An Unexpected Countess
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‘You should go,’ he said softly.
She nodded, but part of her was having a difficult time walking away from him.
His lips slowly curved into his familiar cocky smile. ‘You never thanked me for saving your life.’
She released his hand and stepped back. ‘Do not look for a kiss from me. The kiss you received from another woman tonight should keep you content.’
He crossed his arms. ‘What makes you think it was one kiss?’
Sometimes he made it so easy to resist that pull she felt towards him. She turned and made her way through the overgrown brush to the small, delicate, wrought-iron gate. ‘The details of your love life do not interest me, my lord,’ she replied over her shoulder, grateful to be leaving the arrogant Earl.
* * *
When she climbed into the carriage waiting a few streets away, she met the eager expression of her dearest friend and closest confidant, Katrina, Duchess of Lyonsdale.
‘Well, did you find it?’ Katrina slid across the green velvet bench in the well-appointed carriage, making room for Sarah to sit down.
Sarah shook her head while removing her hat and cape. The danger she had put herself in by breaking into the Everill town house had all been for naught. ‘I searched her room from top to bottom, and the bracelet was nowhere to be found. She must be wearing it tonight.’
‘Now what will you do?’
‘I’m not sure. If she continues to wear it everywhere she goes, I’ll be forced to take it off her wrist.’
Katrina handed Sarah the gown she had changed out of in the carriage when they left the ball. Concern was etched on her brow. ‘You were gone for a long time. I was beginning to worry.’
Sarah let out a sigh as she turned her back so Katrina could button her gown. ‘I was detained by Lord Hartwick on the roof as I was trying to leave.’
‘Hartwick? Does he know what you were doing tonight?’
‘No, he believes I was coming from an assignation with Lord Baxter.’
Katrina’s hand paused midbutton. ‘Do you think that’s wise?’
‘It was better than telling him the truth. With all his indiscretions I doubt he would say anything.’
‘Whatever was he doing on the roof?’
‘Do you really need to ask?’
Katrina resumed buttoning Sarah’s gown. ‘Has he taken up with Everill’s widowed niece?’
‘No, thankfully she was not in residence tonight, from what I could tell by looking into the bedchamber. He was with Lady Helmford.’
‘Why won’t that man ever pursue an unmarried woman?’
‘Because he might be forced to marry one! From what I’ve observed, he grows bored of women easily.’ Sarah began to pin up her hair.
‘I wish he would settle into marriage. I think it would do him good. He always appears rather restless to me.’
‘I pity the woman who falls for the likes of Lord Hartwick. He thinks too highly of himself and is too much of a rake to ever be faithful.’ She turned to face Katrina. ‘How do I look?’
‘You look like you never left the ballroom. I’m sorry this was all for naught.’
So was Sarah. That bracelet was the key to saving her parents great pain. She would not stop until she had it.
* * *
Playing cards with the Prince Regent always proved to be entertaining, especially when the man was losing. Hart leaned back in his chair in the alcove of the bow window of White’s and watched as his friend and sovereign studied the cards in his hand with the intensity of one who was trying to decipher foreign words on a page.
His puffy face was scrunched up as he directed his gaze away from his cards and over to Hart. ‘Do not look smug.’
‘I hadn’t realised I was.’
‘You always do. You have not won this hand yet.’
‘You’re quickly running out of money to bet. I might win by forfeit.’
‘Unlikely.’ Prinny turned to his cards again.
Hart took a sip of brandy and checked his watch. It was close to four in the morning, but it felt much later. He would bow out after this hand and get some much-needed rest. ‘I don’t think the cards will change however long you stare at them.’
‘Don’t rush me, boy.’
Granted Hart was young enough to be the man’s son, however at thirty-two, he was far from a boy. ‘Very well, if I nod off, someone wake me when it’s my turn.’
Prinny finally selected his card and placed it on the table. Hart won the hand and the remainder of his friend’s money. Now he could escape to his bed and sleep for days.
‘One more round, Hart.’
Dammit! How was it possible he was not tired of losing? ‘You have nothing left to bet.’
Prinny turned towards his three companions behind him, ready to plead his case, when they quickly walked away. ‘Useless, the lot of you are useless,’ he called after them.
‘You see,’ Hart said through a yawn. ‘We cannot continue.’
‘One last round. How about we wager for a favour?’
It was always wise to store as many favours as one could. You never knew when you might need them. Considering the luck Prinny was having tonight, Hart was certain he would win. ‘Very well, but this is the last one.’
They went back and forth till finally it was down to one hand. Prinny placed his card down, a victorious smile on his lips. ‘I win.’
Hart had to rub his eyes twice to make certain he was truly awake. Dammit! Now he owed Prinny a favour. The Prince Regent guided him by the elbow to a quiet corner of the room. ‘I mean to collect, you know.’
‘I had no doubt. Something tells me you had a favour in mind all along.’
‘I might have.’
‘You could have simply asked.’
‘True, but now you’re bound by a debt to do this for me.’
‘And there is no one else you could have asked?’
‘No one that I trust to keep this quiet. You cannot tell a soul. Not even Winter.’ If he was not to tell the man responsible for overseeing Prinny’s secret guard, then Hart was truly interested.
‘And you cannot tell Lyonsdale either. I know how close you are.’
‘Very well, you have my word. I shall not tell a soul.’
Prinny lowered himself into a chair and eyed the seat next to him, indicating Hart should sit. Unfortunately, there was a good chance that once he sat down, Hart would not get up until sunrise.
‘Rumours have surfaced that indicate some of the missing French crown jewels are hidden here in London.’
Hart shifted closer to Prinny. ‘I haven’t heard this.’ He prided himself on knowing important details before they became public knowledge and shook off his annoyance.
‘Louis sent word to me through his ambassador. He asked for my help in locating them for France. He wants them back. There is specific mention of the Sancy, a pale yellow diamond that weighs approximately fifty-five carats. It once was part of the Mirror of Great Britain until James sold the stone to Cardinal Mazarin when he needed funds.’
‘What has this to do with me?’
‘I want you to find it.’
‘Why? This seems like a task for the Home Office.’
‘Castlereigh and I have met with them. We were reassured they would locate the jewels.’
‘I don’t understand. If they’re locating them, why would you want to involve me? I do not work with them.’
‘No, but you do work for Winter and I know how cunning you are. I want you to do this for me, without the knowledge of the Home Office.’
Either Hart was much too tired or Prinny was talking in circles, as he was known to do. ‘So you want me to find the French crown jewels that the Home Office is already trying to locate and return them to you?’
‘Just the Sancy.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that diamond should be ours. Just imagine me reclaiming it. It’s too delicious a notion to pass up. I have no intention of returning it to France. I’ll never let Louis or Castlereigh know I possess it. France believes the thief, Guillot, broke apart the crown jewels. He hid clues to the Sancy’s whereabouts in a bracelet shortly after he arrived in England. This bracelet recently surfaced in Rundell & Bridge and was purchased by Everill for his wife. To find the Sancy, you need that bracelet.’
Hart tossed the lock of hair out of his eyes, getting a better look at the man sitting across from him. There was a chance Prinny had too much to drink.
‘Come now, Hart. Ever since you were a small boy, you were drawn to danger. You should be begging me to do this. Your uncle often said it would be a miracle if you reached the age of twenty with your penchant for reckless acts. It is a miracle you are still alive after tumbling down that cliff not long after your mother died.’
Hart shifted in his seat, not at all comfortable with recalling his mother or that day when he was a boy of seven—a boy who only wanted to stand in the last place his mother had stood before he lost her forever.
‘So you will find it for me?’ Prinny’s voice broke the painful memory and, for the first time, Hart was grateful to be interrupted by the man.
He rubbed his eyes. ‘Do you even know what this bracelet looks like? I imagine Lady Everill has quite a few.’
‘As a matter of fact I do know what it looks like,’ Prinny replied rather smugly. ‘I was told there are square gold links with paintings on porcelain. The links are also engraved in a Grecian style. The thief left a note for his accomplice that the bracelet would help him locate the Sancy. Find that bracelet and you find the key to where it is. You owe me this debt.’
Chapter Two
Sarah stood at the closed door to the breakfast room of her home and tried to paste on a believable smile. It wasn’t working. She needed to disguise her frustration at failing to get Lady Everill’s bracelet last night before someone noticed her foul mood. There would be questions—and Sarah had no answers she cared to give.
On the other side of the door, her parents were blissfully unaware of how perilously close they were from being thrown back into a world of grief and depression, with Sarah as their only hope. She had lived through that anguish with them once. She prayed she could find the bracelet so she would not have to do it again.
She struggled again to smile. Closing her eyes, she recalled the thrill of racing her horse at full gallop along the shores of the Long Island Sound on her family’s estate. A small smile crossed her lips. It was the best she could do.
When she entered the room, she was met with the faint sound of forks clinking on plates as her mother read a letter and her father browsed his newspaper while they ate breakfast. If the silence continued, she could keep trying to think of another way to secure that bracelet.
As Sarah poured herself a cup of chocolate, her mother refolded the letter she was reading and smiled at her.
‘Good morning. Did you enjoy the additional time you spent with Katrina last night?’
‘I did. Thank you. We hadn’t spent time together like that in so long and we had so much to talk about.’
‘The two of you always seem to have so much to talk about,’ her mother said with a smile. ‘She looks well.’
‘She does, but I do think she was nervous leaving Augusta for the first time at night.’
‘That’s to be expected. The first time I left you after you were born, it wasn’t easy.’
‘She wanted to return home the minute our carriage left the drive,’ her father said, not looking up from the newspaper.
Her mother took off her spectacles. ‘If I recall correctly, I wasn’t the only one,’ she teased before turning her attention back to Sarah. ‘I was just reading a letter from Mrs Colter. Robert will be arriving in Liverpool in a few weeks to settle some business here. She expects him to stay for three months and I was thinking it would be kind to invite him to come down to London for a visit while he is here.’
‘You do?’ Sarah was well aware of why her mother thought it was such a kind gesture.
‘Yes, we can find a room for him at the Pulteney.’
‘Perhaps Mr Colter does not have the funds to stay in such an establishment.’
‘Of course he does. That family is very comfortably settled.’
Sarah took a sip of chocolate. It was a small reprieve.
‘I think it will be wonderful to see him again. He always was my favourite of her four sons.’
‘Which one is he?’
‘We haven’t been gone that long, Sarah,’ she chided. ‘You remember, he is her youngest. The one who is two years older than you. The one with the lovely manners.’
‘Isn’t he the one who doesn’t speak?’
‘He speaks. I have heard him. Why would you think he doesn’t speak?’
‘He doesn’t speak to me.’
Her father put down his newspaper. ‘Perhaps the man can’t utter a single word because you never give him the opportunity.’
‘That’s not true. I’ve never given him the cut.’
‘I meant you talk too much in his presence,’ her father said with a smirk.
‘Perhaps he thinks you’re beautiful and is at a loss for words when he is in your presence.’ From the look on her mother’s face, it was possible she actually believed that.
‘Perhaps Mr Colter and I have nothing in common and therefore we have nothing to discuss.’
‘Nonsense, you are just trying to dissuade me from inviting him.’
‘That is not true. I am simply trying to remind you that even if you invite Mr Colter here, he will not be proposing to me before he leaves.’
‘How do you know that? You have not seen one another in two years. Things can change.’
‘People do not change, Mother. If we did not fall in love two years ago, we will not be falling in love now. Love doesn’t work that way.’
‘How do you know it does not? One day you may suddenly look at him and realise he is the man you cannot live without.’
‘He is mute,’ Sarah stated more firmly.
‘No, he is not,’ her mother replied with just as much conviction.
‘I know you want me to find a nice American man to marry and I want to find one. I do. But Mr Colter is not that man.’
‘You don’t know that. Can I help it if I want to see you happy and in love? Can I help it if I want to be a grandmother some day? I am your mother, and I want what is best for you.’
She looked over at her father for help, but by the amused expression on his face, he would not be offering any.
‘What other news has Mrs Colter sent? I am certain that entire letter isn’t all about her son.’
Dear God, let it not be all about her son.
‘Any news of our neighbours?’
‘Mrs Stevens has had her second child and Mrs Anderson her fifth. Both had girls.’ She arched her brow at Sarah.
Sarah drank more chocolate.
‘And Susan Philpott and Jonathan Van Houten are wed.’ This time both brows went up.
‘Has anyone suffered an injury? Is anyone ill?’
‘Sarah!’
‘I am simply asking because that does happen to people, too.’
Her father laughed and turned to accept a letter from Bayles, their butler. Sarah’s attention was immediately drawn to it and she let out a breath when she spotted the official government seal on the paper.
‘Mr Harney passed,’ her mother said, drawing Sarah’s attention away from her father’s concerned expression as he began reading the letter.
The shadows of grief were back in her mother’s eyes. Sarah didn’t believe they would ever go away. Each time they got word that someone had died, the announcement would scratch at the scabs covering the fresh wounds of grief over Alexander’s death.
‘How sad. He was a nice man.’
‘He was. Mrs Colter says she stitched a memorial for Mrs Harney since the widow’s eyes are failing. Mrs Harney is very fortunate her son lives within a few miles of her. He has taken her into his home.’ She picked up her stack of letters and stood. ‘I’m going to write to her now to express our condolences. Then I’ll pen a letter to Mrs Colter letting her know I plan to invite Robert down to London shortly after he arrives in England.’
As her mother walked out the door, Sarah poured herself more chocolate from the Wedgwood pot. Morning chocolate was the answer to everything—or it had been at one time.
Her father put down his letter. ‘I’m sure this goes without saying, but your mother and I would never force you to marry someone you do not love. She is only trying to be helpful.’
‘By finding every American man in England to place in my path?’
‘If that’s what it takes to find you a husband, I suppose so.’
‘Please convince her not to invite Mr Colter here in hopes of a match. We are unsuitable for one another and both know it. He is much too dull for my taste and I believe my exuberance frightens him.’ She tilted her head and tried to see what her father was reading. ‘Is it bad news?’
‘It’s a letter from Washington. The banking problems at home have not improved. More people are being refused lines of credit and we must decide how we will respond to our countrymen over here.’
‘Should we be worried by this?’
He gave her a reassuring smile. ‘We are fine and our stables at home are unaffected. Men will always need horses, although I will write to Perkins informing him to be cautious in extending credit.’
She adjusted her cup in its saucer. ‘It would be easier if you were home to oversee this.’ If they left Britain, perhaps her parents would never learn about what Alexander did.
‘Perkins is very competent. I trust him.’
‘I hope President Monroe appreciates you.’
‘This is not about President Monroe. I want to give back to the nation that has allowed me to live the life I lead.’
The turn in the conversation made her uncomfortable. If Alexander’s treasonous act was revealed, her father might be relieved of his position. ‘Have you decided what you will do when this is over?’
He shrugged. ‘We will return to New York. Perhaps I’ll run for office or seek a position in Washington.’ Sitting back comfortably in his chair, he took a sip of coffee. ‘Have I ever told you how my father fought as a colonel alongside President Washington and was instrumental in the success of the Battle of Long Island?’
‘You know you have...many times,’ she replied with a grin.
‘Then you understand patriotism is strong in our family. My father was a patriot, I am and your brother proved to be more of a patriot than either of us.’ Talking about his love for his country brought life to her father like nothing else since her brother’s death.
Four days ago she had inadvertently opened a letter addressed to her father that was mistakenly placed with her mail. She read about how this person was in possession of a letter her brother had written to an English general revealing details about Fort McHenry. This person wanted to exchange that treasonous letter for a large yellow diamond that could be located using Lady Everill’s bracelet.
If her father had opened that letter, there was no telling if his heart would have survived the news. They had almost lost him from the grief he suffered over Alexander’s death. The only thing she found that helped him accept her brother’s death was that Alexander had supposedly died a hero protecting the people of Baltimore that night five years ago. What would happen to her parents if they found out he died a traitor?
She needed that bracelet and that diamond to spare her parents further pain. It sounded easy. But it wasn’t. However, nothing was going to stop her from finding that bracelet and the diamond and protecting her beloved parents.
* * *
Gravel crunched under his boots as Hart walked towards the viewing stand at Tattersall’s with Julian Carlisle, the Duke of Lyonsdale, by his side. The familiar smell of hay mixed with a tinge of manure carried in the breeze as they passed crowds of gentlemen who were there to view the fine stock of horses up for auction. Approaching a spot near the auction block, Hart gave a friendly nod to Mr Tattersall and scanned the area in anticipation of seeing the beautiful thoroughbred that would make a fine addition to his stable of racehorses.
Julian peered past his shoulder. ‘Do you see it?’
Hart shook his head, still looking for the shiny black coat of the four-year-old colt.
‘Are you planning on breaking your bank for this one?’
‘I will not be on your doorstep any time soon because I cannot afford to keep my set at Albany if that’s what you fear.’
‘That’s a relief,’ Julian said with a smirk. ‘As it is, you’re beginning to consume more than your body weight in food at my home.’
‘Can I help it if Katrina is gracious enough to invite me to dine with you as frequently as she does?’
‘It might have something to do with the matter of you arriving close to dinnertime most nights.’
They had dined together at White’s most nights before his friend got married. It was what they did. They had taken most of their evening meals together since they were at Cambridge. Now Julian wanted to stay home for dinner. Hart had given the newlyweds a month to themselves before he assumed they would grow bored of each other. He never felt as if he was imposing. Was he wrong? ‘Are you saying I am not welcome in your home?’ His tone was teasing, but he discovered waiting for the answer was making him uncomfortable.
‘You are always welcome, as you are quite aware. I’m simply remarking that should you bid more than a reasonable amount today, I might be forced to adopt you as my son.’
‘You could have said as a brother. We are both lacking those.’ The moment the words left his lips he regretted saying them, knowing Julian still felt the loss of his brother who had died years before. ‘Forgive me.’
Julian dug his hands into the pockets of his navy blue coat and shook his head. ‘No need to apologise. I’m finally at peace with Edward’s loss.’
‘I’m glad, but what has changed?’
‘Katrina once told me everyone has a purpose in life. When that purpose is achieved, they move on. I suppose Edward fulfilled his purpose. The notion has helped me accept his loss.’
Hart didn’t believe that. People died and the people they left behind were never the same. How did that fulfil a purpose? He knew of this first-hand. Everyone who had ever meant anything to him, save Julian, was dead. ‘I’m glad you have made peace with his passing.’ Not certain what else to say, he relied on his diversionary tactics. ‘So, I suppose if I remain at your house long enough this evening, I’ll be invited to dine.’ He offered up his friend a teasing grin and raised his brows, expectantly.
Julian let out a low laugh. ‘You are always welcome. Just be prudent with your money. Do you need another racehorse?’
What an absurd question. ‘No, I don’t need another racehorse, but I want this one. He has Derby potential.’
‘Do you have a number in mind?’
‘I think eight hundred guineas is fair.’
Julian shook his head.
‘I do not have a wife to support,’ Hart continued. ‘I do not have as many servants as you. If he meets his potential, this horse will bring me much more than that in winnings and I can make even more money when I put him out to stud.’
As he turned his head away from Julian’s chastising glare, he finally spotted the colt being led down the sawdust path. His black coat, shiny in the afternoon light, was a sharp contrast to the pale stone walls of Tattersall’s. His handler paused with him at the auction block before he was paraded past the attendees. This beast was exceptional. Hart had to have him.
Mr Tattersall gave Hart a slight nod of his head, acknowledging that this was indeed the horse Hart had inspected the day before.
‘Gentlemen, here I present to you a fine, well-bred, four-year-old colt by the name of Corinthian.’
‘You are going to bid on a horse named Corinthian?’ Julian said through a low laugh.
‘That has nothing to do with why I want him.’
‘Well, whatever you do, do not change his name. It’s much too appropriate.’
As Mr Tattersall ran through the horse’s pedigree, the animal stood perfectly still, its muscles outlined in its smooth coat, as if waiting for the men to acknowledge how magnificent he was.