The Desires of a Countess (30 page)

If you don’t want any others implicated, meet me
tonight at Infidel Tavern at eleven. Alone. You will have plenty of
time to make your other appointment. In fact, I guarantee it.

Ginny dropped the note with a gasp of horror. This
had to be a cruel joke. No one knew what she’d done the night Henry
had died. Well, Harriet did and a few of her trusted servants, but
why would any of them wait until now to blackmail her? They’d had
months if they wanted to make her pay.

With trembling hands, she gathered the note back up
and read it again. The words were too harsh and pointed to be
someone’s idea of a game. This was real. Someone knew what she’d
done and was truly threatening her and her future.

Harriet. Ginny had to find her best friend and talk
to her. Get her advice about what to do. She flew off the couch and
ran down the hall. She didn’t even bother to knock on her friend’s
door, but pushed it open with all her might.

“Harriet?” she called out to the empty room. But
there was no sign of her friend.

She was about to make a search of the house when she
caught sight of yet another note, this one with her name on it. It
had been propped it up on Harriet’s dressing table so there would
be no reason for someone not to see it when they came in.

Her heart leapt. What if the villain who was trying
to blackmail her had taken her friend hostage? Her whole body shook
as she snatched up the paper and ripped it open. But instead, the
message was very different.

“I know you won’t understand,” she read out loud.
“But while you were falling in love with Simon, I found a love of
my own. Adam Scott and I are heading to Gretna Green tonight to
marry. Apparently the matchmaking we did went to our heads. I’m
very happy, Ginny. And now that you’re telling Simon the truth,
I’ve no doubt you’ll be happy, too. I feel comfortable enough to
leave you to pursue my heart. I’ll see you in a few weeks as Mrs.
Adam Scott. All my love, Harriet.”

Ginny let out a quiet moan as she shoved Harriet’s
note into her pocket with the other. Though she was thrilled her
friend had found love, her departure couldn’t have come at a worse
time. She needed Harriet’s counsel, but instead she had no one to
tell about the horror she now faced. Alone.

***

Even though it was early summer, Ginny wished she
hadn’t been so flustered that she’d forgotten her wrap. She needed
it to protect her from the chilly wind that made her shiver as she
stepped out of her carriage in front of the Infidel Tavern. Even
more, she wished she had it to use as a shield both from the looks
she got from the men outside and from whoever waited inside to tell
her about her horrible secrets.

“My lady,” her driver whispered as she stepped down.
“In good conscience, I cannot leave you here.”

She shook her head. “Thomas, I’ll be fine. Just wait
for me. Hopefully my business won’t take long.”

She prayed it wouldn’t. Perhaps her blackmailer had
changed his mind. Or maybe it would really turn out to be some kind
of sick jest instead.

She turned away and took a few steps toward the
door. She ignored the blatant comments offered by a few drunks as
she passed by. Holding her head high, she passed through the
entryway and looked around.

The place was dark, but not dank or especially
dirty. It was a middle-class establishment, but one not accustomed
to the presence a lady, especially one dressed like she was. Every
head in the bar pivoted toward her and a few of the men made lewd
suggestions that made the men outside seem almost gentlemenly. She
steeled herself to them and approached the man behind the bar.

“Excuse me, I’m to meet someone here.”

“Maybe me, sweetness?” he leered over the barrier
between them. “Down on your luck, are you?”

Her face flamed and again she wished for a shawl.
“No.”

The man laughed, a bawdy sound that filled the bar.
“Well, what’s your friend’s name?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. She hadn’t even thought
about that fact. How was she to find a man who she didn’t even
know?

The other man’s smile fell. “How the hell do you
expect me to help you if you don’t even know what you’re looking
for?”

“I’ll help her find what she’s lookin’ for,” came a
drunken voice down the bar that made Ginny shiver. Would Thomas be
able to make it inside if she screamed for help? God, would he even
hear her scream?

Suddenly, a hand gripped her elbow and she turned to
find a cloaked man at her side. He dragged her across the bar to a
table in the corner.

“Let me go,” she ordered loudly, but no one around
them seemed too anxious to rush to her aid. In fact, several looked
on as if interested in what would happen next.

“Shhh,” hissed a voice that was strangely
familiar.

“Who are… ow!” she said as the stranger pushed her
into a chair, then dragged another over beside her so they sat
close together.

He pushed back his cloak and relief rushed through
Ginny. Robert Dennison sat before her.

“Robert! Oh, I thought you were some man who wanted
to molest me…”

She trailed off when his eyes rolled over her entire
body in one, hot gaze. Her heart froze and her throat constricted
with fear and horrified understanding. Robert wasn’t here to save
her.

“You
sent
me this note, didn’t you?” she asked as she retrieved the blackmail
missive from her gown pocket.

He smiled. “Clever girl.”

She blinked in continued confusion. “Why?”

He grabbed her arm and dug his fingers in hard. Not
enough to bruise but a warning. She was instantly put to mind of
her late husband and his brutal hands.

“You had best lower your voice, Virginia.”

Yanking her arm away, she rubbed it briefly before
she whispered, “Why are you doing this?”

“I
know
what you did.” Robert smiled
before he leaned back to pull a cigar from his pocket. Using the
candle to light it, he blew a little ring of smoke in her
direction. “You do look luscious, even in this dim light. But then,
you always do, don’t you?”

Ginny let out a sound of exasperation in order to
cover the terror that was slowly seeping its way through every part
of her body and soul. She couldn’t let Robert see that fear. “What
is going on, Robert? What are you doing?”

He leaned over to take her hand. Even when she
pulled back against his grip, he held tight.

“I’ve always wanted you, Virginia. From the first
moment Henry brought you to the shire, I watched you. Wanted you.
And I hated him for having you. But you took care of that, didn’t
you?”

There was a sudden glitter in his eyes that
frightened Ginny even more than she’d been before.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she
stammered as she prayed she’d find a way out of this nightmare.

He grinned and it made his handsome face even more
attractive. How could such ugliness hide below the surface? And why
hadn’t she noticed it before?

“I’m talking about you and a certain fire poker. I’m
talking about you murdering…” He leaned in closer for privacy and
effect. “My brother.”

Shocked, she drew back as far as she could. “Your
b-brother?”

He smiled again. “Yes. I was Henry’s half-brother.
Illegitimate and he never let me forget it. Older, but never
entitled to the title, the estate, or the beautiful, finished
wife.”

“Oh God, Robert.” Ginny finally managed to jerk her
hand away and found herself wiping it on her skirt. As if she could
dab away the brand of his touch.

“He loved to rub it in, of course.” The other man’s
face darkened. “All through growing up, and even into our adulthood
after our father helped me get the job as magistrate. When Henry
brought you home, he didn’t fail to notice how taken I was with
you. And he enjoyed telling me every detail of your body.”

Disgust washed over Ginny. Henry had shared the
intimate details of their life with his half-brother? With a man
who’d shared meals with her and smiled at her as if he didn’t
know?

“That’s sick,” she whispered.

“Even sicker is that he offered to let me watch you
together. To rub it in, I suppose.” When she let out another gasp,
Robert grinned. “Do you want to know if I did it?”

“No,” she ground out, barely able to hear her own
voice over the rush of blood in her ears. “I don’t want to
know.”

He laughed and snapped his fingers at a serving
girl. She brought a tankard of ale and he looked at Ginny. “Want
something?”

“Nothing.” She glared at him with hatred for him
growing in every part of her. “Except to know why you called me to
this terrible place. What do you want, Robert?”

His eyes narrowed. “That attitude is exactly why you
got to feel the back of Henry’s hand so very often.”

Ginny’s face twisted in horror. The truth of what
Robert had done was just beginning to sink in. She’d been watched
through her private and humiliating moments by a man she’d once
called a friend.

His cruel smile broadened at her pained expression.
“Yes, I got to see that, too. In fact, I was privy to several
encounters between you. Henry would tell me which room would two
would occupy. So many times I observed from the window. Just as I’d
been watching from the outside all my life.”

Ginny swallowed back her fear. As Robert talked, he
seemed to grow angrier and angrier with his lot in life. His face
had gone from the man she’d known for years, to a person she was
afraid of and disgusted by in equal measure.

“All this still doesn’t explain why you brought me
here,” she said softly, folding her arms and staring at him with
what she hoped was a brave expression.

“I was there that night, Virginia.”

The blood drained from her face. “What?”

“The night you killed my brother. I saw everything.
I saw how the two of you argued. And then your brat started to cry.
That made Henry even angrier and he turned to your son with his
hand raised.” He smiled as if the memory pleased him. “My God, you
were magnificent Ginny. Your face looked like a warrior queen as
you grabbed that poker and swung. I must say I enjoyed every moment
of it.”

She blinked back tears as she, too, remembered that
night. She hadn’t thought about what she was doing. She’d only
wanted to protect Jack from his father’s rage. It hadn’t been a
premeditated act, just a protective response. She hadn’t even known
she’d killed him until she’d returned to the room with Ingram and
Harriet.

Henry must have rolled over after she left the room,
because they’d found him on his back, staring up, a look of shock
still on his face. It made her sick just thinking of it. Even
sicker when she thought of how the three of them had made it look
like Henry had a riding accident.

“If you knew what happened,” she asked with a glare
for the man across from her. “Then why didn’t you arrest me right
then and there? You’re the magistrate of Westdale, wasn’t it your
duty?”

He laughed again and the sound made her very spine
tingle with the fear she tried to hide.

“You think I
cared
that my brother was dead? I was
thrilled. Finally he’d gotten what he deserved and soon-” He
reached out to trail his fingertips across her bare arm. “I would
have everything I deserved. Everything that was his. I planned to
let you ‘mourn’ for a while, and then I’d come to court
you.”

She shook her head. “Robert, I never would have
considered you anything but my friend.”

His smile fell. “Well, then I had your secret didn’t
I? And I still do. I knew if you refused my love, I could force you
to accept it by doing exactly what I’m doing now.”

She shut her eyes. “Blackmail.”

“Exactly.” His voice grew lower. “But then
everything was ruined. Simon Webber appeared and it was obvious he
had some influence on you. Even more obvious when I saw you in
Henry’s office together.”

She flushed so dark she was
surprised that she had enough blood in her brain to speak.
“You…
saw
us?”

The bile crept into her throat. That beautiful
moment in the office with Simon had been the first step toward a
happy future for her. If Robert ruined it by saying he had watched
her private awakening, she didn’t know if she could bear it.

“Unfortunately,” he said with a leering grin. “I
missed the actual deed itself.”

Her eyes pricked with tears of relief. That moment
still belonged to Simon and her. It hadn’t been destroyed along
with everything else this man was trying to obliterate.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what had
happened between you when you were putting the items back on
Henry’s desk and Webber was pulling his shirt on.”

“You’re disgusting,” she snapped as she began to
rise to leave. He caught her wrist and gave it a painful yank that
sent her careening back into her chair.

“We aren’t finished,” he said with a darkness in his
eyes that terrified her. This man was more dangerous than even
Henry had been. And his focus was entirely on her.

“We
are
finished,” she corrected.
“Because it doesn’t matter if you tell your story. I planned to
tell Simon, myself, tonight. And if I need to, I’ll tell my family.
Noah and Audrey will use their connections to protect
me.”

She hoped he wouldn’t call her bluff. Though she
might be able to convince people she’d defended herself, the stain
of a murder charge would haunt her and her child forever. Beyond
that, she still had no idea how Simon would react to her
confession.

Robert looked so smug that Ginny began to feel
nervous.

“Perhaps you could make a case for yourself. Unless
it comes to light that the murder was premeditated.”