Rogue Countess (9 page)

“No, I think I’ll wait,” Anna answered as she stepped into the room, sweeping past the slim woman. She paced the elegant spacious room twice in long, angry strides. She hardly noticed that the bright morning sun was almost high enough now to flood the room with light. She gave only the barest glance toward the coffee service still steaming on the small table by the window. What did claim her attention was that there was only one bedroom extending beyond the large sitting room and her agitation grew. When she turned back to the other woman in the room, she was a little surprised to see she hadn’t moved from where she stood in the open doorway.

Anna stopped and returned the openly curious stare of Jude’s mistress and had to acknowledge why he would be attracted to her. The woman contained an inert and obvious grace that was both stately and modest. It was doubtful the regal beauty ever displayed such base reactions as impatience or distress. Anna looked into her face. The woman’s eyes were narrowed in wariness as she returned Anna’s regard. She was uneasy. Anna followed the woman’s gaze down to her left hand and realized she still held her training whip coiled in her hand. She had been holding it when Palmerton had told her of her husband’s perfidy and had been so distracted by her anger that she just never released it. In her pacing, she had been slapping it in agitation against her thigh.

The action was making the other woman nervous.

Anna decided to use the woman’s misplaced sense of danger to her advantage. She slapped the whip against her leg once more and the woman stiffened. Anna wasn’t capable of lifting her hand in violence against anyone, but if this woman believed she was, Anna wasn’t going to worry about convincing her otherwise.

Anna narrowed her gaze and tried to put on an expression of cool detachment though her blood ran hot, not only in reaction to Jude’s thievery that morning, but now also because of this new stark evidence of his arrogant infidelity. He had brought his exotic mistress back to England with him. His complete lack of discretion astounded her. She took a slow and deliberate step toward the other woman.

“How long have you known my husband?” she quizzed.

The mistress’s eyes flew back up to her face. Though the rest of her remained completely composed, her eyes showed her surprise.

“You are his wife? I did not know Lord Blackbourne was married.”

Anna’s smile was tight. “Have you known him long?”

“No. Not long.” The woman tensed as Anna took another step closer. “We met on the ship.”

“Do you have a permanent arrangement with him?” Anna pressed, somewhat amazed that the woman was so willing to disclose the details of her relationship with Jude.

“No, no arrangement,” she insisted, shaking her head and causing a rippling wave down her hair. “We got along well and simply decided to continue our association once we arrived in London.”

“You have family here in England?” Anna asked. She didn’t want the woman to be left without any resources. It wasn’t her fault Jude was a philandering bastard.

The companion lifted her chin a bit now, seeming to understand where Anna’s interrogation was heading. “I have many friends.”

“I recommend you gather your belongings and go to them. Immediately.” Anna’s tone indicated that her recommendation was really more of a command.

The two females stared at each other for a few moments. One of them quiet, wary, considering. The other angry, hurt and determined to extract retribution.

After a breath, the other woman replied with calm dignity. “I will go. I have no wish to come between the sacred bond of husband and wife. I give you my apologies for my part in your pain.” Then she turned and walked into the bedroom.

Anna’s stiff pride almost demanded she call after her to refuse the apology and the sympathy. But it would be useless. Finding the woman here had aggravated the ache in Anna’s long-bruised heart.

She stared at the closed bedroom door with envy and confusion. She wished she had such impeccable composure. If she were so sure and confident, Jude’s actions wouldn’t hurt her so badly. In truth, if she had had an ounce of that woman’s self-assurance, she would never have allowed her father and sister to browbeat her as they had for so many years, and never would have ended up as Jude’s wife in the first place.

Well, she was making up for all those years she had lacked a spine now, she thought.

The woman was leaving. Anna had no doubt of that, and she smiled as she turned to leave the hotel room. She considered sticking around to see Jude’s face when he returned to find his lady love gone. He was going to learn very quickly that Anna would not stand to be bullied anymore. Especially not by him.

He may have stolen her mare, but she had gone one better. She had chased away his mistress.

Chapter Eight

After a long ride in Hyde Park the next morning, Anna returned to her townhouse feeling optimistic and refreshed. She was still basking in her triumphant retaliation over Jude’s theft of her coveted mare and was quite confident in having proven herself to be a formidable opponent in the little tug of war he had initiated between them.

However, her mood took a sharp downward turn when she recognized the coat of arms on the brightly painted carriage pulling up in front of her door. This was one visitor she had not anticipated, but probably should have. She took her horse round to the stables and cared for him herself before entering the house and making her way to the morning room where her guest would be waiting.

Years ago, Anna had been banned from calling upon the Duchess of Clavering at her residence either in town or in the country. It was not seemly for a duke and duchess to have a close relation involved in such a menial and indelicate trade, especially when that person was a woman determined to encroach into a world better reserved for men. The pretentious mandate didn’t bother Anna much since she seldom had cause to seek out her sister’s company.

It had been nearly six months since she had been graced by a visit from her illustrious sibling. And that visit had not ended well after Anna refused to loan her sister any more money. In the years since Anna had become financially independent, Olivia had gotten into the habit of coming to her for personal loans to cover numerous gambling debts. The requests had started out small enough, but Olivia’s luck at cards never held for very long. As her debts increased so did the amount of money she needed to stay in good faith with her more substantial moneylenders.

At her last visit, she had come to Anna with a request for an exorbitant amount and Anna had declared she would no longer contribute to her sister’s wasteful habits. When she had suggested Olivia go to her husband for assistance, her sister went into a fit. Her face had turned red and she’d accused Anna of being petty and rapacious and then stormed from the house in a huff.

Anna hadn’t heard from her since.

Seeing the distinctive carriage waiting in front of her house brought to mind two possible reasons for why Olivia would deign to call upon her now.

The Duke and Duchess of Clavering kept very late hours and rarely left their London home before three in the afternoon. Anna doubted it was a desire for light conversation that had prompted Olivia to rise so early this morning. Either she was in need of another loan and had decided to take her chances with another refusal, or she was on a mission of a more personal nature.

Olivia sat in the middle of the damask sofa, as always, looking immaculate and beautiful. The soft skirts of her pale pink gown were spread to the sides so as to avoid unnecessary wrinkles. Her pale golden hair was arranged in large rounded curls on top of her head and her gloved hands rested in her narrow lap. To the casual observer, the Duchess of Clavering would appear to be everything one would expect of a lady with her elite social standing. She was poised, confident and stylishly lovely.

But Anna, who had years of practice reading her sister’s more subtle signs of tension and irritation, could see the stiffness in Olivia’s perfect posture and could detect the hint of anxiety in her light brown eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Anna entered the room.

“Good morning, Olivia.”

The duchess turned her head at the casual greeting. She had insisted a hundred times that she be addressed properly as your Grace, but Anna refused to use the respectful term. It was a petty thing, but worth it when she saw how much it bothered her haughty sister.

Olivia’s eyes squinted with familiar indignant annoyance as her gaze swept over Anna’s riding outfit. She sniffed as if her delicate nose had been assaulted by an offensive odor and she pursed her mouth in a manner that pushed her artificially pinkened lips into a full pucker.

“Is it?” Olivia finally returned in response to Anna’s greeting. “Yes, well, the sun at this particular time of day doesn’t quite suit my temperament, I suppose. Too crude and direct. It ages the skin. I much prefer the soft glow of candlelight. It is a shame so many people are switching over to that ghastly gaslight. Such brightness is not kind to the delicate sensibilities of a gentle lady.” She waved a gloved hand toward the chair placed opposite her position on the sofa. “Are you going to sit? It is not polite to hover over your guests like a poorly trained footman. Just because you choose to dress like a man of the lower classes, does not mean you can behave like one while in my presence.”

Anna did not move from her position a few steps in from the doorway. She allowed the derisive comments to pass with little notice. There was a time when her older sister’s barbed words had the strength to pierce her delicate self-esteem and had often drawn blood. But Anna’s hide had toughened considerably since then.

She glanced at the clock. She would give the mighty duchess fifteen minutes to come to the point of her visit before she showed her the door.

“Olivia, you did not come here today to try to steer me back toward the path of social propriety. And I think we both know I am not about to change the tiniest thing about myself for your pleasure and comfort.” Anna’s smile was unconcerned as she returned Olivia’s narrowed glare.

“You always were a selfish and disagreeable child,” Olivia snapped in high dudgeon. “How Father and I managed to put up with you is an amazement.”

“You found a way to solve that problem, didn’t you?” Anna returned in a quick and deliberate reference to the subject she suspected was behind the unwelcome visit.

Olivia sighed then, and the sound was an expression of deep disappointment. Her tone became soft and cajoling.

“Come now, dear. Admit that you have come to realize how fortunate you were in the path Father and I arranged for you. You are a countess after all. Even you cannot deny that you never would have made such an advantageous match if not for our assistance.”

“Assistance? Is that what you call it?” Anna stared down at her sister with raised brows. Could she really be so deluded?

“Oh, stop it, Anna,” Olivia chided with growing impatience. “You have nothing to complain about. If you weren’t always trying to be so difficult, you would realize you have cause to be grateful.”

“I imagine you have heard news of Jude’s return?” Anna’s reply was stiff and cold.

“Of course I’ve heard of his return,” Olivia snapped. “It’s all over town, isn’t it? As is your newly discovered relationship to him.” She shook her blonde head with disapproval and her words were delivered in sneering little jabs. “You sure know how to bring the wrong kind of attention upon yourself. Everyone is talking about how the Countess of Blackbourne is a horse breeder. It’s just disturbing. I cannot imagine how devastating all of this must be to Jude.”

“I have a feeling he’s endured much worse. Waking from a drug-induced sleep with a child lying naked in your bed, for example,” Anna stated with a flash of temper. “I imagine that might be a bit more disturbing.”

Olivia’s head whipped around to pin Anna with a glaring look. “Must you speak so crudely?”

“Do I offend you?” Anna asked with mock innocence, already knowing the answer full well.

“Yes! Nearly everything about you offends me.” The duchess shouted. Olivia paused then to pull a small medicine bottle from her reticule and take an enthusiastic swig. Anna was aware that her sister occasionally took laudanum to calm her nerves, but she hadn’t realized she had started carrying the potent stuff around with her.

The medicine did the trick as Olivia slowly bowed her blonde head in a pose of gentle despondence.

“I don’t know why you chose to shape your life in such an inappropriate and vulgar manner, but it didn’t bother me as long as few knew of the connection between us. I still see no reason to publicize our relation. And I don’t see any need to revisit details of the past.” She lifted her head and looked at Anna with a gaze that was slightly unfocused from the laudanum. “Especially not with your errant husband.”

“What are you worried about, Olivia?” Anna couldn’t help goading her sister just a bit. “What do you think Lord Blackbourne would do if he discovered how instrumental you were in the breaking of your betrothal? Do you think it would upset him to know how you so maliciously threw him over for a duke?”

Olivia flew to her feet, all pretense at tranquility gone in an instant. Her hands were fisted at her sides and her eyes blazed with a wrathful light.

“Jude will never know anything more about what happened than he does already. What purpose would such disclosure serve? None.” She answered with sharp and heavy conviction. “If word of my part in that ancient scheme ever got out, I would be ruined. Clavering would be forced to desert me. I would be exiled, left with nothing.” Olivia shook the haunting thoughts from her mind and took a menacing step toward Anna. “The only reason you would have to start filling Jude’s ears with tales of the past would be for your own selfish gain.”