Rogue Countess (11 page)

“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 pleasure,” 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.

After a few brief moments, his lips gave a subtle twitch and he continued with his explanation.

“The lady and I did have a casual understanding that when her acquaintances made it to London, we would be parting company. And since she left a very sweet note expressing her farewell, I thought nothing more of it.

“Until yesterday that is, when I received a surprising visit from the hotel proprietor, Mr. Davies.” He paused again, looking at Anna with lifted brows. “I believe you’ve met him.”

She unfolded her arms to wave her hand in a dismissive and deceptively careless gesture.

“Could be. I meet so many men in my business,” she added as a provocative smile widened her lips.

Jude’s eyes flashed in response before he looked away to lift his coffee cup. He took a sip as if he had all the time in Britain to tell his story. And likely he did, but Anna was holding on to her patience by very thin threads.

Having him in her house, surrounded by all of her things, was unbelievably disturbing, and she wanted him out.

Jude replaced the cup in the saucer before he went on.

“Well, Mr. Davies explained that he hoped the distasteful scene displayed by Lady Blackbourne in the lobby the prior morning would not repeat itself. And if I thought it might be a possibility, I should consider moving to a hotel with a less discerning clientele.”

Jude eyed Anna over the rim of his coffee cup as he leaned back in his chair. “Surely, you can imagine my surprise at Mr. Davies’s none-too-subtle warning.”

He was waiting for her reply, and in spite of his easy demeanor, Anna did not miss that his sapphire-colored eyes had darkened considerably.

She would not deny her actions. She wanted him to know it was she who had chased off his mistress. Revenge didn’t really count if you refused to take credit. With a gesture of nonchalant grace she had learned from watching Leif, she eased herself back into the chair she had vacated earlier. It was positioned directly across the table from Jude. She folded her arms on the table and tilted her head to the side as if a thought had just occurred to her.

“Oh yes, of course, Mr. Davies. He was that dapper little fellow who was so kind as to give me your room number.” Her smile was falsely bright and her eyes were fixed on his face. “I had so badly wanted to congratulate you on the stunning mare you purchased from Lord Palmerton.”

Jude grinned with obvious and genuine satisfaction.

“Thank you. I am quite pleased with the result of my business the other day. The mare is an exceptional creature. However, the proprietor’s comments made me realize something. Why stay at a hotel when my lovely wife has a residence right here in town?”

Anna’s manner lost all pretense as she gasped in outrage. “You are not staying here.”

“Yes, I am,” Jude answered with an unconcerned lift of his eyebrows. “Your dramatic little entrance at my hotel ensured that I cannot continue to stay there.”

“Go to your mother’s townhouse,” Anna interrupted.