Rogue Countess

by Amy Sandas

  Anna shook her head with a smile of mixed amusement and reluctant admiration for her friend’s perpetual ability to end up with the prize.

  “You always did know how to take advantage of a female’s weaker moments.”

  Leif feigned insult as he replied, “I prefer to think of it more as transforming a woman’s disgruntled irritation into the soft sighs of satisfaction.”

  Anna rolled her eyes at the shameless boasting, while Leif grinned with unwavering confidence.

  After a few hours at the modest-sized party, mingling amongst Fitzherbert’s eccentric set of friends, Anna was more relaxed than she had been in several days. Though there were a few very curious glances, no one bothered her with questions of her newly revealed title or recently returned husband.

  She was, however, approached by Mr. Donahoe, an older gentleman who was very interested in learning more about what she offered out of her stables. His daughter was becoming an adept young horsewoman and was becoming bored with what his own stables housed. Anna spent a very pleasant hour discussing, or rather debating, what was considered a proper mount for a young lady.

  She had been restored to her usual self—a confident self-possessed woman of independent means.

  Unfortunately, her gaiety was not destined to last for long.

  She and Leif crossed the entry hall from the drawing room to the small parlor where their host had set up a buffet of light refreshment. Anna’s gloved hand was tucked in the crook of Leif’s elbow when she spotted Lord Rutherford stepping through the front door with his characteristic arrogance. Jude followed behind him.

  Without a second of hesitation, Anna grasped Leif’s coat sleeves and waltzed them into a dark corner beneath the turn of the stairs. When Leif would have resisted, she hissed through gritted teeth, “Don’t. He’ll see me.”

  “Who?” Leif asked as he tried to crane his neck to look back over his shoulder. Anna tightened her fists on his coat sleeves, pulling him to stand more solidly in front of her.

  “Don’t draw any attention,” she whispered.

  They were in near complete darkness though they were only a few paces from the center of the room. Anna stood with her back pressed into the corner, holding Leif in position in front of her. But it wasn’t enough to shield her from view altogether.

  “Say, Sinclair,” Rutherford’s booming voice echoed through the confined space of the walk-through room, “aren’t those your wife’s skirts I see behind Riley’s boots?”

  Anna couldn’t suppress the groan that rolled from her throat.

  Leif cocked an eyebrow.

  “What? Are you hiding from him? After all the trouble you went through to intercept the fellow at the masquerade, I wouldn’t have expected such cowardice out of you now.”

  “I’m not hiding from him. I’m avoiding him,” she replied in a hushed grumble. “There’s a difference.” At Leif’s disbelieving expression, she added, “I may have done something he won’t be too happy about, and I would prefer to avoid a confrontation in such a public place.”

  “It couldn’t be.” From across the room, Jude answered his friend in an apathetic drawl. “The countess would rather wear trousers than an evening gown and prefers a riding whip to a fan as her choice of accessory.”

  His casual observations had the other occupants in the hall chuckling in amusement. News was already spreading through London that Mrs. Locke, the horse breeder, was actually Lady Blackbourne, rogue countess.

  “What will you do now, angel?” Leif whispered with renewed humor. “Should we pretend we don’t hear them? I may be persuaded to stand here all night—” he paused as his hands slid over Anna’s hips, “—if I had something to occupy my interest.”

  “Stop it,” Anna snapped as she swatted his hands away, which elicited a chuckle and proved his lack of concern for her current plight. He was going to be of no help. She pushed at his shoulders and he stepped away.

  With a stiff spine, Anna stepped back into the light of the entryway. She kept her eyes trained upon Jude’s face, not wanting to acknowledge any of the other guests who might be witnessing her current humiliation.

  She was startled by the glinting fire in her husband’s eyes. He was looking at Leif with a dark expression. It was only a flashing impression because by the time Jude’s gaze shifted to her, the ferocity was gone.

  Husband and wife stared at each other. Anna’s pride forced her to stand tall under his scrutiny. She was surprised he didn’t look at her with the malice or anger she expected. Instead, his attractive features appeared relaxed and his eyes gleamed with a sharp kind of interest as he studied her.

  Did he not yet know of her act of retribution at his hotel yesterday?

  “Ah, it is you,” he exclaimed flatly. His gaze swept over her form, from top to bottom. The gleaming warmth in his eyes seemed to penetrate the thin barrier of her evening gown and caused the fine hairs on the back of her neck to rise in delicate awareness. “You decided to go out without your whip this evening?”

  Anna realized then that he was most definitely apprised of what she had done in retaliation for his purchase of the mare. She smiled with extra sweetness and added a note of suggestive coyness to her response.

  “It didn’t quite go with tonight’s ensemble.”

  The corners of Jude’s lips curved upward in a reluctant smile. “Yes, I can see that.”

  Anna turned to Leif. “Would you be so kind as to fetch our cloaks.”

  Leif clicked his heels with a jaunty smile. “Of course, darling angel.”

  Anna glared at his blatant use of the endearment. He was enjoying her current predicament. It was just the sort of scene that would appeal to his deviant sense of amusement.

  When Anna turned to meet Jude’s gaze, his smile twisted into a smirk. “Have you traded in your pack of hounds for a lap dog?”

  Before Anna could answer, Leif turned at the words that had been meant as an insult to him. He wasn’t likely to be bothered by Jude’s comment, he had been called much worse, but he interjected with a cocky grin.

  “’Tis such a lovely lap. ‘Tis a rare red-blooded man who wouldn’t dream of lying down in such warmth. You have no need to worry, my lord. Though you may not have been in town long enough to be privy to all of the intricate gossip that passes between the lush lips and eager ears of London’s most discerning ladies, I assure you, your wife is in excellent hands.”

  Several ladies in the room gasped at the obvious innuendo.

  “Insolent pup,” Rutherford muttered under his breath.

  Meanwhile, Anna’s face went up in flames of embarrassment. Her dark eyes pinned Leif with a glare of burning fury. He shrugged it off and gave her a little wink as he went to get their cloaks from the footman.

  His comments had been enough to incite violence from any husband as a simple matter of honor. But not her husband.

  “An interesting choice of companion, Lady Blackbourne.”

  Jude’s comment was uttered in a tone devoid of emotion.

  Anna’s smile was intentionally suggestive, and she was pleased to see Jude’s eyes narrow in response. There was no point in trying to back paddle now.

  “Interesting hardly does Lord Riley justice, my lord.”

  The ladies who had gasped in shock only moments before twittered behind their fans.

  Jude’s eyes darkened by slow degrees as anger set in. In spite of the flashing flame of ire in his gaze, his response was relaxed and confident.

  “Enjoy your freedom now, my lady. You are bound to be rather occupied in the coming weeks.”

  Not quite understanding his ominous warning, Anna chose to ignore it as she turned at Leif’s approach. She swept her cloak around her shoulders before looking back to address her husband with an airy smile.

  “Much as I would love to stand here and trade clever little insults and cryptic threats for the rest of the evening, I do have more enticing activities planned. Good night, Lord Blackbourne. Lord Rutherford, almost always a pleasur
e,” she added with a casual nod as she took Leif’s arm and headed for the door.

  Leif stayed close by her side as they descended the steps outside the house.

  “Not another word,” she muttered in warning as she took long swift strides toward her carriage.

  She was sullen and silent for the entire drive home. Leif was blessedly quiet, as if he sensed she was none too pleased with his decision to goad Jude. Humiliation over the scene still flushed her skin. Even the assurance that Jude had also felt the sting of this latest encounter did not assuage her rioting emotions. She would have preferred to handle the situation in a manner that displayed a little more sophistication, but there was no help for it now.

  As the carriage pulled to a stop in front of Anna’s house, Leif bravely broke the silence.

  “It’s a shame to turn in when the night is still so young. Are you certain you don’t want to go kick up your heels somewhere? Really let loose?”

  Anna’s laugh was shaky and stiff. “I think I’ve been loose enough for one evening, don’t you? Nearly half the ton just witnessed my husband interrupting what everyone will assume was a lover’s embrace.”

  “I know,” Leif laughed. “The most amusing bit is that you might have been one of the very few ladies at the party I haven’t tupped. Did you see the look in Blackbourne’s eyes when we came out of hiding?”

  “I did,” Anna admitted, thinking of the foreboding glare she saw in Jude’s eyes for a brief moment before he replaced it with casual indifference.

  “And what did he mean by that parting remark?”

  “I haven’t the slightest idea. Just more of his intimidation, I suppose.” She pressed a gloved hand to her flushed face. “I’ve had more than enough excitement for tonight, but if you wish to continue your evening, just make sure my carriage makes it back before dawn.”

  “So soon?” Leif exclaimed. “I try never to end my evenings before noon,” he added with a naughty grin.

  Anna took the hand offered by her footman and descended the carriage before turning to scold in half-teasing reproach.

  “Don’t go breaking any vulnerable young hearts.”

  “I never bother with such tender morsels. It’s the jaded and disillusioned who are in most dire need of my particular set of skills.”

  Anna chuckled at his brazen rejoinder and turned away with a wave. The carriage door closed and the conveyance started off down the street before she even reached her front door. Leif was clearly in a hurry to search out brighter amusements. She didn’t even realize that her shoulders slumped and her chin tipped down a notch while she waited until he was out of sight before she entered her quiet house alone.

  Chapter Ten

  Anna never went riding on a full stomach. Of course, by the time she finished her lengthy morning sojourn through Hyde Park, she was usually starving. She had a running order for breakfast to be hot and ready upon her return, and she usually went to eat even before changing out of her riding clothes. The fact that she didn’t dress for breakfast was something that would have infuriated Olivia and their father. But it was one small way Anna had been able to exert control over her own life. If she chose to break her fast in breeches, then by damn she would.

  Today, unfortunately, Anna’s appetite slid away as a brief column in the gossip pages of the newspaper caught her attention and sparked her annoyance. She groaned in dismay then folded up the paper in jerky movements, no longer interested in reading any of the other articles. By noon, the entire city would know of the scene that had transpired between the Earl and Countess of Blackbourne at Fitzherbert’s soiree.

  Fabulous. Her marriage was turning into a circus. She only wished she could find the whole thing as amusing as everyone else was likely to.

  She made deliberate work of stabbing a small sausage with her knife and bringing it to her mouth for a bite. She had never worried much about what people thought of her personally as long as the general opinion of her as a businesswoman was favorable. But today’s article was a good argument for taking steps to be more circumspect in her interactions with her husband.

  Before Jude’s return, she had never done anything to garner negative press. A few whispers and some slight speculation, maybe. But she had never been featured in the gossip pages. Of course, no one had known she was the Countess of Blackbourne rather than simply Mrs. Locke. Standards were different for nobility, to be sure. She would be foolish not to take such things into consideration.

  She tore the last bit of sausage off the knife tip with her teeth and turned the tip down to pierce the miniature bread loaf on her plate. The knife slid into the bread as if it were cream. Entirely unsatisfying.

  A commotion erupted at the front door and Anna looked up from her breakfast in confusion.

  What on earth? Was Leif returning the carriage personally, she wondered as she glanced at the clock? No, it was far too early.

  Deciding to investigate, she set the knife down and rose from the table. She stepped into the front hall just as her butler Hastings rushed to open the door.

  Two young men pushed into the house carrying a large rolled up rug between them. A groomsman hefting a three-tiered armload of traveling trunks, and another who balanced several more boxes and what appeared to be a sack of dirty laundry, followed them. Anna was dumbstruck as the entourage filled her entry hall and could only stare wide-eyed as the apparent moving crew dumped their burdens right on the floor, then turned and sauntered back outside.

  Realizing they were going to leave all that stuff in her front hall without a word of explanation, Anna started after them in stunned astonishment. She then froze in her tracks as one more unwelcome guest sauntered through her front door.

  It was Jude’s smile that struck her first. It was almost as brilliant as it used to be when he had been a winning and pleasant young man worthy of a quiet girl’s unlimited adoration. The difference was in the fine-lined crow’s feet at the corners of his blue eyes that somehow gave him an inviting air of sophistication and worldliness. There was an added dose of allure in the way his mouth was pulled into the smile as if he had resisted its formation and failed. But the smile, for all its brilliance, did not quite soften the hard distrust present in his eyes.

  His easy-mannered stride brought him into the center of the hall. He glanced about her home as if studying the quality of its design and space. Then he turned toward Anna. A flicker of amusement crossed his features and Anna’s spine stiffened.

  Amusement, she realized, because she was still staring at him with dumbfounded astonishment.

  “Your home is surprisingly tasteful. I should be quite comfortable once I’m settled in.”

  “What?” Anna found her voice again in a shriek of alarm. She looked from Jude’s gloating expression to the pile of trunks and boxes of belongings strewn about the floor.

  He couldn’t possibly.

  “Are you mad?”

  Ignoring her question, Jude sauntered past her to enter the room she had just left.

  Anna turned away from the mess in her hall, deciding for the moment to set aside the issue of how she was going to throw him and all of his belongings back out the front door in one deft sweep. Following him into the room, she stopped by the table and crossed her arms over her chest in preparation for a fight. She watched in silence as he served himself a cup of coffee.

  What scheme had he cooked up now to drive her insane? Clearly that was his plan. He intended to prod her toward lunacy so he could have her safely committed to a quiet little institution or tucked away in an ancient nunnery somewhere.

  Jude seemed perfectly content to ignore her as he measured out the proper amount of sugar and only a splash of cream for the dark brew. The man was very particular about how he took his coffee, she noted in irritation. After at least three minutes of watching him with fire burning in her eyes, she lost her patience.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  Jude lifted the steaming cup to his lips and took a small sip,
testing the flavor, before he turned to face Anna. His smile was gone, but his eyes, as they met hers with deliberate lack of haste, were lit with the icy glitter of vengeance.

  “Excellent coffee,” he said, then lifted the cup for another sip.

  Anna nearly stomped her foot in the rush of temper, but she resisted the childish display. Instead, she took a deep steadying breath and tried again through gritted teeth.

  “First, you will tell me what you are doing here, in my house, with that heap of junk out there.” She waved her hand back toward the hall. “Then, I will explain, in a way you are sure to understand, how you are completely mad. And finally, with great pleasure, I will have my men send you on your way, with the assistance of their booted feet if necessary.”

  “I don’t think so,” Jude replied with a very clear lack of concern.

  That worried her.

  She narrowed her gaze as he stepped away from the sideboard and approached the small table that still held her half-eaten breakfast and the hastily folded newspaper. He set his cup and saucer on the table and lowered himself into an empty chair. Seated sideways, he threw one arm along the back of the chair and rested his other arm on the table.

  Then he tilted his head and glanced at Anna from under lowered lids.

  The covert look immediately made her skin warm and her senses more alert. She scowled in an attempt to distract his sharp notice from the flush she was certain had pinkened her skin. The blasted man was up to something.

  “I will ask you again. One more time. Why are you here?”

  “The answer to that is something of a story,” Jude answered in a blasé tone. “You see, I had a guest sharing my hotel rooms, personal female friend of mine, but when I returned to my room the other evening the lady had gone.”

  Jude paused and tilted his head back to eye Anna more directly. He studied her for a reaction. She refused to give him one, schooling her expression into a stiff and emotionless mask. If he was trying to shock or annoy her, he was far too late.