An Unconventional Countess, page 12
‘My apologies. I didn’t think that you’d need me.’
‘Honestly, Samuel, you’re getting as bad as your grandfather.’ She gave him an exasperated look. ‘Fortunately, despite your absence, things have been going well. Even Miss Fortini appears to be on her best behaviour.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Yes, she’s barely rolled her eyes all evening. She’s been much admired, too, although most of the gentlemen have been more discreet about it than you, I’m pleased to say. I was afraid your gaze might burn a hole in her dress.’
‘Tactfully put, as always, Grandmother, but you’re right, I shouldn’t have stared. I was just surprised to see her.’
‘Really?’ His grandmother’s voice was blatantly sceptical. ‘Then I shall have to take care not to startle you in the future, Samuel, if that’s the effect.’
‘You stopped surprising me a good twenty years ago, Grandmother. Now if you’ll excuse me, I ought to go and apologise.’
‘Do that and fix whatever squabble you two have had while you’re there.’
He tipped his head, refusing to either acknowledge or contradict the comment, before making a beeline straight across the room.
‘Miss Fortini.’ He bowed gallantly. ‘I’ve just been admonished for staring. May I say how lovely you look this evening?’
‘Thank you, Captain.’ She bobbed a small curtsy in return, her pupils widening a fraction as their eyes met, then to his surprise extended a gloved hand. He accepted it at once and pressed his lips lightly against her fingers, better prepared this time for the surge of desire that immediately raced through his body. It was like an oncoming tide, building in strength the closer he got to her. He wanted to get closer still, to touch a lot more than her hand, too, to gather her into his arms and...
‘Lambert.’ He let her go again reluctantly, turning towards her companion with gritted teeth and a forced smile. ‘How do you do?’
‘Very well, Delaney.’ Fortunately the Marquess seemed unaware of any tension. ‘But how could I not be in such charming company?’
‘Indeed. Miss Fortini is very charming.’
‘She’s just been telling me that she’s Belle. The Belle.’
‘Just Belle.’ The lady in question looked faintly embarrassed, though her gaze never wavered from the Marquess. ‘Although I’ve always preferred the name Anna.’
‘But that’s far too plain!’ Lambert put a hand over his heart. ‘A beautiful woman should have a beautiful name and you’re quite the most exquisite diamond in the room this evening, Miss Fortini.’
‘I’d keep my voice down if I were you.’ Samuel felt a primitive urge to raise his fists. The way Lambert was looking at her was altogether too appreciative. ‘My grandmother takes offence very easily.’
‘Ah.’ The other man’s gaze flickered with alarm towards the Baroness. ‘Well, naturally I didn’t mean to offend...’
‘Your grandmother said you were out riding.’ Miss Fortini came to the Marquess’s rescue.
‘Yes, over the Downs. It was such a beautiful day, I couldn’t resist the sunshine.’ He paused, waiting for some disparaging comment about the luxury of not having to work, but she only smiled.
‘Then I’m glad you made it back in time for the party. It’s nice to see a familiar face.’
‘A friendly one, too, I hope?’ He smiled back, suppressing a look of surprise. After the way they’d parted the last time, he’d expected her to still be angry with him. Or aloof at the very least. Instead, she seemed to have sheathed all her prickles, actually looking pleased to see him, as pleased as he was to see her. He was struck with the realisation that he really had missed her. Those gorgeous brown eyes, that low voice capable of leaping into sudden animation, that rarely bestowed smile, although she seemed to have been bestowing it quite liberally this evening... He felt an unwonted pang of jealousy.
‘Of course a friendly one.’ A mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes. ‘I just thought you might have had something better to do.’
That time he had to stifle a laugh. ‘At this precise moment, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing. Perhaps you’d care to join me for a stroll about the room?’ He held an arm out, not that there was much possibility of strolling anywhere in such a crush, but he felt suddenly determined to separate her from Lambert.
‘I’d be delighted, Captain. Excuse me, my lord.’ Her black eyelashes fluttered as she dipped into another curtsy and then threaded her hand through his arm, allowing him to draw her along the side of the room.
‘You seem different, Miss Fortini.’ Samuel tilted his head towards hers as they walked, his lips grazing inadvertently against one of her curls, though he still had to raise his voice to be heard above the crowd.
‘That’s because I made up my mind to enjoy myself. According to my mother I don’t do it often enough so I’ve decided to get out of my shop and start.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. How are the riding lessons going?’
She gave him a startled look, as if she hadn’t expected him to broach the subject. ‘Your grandmother didn’t tell you?’
‘Tell me what?’
‘That I never came back after...well, the last time. Only for some reason she still insists on sending her maids to help me with the baking every morning. I’ve told them they don’t need to, but they say they daren’t not.’
‘Do you blame them?’
‘Not at all. To be honest, it’s quite pleasant. We get the work done in half the time, then we all sit around the table and eat breakfast.’
‘Then I’m pleased you’re enjoying a rest.’
‘I am and I have to admit the extra sleep has been very nice.’ Her expression turned faintly guilty. ‘The other morning I stayed in bed until seven o’clock.’
‘Well, Miss Fortini, I’m shocked...’ He smiled, although the mention of bed made his breeches feel somewhat tighter. ‘And how was the experience?’
‘Wonderful.’ Her lips widened and he felt a glow in his chest, as if her smile were actually warming his insides in several different locations now.
‘In that case, I’m glad my grandmother is so domineering. Just this once.’
‘Talking about me again?’ The Baroness swooped down on them suddenly, peacock feathers waving on top of her elaborately arranged hairstyle.
‘Only in the nicest possible terms, Grandmother.’
‘I don’t believe it.’ She dipped a feather towards his companion. ‘He’s been in a perfectly foul temper for the past three weeks. I would have sent him away from Bath if I hadn’t thought he’d take it as an opportunity to run back to sea again.’
‘Well, he’s being perfectly charming now.’ Miss Fortini smiled. To his surprise, despite the fact that she claimed to have spurned further riding lessons, there didn’t appear to be any friction between her and his grandmother.
‘Then it must be thanks to your company. I insist upon the pair of you sitting together at supper.’
‘Oh, I don’t know...’ She glanced towards him uncertainly.
‘Unless you’re promised elsewhere?’ He lifted an eyebrow, almost wishing that he’d punched Lambert when he’d had the chance.
‘No, but I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated.’
‘I’d be honoured.’
‘Good. Then it’s settled,’ the Baroness announced with an air of finality. ‘Now, where is your grandfather? If he’s hiding in his library, then we shall have words.’
Samuel watched as she sallied forth again, struck with the distinct impression that his grandmother was matchmaking. Which was a ridiculous idea given the uncertainty of his current circumstances, only on this particular occasion he didn’t seem to mind...
‘Miss Fortini.’ He took the opportunity to draw her into an alcove half-hidden behind a tall potted palm. ‘I believe that I owe you an apology for the way we parted three weeks ago.’
‘Anna,’ she corrected him. ‘You can call me Anna and I believe I owe you one, too. In fact, I owe you two. One for my behaviour that morning and one for not accepting your last apology about Henrietta. I should have forgiven you.’
The words caught him by surprise. ‘Well then, perhaps our apologies cancel each other out? And my name, incidentally, is Samuel.’
‘Samuel.’ Her eyelashes fluttered. ‘I thought about some of the things you said and I realised that you were right. I have been too prejudiced.’
‘I still shouldn’t have spoken so bluntly.’
‘Yes, you should have. I’d be a hypocrite if I objected to plain speaking just because it was about me.’
‘Are you suggesting some kind of parley, Miss Forti—Anna?’
‘No.’ She shook her head though her eyes were soft. ‘I’m suggesting a formal declaration of truce, if you’ll agree to one?’
‘Then a truce it is, but I’m still sorry.’
‘Apology accepted. And, while we’re apologising to each other, I’m sorry if you’ve had a difficult time since. It must be very hard, waiting to find out whether or not you’re going to inherit.’
‘It is. I like visiting my grandparents, but my ship is my home. I miss having a sense of purpose, too. Waiting around like this makes me feel...’
‘Adrift?’
‘Something like that.’ He made a wry face. ‘Forgive me, I don’t mean to complain, especially when my position is in many respects so enviable.’
‘But it can be hard to remember how we ought to feel.’ She put a hand on his forearm, her tone earnest. ‘I do understand what you mean. Everyone wants to have control over their own life. I have a sense of belonging and purpose. My parents actually gave me a shop and yet sometimes I feel as if I’m drifting along, too, in a current I can’t escape.’
‘How so?’ He let his gaze drift over her face. They were standing so close that if he moved his own forward just a little...
‘Sometimes I wish I could have chosen a role for myself, as you did with the navy.’
‘Indeed? What is it that you would have chosen?’
She lifted her shoulders and then dropped them again with a sigh. ‘I don’t know. I suppose I don’t let myself think about it because there’s nothing I can do to change anything. It was always just presumed that I would take over Belles, but if there was one thing I could change...’ She stopped and bit her lip.
‘Yes?’
‘Nothing. It’s not important.’
‘It is to me.’
‘Well...’ She threw a quick glance over her shoulder as if she were afraid of someone overhearing. ‘Baking! I detest it. If I could avoid it, then I’d never bake another biscuit again in my life!’
‘Baking?’ He gaped at her in astonishment for a few seconds and then burst out laughing.
‘Shh!’ She gave his sleeve an admonishing tug. ‘People will wonder what we’re talking about.’
‘But they’ll never guess. Who would guess that the famous Belle of Bath doesn’t like baking?’
‘I can’t help it. I never particularly enjoyed it, but I liked helping to run the shop with my father. Only after he died, my mother’s hands were already too stiff for baking and I felt so...trapped, somehow. I know it sounds ungrateful, but it felt like more of a burden than a gift.’
He sobered instantly. ‘Does your mother know how you feel about it?’
‘No!’ She looked shocked by the idea. ‘She already worries about me. I’ve never told anyone else, not even Sebastian.’
‘Then I’m honoured that you chose to tell me.’ He pressed a hand over the one resting on his arm. ‘Your secret is safe, I promise.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Anna...’ He seemed to enjoy saying her name now, especially when he was staring deep into her eyes. They looked very big all of a sudden, even darker and more enticing than usual. So enticing that he felt as though he were being drawn towards them. Towards those full rosebud lips, too, the same shade of pink as her cheeks...
‘Time for some music!’ His grandmother’s voice broke the spell, reverberating around the room with the force of a small cannon.
‘Do you play the pianoforte?’ He jerked upright again, surprised to find how close his head had just come to hers.
‘I’m afraid not.’ If he wasn’t mistaken, she pulled away at the same moment. ‘Or sing either, although my mother has a beautiful voice.’
‘Is that true, Mrs Fortini?’ Samuel led Anna out of the alcove, calling across the room to where her mother was standing in a crowd of what appeared to be gentlemen admirers. ‘Do you sing? Shall we perform a duet?’
‘It’s been a while since I performed for anyone.’ Mrs Fortini looked more than a little daunted by the idea.
‘For me, too, but perhaps we can muddle through together? If you’ll permit me to accompany you, that is?’
‘Oh...’ The look of determination that crossed Elizabeth Fortini’s face at that moment was identical to that of her daughter. ‘I’d be delighted, Captain Delaney.’
Chapter Twelve
Anna watched with a smile as her mother went to stand beside Captain Delaney—Samuel—at the piano. She was surprised by how well the evening was going. Even standing in the receiving line alongside the Baron and Baroness hadn’t been as bad as she’d feared. A few of the guests were customers she’d recognised, but all had greeted her politely and her mother had seemed to enjoy herself immensely, even recognising a few friends from her youth.
The only blot on the evening had been Samuel’s absence. After the first half hour she’d started to fear he wasn’t coming at all, though when he finally had arrived, she’d felt oddly tongue-tied and light-headed. She still did. Since she’d decided to let go of the past and put her prejudices aside she’d been forced to admit to herself just how attractive she found him. It was positively alarming how handsome he looked tonight in formal evening attire, the silvery shade of his jacket, enhanced by a diamond pin in his elegantly tied white cravat, emphasising the vibrant paleness of his eyes.
Now, to top it all off, he was playing the piano and singing, his voice a rich baritone to her mother’s clear and sweet-sounding soprano. Singing duets had been one of her parents’ favourite pastimes, though her mother had barely sung a note since her father’s death. Now Anna was glad to hear her voice again, albeit somewhat irrationally jealous. It made her wish that she’d inherited some of her parents’ musical ability, but unfortunately that had all passed to her brother.
Irrational jealousy aside, however, Samuel and her mother made a fine pair, holding their audience’s attention to the very last note.
‘You have a beautiful voice, Mrs Fortini.’ He was the first to offer his compliments, too, as the rest of the room started clapping. ‘How about this as an encore?’
He tinkled a few more bars and Anna felt as if her heart had just clenched. It was an old Italian folksong, one that her father had often sung around the shop, the words as familiar to her as the alphabet. For a moment she didn’t know whether to smile or cry, but then, seeing the look of mischievous enthusiasm on her mother’s face, she laughed instead. It was a joke to everyone present, a good one, acknowledging who they were without making any apology for it. And Samuel had thought of it. She felt so delighted, she could have kissed him.
The thought made the smile freeze on her face. It wasn’t just a thought, either. It was an image, too, and not a very discreet one. She wasn’t envisaging a chaste peck on the cheek. On the contrary, it was far more intimate than that, all lips and bare skin and hands, all joined together and searching, exploring, feeling... Her heartbeat stuttered and then quickened with a burst of pure longing. If it hadn’t been for the room full of people, she thought she might actually have acted upon it, might have marched across the room and thrown her arms around him.
That was the moment he chose to look up. Just as a tremor of excitement coursed through her body, he looked straight at her, his eyes flashing with surprise followed by recognition.
For a few seconds, she thought that something must have happened to the room. All of the candles seemed to flare at the same moment, making it hotter and brighter and so airless that she could feel her breath coming in soft pants. Yet despite the heat, she shivered, as if they were sharing some kind of intimate moment, her whole body feeling tighter and more exposed somehow.
The song came to an end while he was still looking at her, his gaze never wavering despite the applause that erupted around them. Anna gave a start, the rest of the room coming back into focus with a jolt, feeling as if she’d just been shaken to her core.
‘What a clever idea for your mother to sing in Italian.’ The Baroness appeared at her side again. ‘She always was very talented.’
‘Yes.’ Anna stood up a little straighter, afraid of what the other woman might have just witnessed. ‘Very talented.’
‘Would you do an old woman a favour and escort me outside for some air? It’s so stifling in here I can hardly breathe.’
‘Of course, my lady.’
They made their way out onto the terrace at the back of the house, Lady Jarrow leaning on her arm for support, not that Anna was fooled by the performance. She’d never met anyone less frail. There had to be some ulterior motive behind the request and if the Baroness had just witnessed the look that had passed between her and her grandson, then doubtless it was connected with that. She was probably about to admonish her for looking at a possible earl in such an intimate way...
‘Do you know why I’m in Bath, Miss Fortini?’ Lady Jarrow dropped her arm the moment they were a few feet from the house, half-swathed in darkness.
‘Why?’ Anna blinked. It wasn’t how she’d expected her to begin. ‘I understood that it was for the Baron’s health, my lady.’
‘Quite so. It’s far worse than people know. Hector is very ill, although he hides it well, even from Samuel and me.’
