be all the easier if you’d just stop fighting me.” He reached out to run a hand along the curve of her arm. She was reminded of a snake. “You might find you like me.”

  She spun on her heel and wrenched her arm from his touch. Somehow she managed to keep her voice low as she hissed, “I will never like you, Robert. I’ll never see you as anything more than the man who stole my future from me. I will hate you each and every time I see you. And every day I will pray for some horrible accident to befall you so I’ll be free of you forever.”

  Instead of growing angry, Robert tilted back his head and laughed. Ginny balled up her fists and turned her back on him.

  “Such words from such a pretty mouth,” he whispered close to her ear and his hot breath made her skin crawl. “But you’ll soon see me as something else.”

  “What is that?” she ground out.

  “Your husband.” When she spun to face him, he grinned. “That’s right, love. Why do you think I’m riding us so hard toward Westdale? We’ll stay there for a day or so in order for you to make arrangements and turn your son over to his caregivers. Then you and I will ride on to Gretna Green and the marriage that will bind you to me for life. Even if Simon Webber decides to come and test your resolve, you’ll still belong to me.” His green eyes clouded. “As it should have been from the beginning. Through my marriage to you I’ll have Henry’s money, his child and his wife. Everything will be perfect.”

  “You make me ill,” she spat as she walked back toward the carriage. “I will never marry you.”

  He caught her in three long strides and spun her back against the carriage door. “Oh, yes you will, Virginia. Or else Webber and your son will pay the price.”

  He bent his head and crushed his mouth to hers. She fought against him, but his lips bruised and claimed as she let out a squeal of disgust. Finally, she managed to shove him away.

  He grinned as he wiped a thin line of spit from his lip. “You have no choices left.”

  Ginny held her head high as she got back into the carriage, but when the door closed, she slumped against the seat and let out a heavy sigh. For now Robert was right. She had no choices.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “One piece of the puzzle inevitably leads to the next,” Noah said with a grin as he and Simon rode hard down the road toward Westdale.

  Simon rolled his eyes.

  “You’ve been saying that for two days, but I have yet to take Ginny in my arms. When that happens, we can take time to celebrate your brilliant investigative techniques.”

  Noah’s eyes met his and the other man grinned. “I’ve been right so far, haven’t I?”

  Refusing to answer, Simon urged his horse faster. Yes, Noah had been right so far. He’d been right about going to Ginny’s home. She’d already left, but the servants had been worried when she packed her life and her son up in a matter of hours and more than happy to tell them where she’d gone before she told Simon she didn’t love him.

  At the Infidel Tavern, the innkeeper had taken their coins with pleasure and informed them Ginny had been seen in the company of Robert Dennison and that the two had argued.

  Robert Dennison. Simon’s instincts about the man had been right. And now he couldn’t wait to finish what they’d started that day in the stable. Only this time he wouldn’t hold back, and Dennison would end up with more than a black eye. For threatening Ginny, for taking her, Dennison would pay dearly.

  “Hey, are you paying attention?” Noah asked as he caught up to Simon.

  “Of course,” he muttered as he returned his attention to the road.

  “I know you’re worried about Ginny. So am I. But we haven’t heard anything that suggests she’s been hurt. Dennison is just riding fast, trying to get back to Westdale.”

  Simon shook his head. “Why? Why is he running? He has no idea we’re chasing him. As far as he and Ginny know, I believe she doesn’t care for me and that you and your family have accepted that she cut you off again.”

  He shook his head and tried to fight back the horrible images in his head. The woman he loved had been trapped with an obsessed madman for days. And nights. He had to fear the nights and what Robert had done to her the few times they stopped.

  Noah shrugged. “I’m not sure why he’s running so hard. But the men we met last night told us they saw a young woman and child in Dennison’s carriage. Both were unharmed. You must keep thinking about that.”

  “No,” Simon corrected through clenched teeth. “They told us the woman looked ill. He’s been running with hardly a break for two days. You and I have no carriage to impede us, yet we’re still two steps behind him all the way.”

  Noah frowned. “I understand your frustration, but we must press on. Becoming distracted won’t help either of us. And it certainly won’t make this situation any easier for my sister.”

  Simon rode in silence for a long while, thinking of Ginny and what he would say when he finally found her. First and foremost was how she could fight him all she wanted, but he wasn’t about to let her walk away from their life together.

  He just hoped she would trust him enough to finally tell him the truth about what had happened the night Henry died. He could guess, but he wanted to hear it from her mouth.

  Simon broke the silence. “That bastard used to hit her, you know.”

  He and Noah hadn’t talked much about the reason behind Dennison’s blackmail.

  “Your cousin?” Noah asked.

  Simon nodded.

  Noah was silent for a long moment. “I guessed that might be true. I should have come to York to see for myself, but she pushed us so far away. She was angry. I thought it might make things worse if it turned out I was wrong.”

  “She’s scarred from it.” He tried not to think about the
small scars he’d seen on her body. Scars from God knew what kind of torture. He wanted to ease her pain, as she had eased his. Perhaps after a few years together the pain would be forgotten forever.

  “He deserved to die,” Noah growled. “I hope she did kill him.”

  Simon nodded. “To protect her son, I’m sure she would have done anything.”

  “I only wish she’d told me,” both men said in unison.

  Simon grinned at Noah. Yes, Ginny’s older brother could pretend he didn’t like him all he wanted. Deep down, they were the same. Both concerned with protecting their families. And both ready to fight to do just that.

  “Marion must be worried,” he said.

  Noah’s face softened at the mention of his wife. “I’m sure, but she knows I can handle myself.”

  A pang of jealousy shot through Simon. Noah and Marion had an easy relationship, as did Audrey and Griffin. He longed for that with Ginny, and hoped someday they’d find it.

  If he could find her.

  They rounded the bend in the road to see a tavern in the distance.

  “We’ll stop there and ask around,” Noah said as he motioned his head in the direction of the building that grew ever closer.

  “He hasn’t stopped at a tavern yet, but it may help.”

  Simon felt a curious anxiety when he looked at the inn. A premonition he couldn’t dismiss. All he could do was ride harder and hope Ginny would be there waiting for him.

  Unharmed.

  ***

  Ginny finished pulling her damp hair back into a bun at the nape of her neck and took a quick glance at Jack. He was sleeping peacefully on the lumpy bed. She wished she could do the same. She’d convinced Robert to stop for a few hours so she could rest, and her gaunt face and constant morning sickness had forced him to agree.

  The bath had helped considerably, but how could she sleep knowing what lay ahead of her? Even if she could get a message to Simon when she reached Westdale, she’d still have to contend with Robert until someone arrived to help her.