Romancing the Countess

As on most every other night, Leah lay in the center of the bed and watched the shadows cast from the firelight flicker across the canopy. The steady lash of rain and wind rattled the windows in their cases, a buffer against the usual silence.

Lightning flashed through the room, and her breath caught as she stared at the illumination of silverthreaded flowers overhead. Even if the bedchamber had been suffused in darkness, she still could have recited each detail of the bed’s rococo-style construction. The fluted mahogany posts with their serpentine cornices. The shallow frieze of interwoven palmettes and draperies of lush, midnight velvet. The feet fashioned as lion heads below and the domed canopy above. When the lightning came again, Leah measured her breath, anticipating the accompanying growl of thunder.

She imagined the women who had come before her: her husband’s mother, his grandmother. Had they, too, stared at the canopy so long that they began to dream of its embroidered ribbons and flower garlands, of shimmering, silvery threads and roses turned black by the shadows? Had hours and hours passed until they imagined they could see each impeccable stitch, counting them only to forget the number when a sound downstairs erupted from the silence, startling them into awareness?

With her heart pounding, Leah waited for the sound to transform into footsteps up the stairs, to distinguish itself into the pattern of Ian’s steady, swaggering gait. How foolish she’d once been to admire the way he walked—to admire his easy grin, the golden shine of his sun-swept hair . . . anything about him. And how even greater a fool she was now to dread his arrival into her bedchamber, when she knew he would easily accept her plea of a headache. He might even be glad for the reprieve.

Still, as the echo of footsteps climbed within her hearing, she remained in the center of the bed. Neither on the left nor the right, but rigidly in the middle, as if the few feet on either side could serve to sufficiently delay the moment when he leaned across her and began stroking her breasts in solicitous, husbandly regard. He could have spared her that, at least.

Leah’s breath hitched at the sound of footsteps in the corridor. Then, slowly, she sighed with relief. It wasn’t her husband. These footsteps were too hasty, the stride too short. Her gaze retreated from the door to the canopy overhead, her fingers released their stranglehold on the counterpane, and she began counting the stitches again.

“No, no. Not at all,” Leah called. Tearing the covers aside, she hurried across the room. Anything to leave the bed. She had already opened the hallway door and raised her arm to invite Mrs. Kemble inside when she froze, arrested by the housekeeper’s expression. Gone was the woman’s usual implacable cheerfulness; in its place was a face worn with time, each wrinkle sagging with the weight of her age. Her brows were lowered, her teeth buried in her upper lip, and the hands clasped at the front of her waist trembled as she met Leah’s eyes.

Leah blinked. The housekeeper’s mouth seemed to be moving at an extraordinarily slow pace, as if each syllable struggled to escape. “An accident?” she repeated. And somehow, simply by saying the words, she knew that he was gone.

They stared at each other for what seemed an impossibly long time, until Leah was certain she could have counted at least a hundred canopy stitches.

Gone. Ian, her husband, was dead. Never again would she lie awake at night, waiting for him to return from his lover’s arms. Never again would she listen for his footsteps or count the stitching or bear his torturous, sensual lovemaking.

And Leah, who had vowed never to cry for him again, sank to her knees, her hands clutched in the housekeeper’s skirt, and wept.

Sebastian nodded and considered the whimsical dance of the fire’s shadows as they played across what little remained of his ivory army. He slid a lonely pawn forward.

His brother uttered a low oath and planted his bishop near Sebastian’s king. “Checkmate. Damnation, Seb, that’s four in a row. Do you even realize you’re losing?”

James swept aside the pieces and began arranging them anew. “I’d be happy if you found a new role. Something other than heartsick lover. At least condescend enough to pretend to notice my presence. It’s only been half a day.”

Precisely fourteen hours had passed since Angela left for their country estate in Hampshire, but already he was going mad without her. In three years of marriage, they’d spent only a few nights apart. Even though their lovemaking had been sporadic since she’d taken ill in the autumn, he was still accustomed to their usual domestic routine: sitting before the fire together as she brushed her hair, discussing the day’s events. If she didn’t feel well, a kiss good night before they separated for their individual bedchambers.

James paused in the act of replacing the last ebony piece. “Fourteen hours . . . And I suppose you also know exactly how many minutes and seconds?”

With a small smile, Sebastian settled his queen upon her square and refused the urge to glance at the mantel clock over the sitting room hearth. Instead, his fingers reached below to the note he’d tucked away in the chair’s crevice. There was no need to unfold it; he’d already read the words a dozen times, enough to memorize the few short sentences she’d written.

If he breathed deeply enough, he imagined he could smell her perfume rising from the well-worn paper, the same blended scent she used for her bath.

Memories wrapped around him, warm and soothing and arousing. It had been a long time since Angela had allowed him to watch her bathe, but still he could remember the heady scent of lavender and vanilla upon her naked skin, the slosh of the bath water over the sides of the tub as she bucked beneath his touch.

James nudged the first pawn into play. “I know you have Parliamentary duties to attend to, but surely they would understand if you made it a priority to see to your wife’s health first.”

“They’ll have to.” Sebastian led his own pawn out. “I’m traveling to Hampshire in a week, whether the bill’s resolved or not.”

Still, he looked forward to surprising Angela; she wasn’t expecting him to arrive with their son for at least a fortnight. He might bring her a gift as well, perhaps a little house spaniel to keep her company when the weather forced her to remain indoors. Something to cheer her, to keep her from her melancholy. Regardless of how much he tried to attend to her, she seemed so lonely at times.

Her health had never been the same after Henry’s birth, but recently she’d become more and more withdrawn. She continued to act the role of generous hostess while they were in Town, smiling and flirting as usual, but privately he could tell the London air was making matters worse. Sebastian could see it in her eyes when she looked at him. In the way the lightest touch of his fingers sometimes made her flinch, as if her skin was too fragile.

He didn’t regret allowing Angela’s departure to the countryside, but damned if he could stay away for even a week when she needed him.

Sebastian considered the row of ivory casualties at the side of the board, pieces fallen beneath James’ advance. He moved his queen’s bishop to counter James’ rook. For the first time that evening, he actually felt like making an effort to win. “Make that three days instead.”

James glanced up with a knowing look. “The night’s young yet. I’m sure given a few more hours you’ll be calling for the coach.”

A crash of thunder outside echoed the anticipatory clamor of Sebastian’s heart. He smiled. “Perhaps,” he murmured, and captured one of James’ knights.

The horses would have to ride hard through the storm, but he could very well reach the Wriothesly estate the next afternoon. It would be only a short while after Angela would have arrived, and to think he would be able to see her again so soon . . .

In a matter of minutes, Sebastian managed to eliminate piece after piece of the ebony set, including the king’s bishop. “Check.”

“Enter,” Sebastian called, glaring at James as he took his merry time in lifting his queen into the air, then slowly moved it toward the remaining white rook.

Sebastian gestured absently in the direction of the butler, then, realizing how late it was, lifted his gaze to the doorway with a frown. “Who is it from, Wallace?”

“A Mr. Grigsby, my lord. I beg your pardon. I wouldn’t have interrupted your game, but the messenger said it was most urgent.”

“One moment.” Sebastian turned to find his rook gone. With one last move, he shifted his queen across the board to trap James’ king. “Checkmate.”

“Yes, it’s a great surprise, that one is,” James muttered. Then with a wave of his hand toward the doorway, he added, “At least find what your mysterious message is about before you go.”

With a faint smile at James’ retorted oath, Sebastian beckoned for the folded parchment. It was cheap, the material coarse beneath his fingers, and spattered with raindrops. “A Mr. Grigsby, you said?” he asked without looking up.

“Hmm.” Unfolding the letter, Sebastian bent it toward the light. He read slowly, his mind distracted by thoughts of Angela.

. . . identified by crest . . . carriage accident . . . coachman injured, man and woman killed ... coachman informed . . . Lady Wriothesly . . . Mr. Ian George . . .

Fragments of thought collided, then fused into a numbed comprehension. Sebastian stared at the letter, his thumb rubbing the ink until it smeared. He heard James’ voice: “Sebastian, what is it?” Then the letter was gone.