Rogue Countess

by Amy Sandas

  She did, lifting her head and shaking the hair back from her face. The sight of him beneath her nearly stopped her breath. She had never seen his eyes so deeply, stunningly blue. She had not thought to ever know what it felt like to be watched as he watched her then. His full attention was focused upon her face, her body, her every tiny movement. His hands flexed at her hips, his eyes fell to her parted lips. With a groan, he reached up to grasp her face between his hands. He pulled her down to him at the same time that he curved his upper body and lifted himself from the bed.

  They met in the middle in a searing, consuming, mind-melding kiss. He demanded all of her in that kiss. He drew upon her soul and pulled at her heart and the fire of his desire surrounded her and mixed with her own until she wondered if they might burst into flames. When he pulled his mouth from hers, Anna opened her eyes and drew in a ragged breath.

  “You are so beautiful. I can’t wait.” Jude’s voice was a rough growl in his throat. “Are you ready?”

  Anna nodded. She had been ready for him from the moment he had walked into the masquerade.

  Jude released her and reached down between them to place himself against her swollen heated sex. Anna pressed her hands against his chest, lifting herself away from him in an attempt to ease the pressure of his entrance. She instinctively arched her back and caught her bottom lip between her teeth as the hot pulsing length of him deliberately stretched her, filled her. His expression was tense with concentration and will-power as he forced himself to proceed slowly.

  She watched him carefully.

  She was nearly mindless with the overwhelming feelings of love and desire flooding her consciousness, but she did not miss the moment she had been waiting for. The moment when Jude realized the barrier within her. As soon as she felt the burning pressure and saw the flicker of question cross his features and sensed the slight retreat of his body, Anna tightened her thighs around his hips. Before he could react, she took control and pressed herself down against him, taking him in that final length.

  Her head fell back, and the slight pain of her rendered maidenhead receded quickly to the back of her mind as the pulsing heat of his body took up the empty space within her. Instinct and passion guided her as she lifted herself slowly along his length and then came back down again. Jude groaned and arched his head back, the muscles of his neck corded with fierce tension. Anna would have smiled then, if she had been capable of thinking past the building storm of pleasure within her body.

  She continued to move over him. Claiming and retreating. Without thought or concern beyond the driving pleasure.

  With a dangerous growl of passion, Jude reached up to pull her nightgown free from her body. With all of her finally bared to his gaze, he groaned again as if straining to hold back. He reached for her, his hands first encircling her small waist, then pressing up along her ribcage, then covering the soft mounds of her breasts, kneading them and delicately pinching the peaks.

  Anna panted for breath as the storm rose to a feverish pitch. The maelstrom of fiery pleasure nearly blinded her as she strained for something just out of reach. Relief washed over her when Jude grasped her hips in his hands and guided her rhythm to one that immediately sparked a delicate eruption of new sensation within her. The flames grew brighter and stronger and Anna thought she might die with the rapid spreading of tension and fire through her body.

  “Look at me, sweetheart. No hiding,” Jude commanded.

  She hadn’t even realized that her eyes had been squeezed tightly shut. As soon as she met his gaze, a sudden explosion of pulsing pleasure overtook her and she arched helplessly as her entire body shuddered with the unbelievable release that flew through her on wings of bright sensation. A small part of her awareness reveled in watching Jude’s own release as he arched beneath her, his golden head thrown back, his hands gripping her hips tightly against his loins as he pumped his seed deep into her body.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jude woke feeling fully rested. More than that, he realized as he floated up into consciousness. He felt…sated.

  Gauzy memories of Anna’s enchantingly sexy body moving over his flashed through his mind. The distinctly mysterious taste of her skin was still on his tongue and the heat of her passion still saturated his flesh.

  Then another memory pierced his awareness like a rapier. A delicate discovery that been nearly forgotten in the gripping climax that had followed. But Jude recalled it now with fine detail, and his pleasant awakening was suddenly flipped on its head. He sat up in the bed, already knowing that he was alone. She had left as efficiently and as silently as she had come to him. Barely a trace of her remained beyond what he had trapped in his memory.

  Sweeping the covers aside, he moved to the edge of the bed to rise and did not miss the faint smear of blood staining the white sheets. Evidence that it had not been a lucid dream.

  He clenched his jaw against the maddening confusion clouding his brain and quickly dressed.

  A virgin. How was that possible?

  In all the years he had been gone, how had she remained untouched? She was a beautiful woman with an innate sexual appeal that would have piqued the interest of innumerable men. Yet she’d remained a virgin. An innocent.

  And she had intentionally perpetrated the deception. She never once tried to contradict the small comments he had made over the weeks about her being intimately involved with other men. Lord Riley in particular. The entire world took it for granted that she and the playboy were longtime lovers.

  He glanced quickly to the clock and cursed the lateness of the hour.

  Last night had tipped the scales. No more secrets, no more deceptions.

  What manner of woman would pretend to be an adulteress even up to the last moment? The fire and passion she had unleashed in those darkened hours tormented his brain as he tried to fit it all in with the discovery that prior to his possession, her maidenhead had been intact. He was tired of feeling as if he traveled through the dark when it came to his own wife. He had stumbled far too many times and he was not going to take another step until he knew where he stood.

  The stables were empty. The grooms were busy with other tasks, and he could tell by George’s vacant stall that Anna was still gone on her ride. Jude found a darkened corner to wait for her return. And as he waited, he couldn’t keep from reliving the details of those deeply pleasurable moments when she had been his completely. The experience had been unlike anything Jude had ever known. Every image, scent and sound was vibrant and alive in his memory. So much so that he managed to incite himself to a sharp peak of desire for her again.

  He started pacing up and down the aisle of the stables, his imagination bringing up images of tying up his recalcitrant wife so she couldn’t slip away and forcing her to finally give him some truth. But then the image of having her at his mercy in such a way triggered a seductive turn in how the scene would play out, ending with her shivering and naked and begging for his touch. He fully intended to indulge in bringing that particular fantasy to fruition.

  But first some questions needed answering.

  Blast and damn. Where the hell was she? His limited store of patience depleted, Jude went in search of a servant. He found a stable hand he was familiar with and the man told him that after her ride, Lady Blackbourne had an appointment at Tattersalls. She could be gone for several hours.

  Jude’s disappointment was flashing as he quickly recalled there might be another source available for the information he sought. He ordered a horse saddled and bridled.

  He needed to pay someone a visit.

  It was still early in the day when Jude arrived at Riley’s residence. The decrepit and obviously tired butler tried to advise Jude that Lord Riley was not home to callers.

  “I’ll see for myself, if you don’t mind,” Jude insisted as he forced his way into the house. Apparently, the butler didn’t really care one way or another as he faded back into the interior shadows of the house. Jude took the stairs to the upper level two
at a time. He was disappointed when he looked in Riley’s bedroom and found it empty and undisturbed.

  Then, as he retraced his steps toward the stairs, he heard a distinctively feminine giggle followed by a low male murmur of appreciation. He stopped and remembered a room he had passed by in search of linens the night Riley had been shot. The room had been plush and luxurious. A perfect den for sensual pleasure and hedonistic play.

  The feminine voice sounded again, this time with a choked gasp.

  Jude found the right door and opened it without knocking.

  The baron was there. Or at least it appeared to be Riley’s blonde head tucked securely between the thighs of the voluptuous lady sprawled amongst the silk coverlets and velvet pillows. The lady issued a deafening shriek at Jude’s intrusion and quickly tried to pull every cover in hand’s reach over her head. At the same time, Riley turned to glance over his shoulder with a disturbing lack of concern.

  As soon as he spotted Jude standing in his doorway, he groaned in annoyance.

  “What the bloody hell do you want?” he demanded as he leveraged himself to a seated position.

  “We need to talk,” Jude said in a tone that left no room for argument. “Thirty seconds,” he added before he stepped back and closed the door.

  Less than thirty seconds later, Riley stepped out into the hallway with a sheet wrapped around his naked hips. He stopped as he saw Jude standing stiffly against the wall opposite the door.

  The two men squared off against each other for a silent glaring moment. Lord Riley with blatant irritation and Jude with tight-lipped impatience.

  “You could have waited downstairs.” Riley snickered with a churlish curl to his lip.

  “I wanted to be able to hear you if you happened to have an able-limbed tree outside your window.”

  Riley accepted the comment on his cowardice with a wave of his hand. “This way then so we can get this dramatic little meeting over with. Our conversation doesn’t need to be overheard by my guest.”

  He led Jude to a sitting room a few doors down. He shut the door behind them and took a few unhurried seconds to secure the sheet more tightly around him. Then he crossed his arms over his bare chest and returned Jude’s intense glare with one of his own, though Riley’s held a distinct note of mockery. “So, out with it,” he said with casual nonchalance. “I haven’t got much time before my friend decides she can take better care of her needs without me.”

  Jude eyed the younger man critically. White-hot jealousy pierced his chest as he tried to imagine his connection to Anna.

  “What is your association with my wife?” he demanded.

  Riley smiled brightly and cocked a brow. “What did she tell you it was?”

  “I know you were never her lover,” Jude said with rising impatience.

  “Is that what she said…?” Riley started to ask and then stopped as the truth dawned on him. His eyes glowed with secret humor and his lips curved in a half-smile that infuriated Jude. “Ah, you finally got to her, eh? I had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.”

  Jude stalked toward the younger man, tired of the circular talk that told him nothing.

  “What the hell do you know about it?” he demanded in a growl. “And why would she let everyone believe in a lie? You owe me some damn answers.”

  The scoundrel shook his head, not the least bit intimidated. If anything, he looked even more amused.

  “Sorry, old man, but if Anna didn’t tell you anything, then I sure as hell am not about to. I know she’s your wife, but maybe you should’ve indulged in a little conversation with the woman before you fucked her.”

  Jude’s solid fist connected with the baron’s chin, throwing him back against the wall. He would have liked to hit him again, but the younger man turned back to him with a maddening grin on his face. Jude walked past him in disgust and opened the door to leave. It was proving to be a waste of time trying to get anything useful out of the blackguard.

  “There you go,” Riley shouted after him with exaggerated encouragement. Laughter was evident in his voice. “Now there’s an idea. Go home and talk to your wife.”

  Jude ignored him. He was furious and felt foolish because the man was right. He needed to talk to Anna.

  He made it back to her townhouse in record time. He was so distracted and anxious to get inside and see if she was back, he missed the fact that a visitor had arrived during his absence. He entered the house from the direction of the stables and was immediately advised by the butler that the Dowager Countess of Blackbourne was waiting in the breakfast room.

  Jude cursed out loud in frustration and shoved both hands through his hair. Of all the times his mother should decide to end her constant residence in the country and come to town, it had to be on this bloody day.

  “And the countess?”

  “Not yet returned from Tattersalls, my lord,” a stoic Hastings replied.

  Best to get the interview with his mother over with quickly. Then he would be free to devote his attention to Anna as soon as she returned.

  Jude took a moment to calm his manner before entering the breakfast room. His mother sat stiffly in the center of the small sofa. She had not removed her bonnet or her smart spencer jacket. Jude hoped it meant she was not planning to stay long.

  “Mother. What a surprise to see you in London.”

  Helena turned a regal gaze upon her son as he came forward into the room and bent to kiss her cheek.

  “Really?” she asked imperiously. “That is how you greet me? Not with pleasure, but with surprise?”

  Jude forced a smile around the solid stone of impatience. “A pleasant surprise, to be sure. What prompted your unexpected sojourn from the country? Can I offer you any refreshments?” he asked, belatedly remembering the manners she had so strictly instilled in him. But his slip had already been noticed.

  Helena frowned with dark disappointment. “What on earth has gotten into you, Judy? I swear, I don’t understand what has motivated you to behave so horrendously.”

  Jude cocked his head to the side as he studied her. “It’s only refreshments, Mother. If you want—”

  “Oh, it’s not the refreshments, you numbskull.” Helena came to her feet in agitation. “I am talking about the shameless way you have been behaving with your wife.”

  Jude frowned at her passionate outburst. His expression was stern when he replied. “How I behave with my wife is none of your concern.”

  “Oh, yes it is, young man. It is the concern of the entire Blackbourne family. The entire legacy of the Blackbourne name rests upon this marriage.” Helena’s eyes flashed with outrage. “You cannot continue to dally with the woman in the manner you have been. Your disgusting behavior at the Carmichael ball last night is inexcusable.”

  Jude realized now what had gotten his mother in such a furious snit. She certainly had some resourceful informants if the news had reached her quickly enough that she had been able to travel to London in time for the midday meal. He should have known she would take issue with the very public display that had taken place on the dance floor.

  “It was just a kiss, Mother,” he started in the calming voice he had used infinite times in his youth when he had offended her with some careless or reckless act.

  “Just a kiss!” Helena shouted now. “Such an immodest act is not something that should ever be done in public. And from what I understand, what you and Anna indulged in last night was not just a simple kiss. And it’s not solely what happened last night. The two of you have been behaving like foolish and rebellious children for weeks now, and I will not stand for it a moment longer.”

  Jude tried to keep his voice even though her little tirade was crossing the line. “Mother, while I appreciate your perspective, how I behave with my wife has nothing to do with you or the Blackbourne legacy. I have the issue well in hand without your interference.”

  “Is that so? Are you saying she will discontinue her disgusting involvement in trade? Will she start
riding like a lady and stop wearing those indecent trousers? Will she stop brazenly gadding about on the arm of that…that ghastly scoundrel Lord Riley? Have you finally brought the greedy little hussy to heel?”

  “Enough,” Jude interrupted sharply, his tolerance at a low ebb with the kind of morning he’d been having. He held up his hand to stem the tide of insults from his mother’s lips. “Anna is no hussy, and she is anything but greedy, as you likely know well enough. I will not allow for you to so rudely insult her and accuse her of things to which you have no knowledge.”

  “But—”

  “No, Mother, not another word. I will not stand for you to be counted in the masses who spread unfounded rumors about her association with Riley or anyone else. Furthermore, I would not think of interfering in her business in any way,” Jude continued with confidence and conviction, though he hadn’t really considered his position on the subject until just that moment.

  “What?” Helena screeched in overdone despair as she sank helplessly back into the sofa.

  “I am sorry, Mother. She is exceptionally good at what she does, and the success of her stables is important to her. Those horses are her greatest pride and happiness and I wouldn’t think to suggest she give any of it up.”

  “So what are you doing to resolve this little problem?” she petulantly demanded as she straightened her white gloves over her slim fingers. “You cannot leave things as they are, can you? The two of you are either biting at each other’s throats or ignoring each other completely. What are you going to do about your marriage?”

  Jude noted the inquisitive demand in his mother’s steely tone. She wanted a definitive answer and the one he had for her was not going to make her happy.

  “For now, the answer to that remains between myself and Anna,” he replied.

  Helena stood then and very deliberately reached into the deep pocket of her traveling skirt to pull out a flat square box made of wood. She set the box on the cushion of the sofa, giving it a pat for good measure, and then glanced at Jude with a satisfied smile on her thinning lips.