The Spy Who Loved Her: Once Upon an Accident, Book 3

by Melissa Schroeder

  He nodded and moved to walk behind her. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Instantly, the warmth of the hall filled her. She had not realized just how cold she was. Jack closed the door behind him.

  “I do not think this is proper.”

  She glanced at him. “First, I did not ask. Second, you cannot think that I would leave you out there.”

  Before he could respond, Mrs. Markham came bustling up. “Oh, you do look cold. Who is this?”

  “He is apparently my guard. He is a friend of Lord Bridgerton and heard of the attempted break in. The two beefy guards—yes, I did see them outside—are not enough apparently.”

  “Oh, no worries on that account. That is what I was hurrying down to tell you. We discovered the person trying to break in was just that Carlotta woman.”

  “The…uh…working woman I talked to?”

  “Yes. She wanted to see you, wanted to take you up on your offer.”

  Relief filled her. Not only because the break-in had been nothing, but also because it seemed she had reached another of those poor women. “That is stupendous.”

  She smiled at her new friend. “So you can see that I do not need anyone here to watch me.”

  He frowned, but said nothing.

  “I promised Jack some hot buns. I am sure a spot of tea will warm him right up.”

  As Mrs. Markham bustled Jack in the direction of the kitchen, Anna went in search of their newly acquired resident. They did not always house women in the orphanage, and they were very careful to keep them separate from the children. The truth of the matter was she could not trust them. Some devious women would come to the orphanage to gain the boys’ acceptance and then lure them away into thievery or worse, prostitution. While it was hard to imagine, she had known it to happen elsewhere and Anna refused to allow anyone to hurt her children.

  She was a bit breathless as she gained the third floor. These nights out were going to be the death of her. She could not keep attending balls and musicales to the early morning, then work all day at the orphanage.

  When she came into the room, a lone woman sat on the bed looking outside. Carlotta was a beautiful woman. Beautiful long black curls dripped over her shoulders, and Anna knew without seeing them that her hazel eyes were more green than brown. She was small in stature, like a porcelain doll. There had to be some Spanish in her background. She spoke it fluently, without a hint of English accent.

  Anna moved into the room and Carlotta turned to look at her. The black eye she sported almost made Anna gasp. To think someone had felt the need to hit this slight woman disgusted her.

  She turned and curtsied, making Anna think, not for the first time, that she came from impoverished gentry. “My lady.”

  Carlotta grimaced when she rose. Anna rushed forward. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded but she sat on the small cot. “Just a few bruises, my lady.”

  Anna sat on the cot opposite of her. “Mrs. Markham told me that you were the one trying to get in the other night.”

  She nodded and looked out the window.

  “Did you get hurt then?”

  Carlotta nodded again.

  Anna moved to place her hand over hers, but the woman started. Fear had her eyes going wide. Stifling the regret that such a young woman would fear even the smallest of touches, Anna sat back.

  “Doctor Timms will be here to see you later today.”

  “What for?”

  “To make sure you aren’t hurt worse than you appear.”

  “Then?”

  “Then you will rest. After you are healed, we will discuss what you will do with your future.”

  She glanced at Anna and a look of pure need flashed in the woman’s eyes. It struck her as hard as any physical blow. These poor women went without love, without acceptance, without even the simple touch to assure them they were worthy of affection.

  “I will leave you to rest. Mrs. Markham will bring the doctor up here later, but she will stay here if you want her to during the examination.”

  “Yes, my lady. But…what shall I do to earn my keep?”

  “We will figure that out all in time.” She stood. “I wish we had known you were trying to get in when you came to our door.”

  Carlotta frowned. “I would have been back sooner, but there was a man skulking about.”

  That caught Anna’s attention. “A man? One of the guards out front?”

  “No, m’lady. He was hanging around across the street, in the alley. I thought it might be someone I was trying to avoid.”

  Anna wanted to ask the young woman who, but the closed expression on her face told her she would not reveal the name. Probably the man who beat her.

  Anna nodded. “Please, rest. I have work to do, but I will check back in later.”

  Mutely, the woman nodded and looked back out the window again. Anna sighed and then started back down to the first floor. She ignored the clamor of feet, the raised voices, the laughter as thoughts about their newest resident and what she had revealed turned over in her head. Anna did not like the idea of someone watching the orphanage. The fact that neither of the guards had noticed was a bit disturbing. She would definitely mention it to Sebastian so he could talk to the guards.

  That decided, her thoughts turned back to Carlotta and the women like her. As she reached her office, she decided to come up with some kind of outreach, some network where the girls could gain their attention. She did not want to think of another woman left out in the cold. They needed to know where to come if they needed help.

  With her mind set, she strode into her office and decided to set things in motion.

  Anna looked out over the lawn of the Greenwood household and thought not for the first time that this was a waste of time. She knew why her mother had wanted her to attend. She desperately wanted Anna to find a match, but it was not to be. It never would be. After her kiss a few nights before, she knew there would never be another man who would even be able to compare to Daniel. She had been kissed before. But not one of her suitors had been able to take her mind along with her. It had been the first time in her life she had lost complete control. Oh, she had lost her head over Dewhurst when he promised her romance and plotted to kill her cousin. But there had never been a time she had been so willing to allow a man to compromise her.

  She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the cool window pane. It had been a long few days readying for the trip. The one ball she had attended before their departure had been exquisite torture. That just would not do. She could not lose her composure around him again. It was bad enough that he knew she was attracted to him. No woman kissed a man the way she had if she was not. She had to learn to control herself around him. She had dreaded this trip, but maybe it was a good thing. Now she could definitely use the time away from her nemesis to regroup. Once she could keep herself controlled around him, she could ferret out what was going on with him. Inquiries to Sebastian had definitely gotten her nowhere. In fact, he had warned her away from Daniel. Decidedly odd.

  She opened her eyes and looked down at the next carriage that rolled into view. She knew Lady Adelaide had planned to attend, but when the door opened, it was not the woman she saw, but rather her son.

  Oh, Lord in heaven. What had she done to deserve this? She watched as he looked at the surroundings, taking in the hustle and bustle. Then, as if he knew exactly where she was, he looked up at her window. She stilled, her whole body going hot under his gaze. Her breasts ached, her body yearned. The smile that curled his lips was just a little too self-satisfied for her tastes. How could he see how he affected her?

  With a jaunty salute, he turned to help his mother down from the carriage. Needing to regroup, she moved away. What had she been thinking to stand there and stare at him as if she were some mooncalf in love? And just what the devil was he doing at this party? It was definitely not his type of thing. Tame by his standards. Did it have to do with the mysterious stabbing? What if he owed someone money…cou
ld he be forced to hide in the country?

  She rolled the idea over in her mind but got nowhere. She would just have to ask around to discover his motives for being at the country party. Because she could not allow him into her heart. Years ago, she had done that. Her girlhood fascination with the man had almost killed her when she’d arrived in town to find their relationship changed. Anna knew if she allowed him to capture her this time, she would never recover.

  Chapter Eleven

  Daniel glanced around the library and sighed with relief. No matchmaking mamas were hiding in the shadows. It had been horrible since he had arrived at the party earlier in the day. Women had been thrown at him left and right. It seemed that his attendance had made everyone think he was here to find a wife.

  He closed the door behind him and walked to the couch. He could not even disappear to his room. The last time he tried that, he had been accosted by Lady Fontemain who offered her daughter up on a silver platter. Along with the fringe benefits her mother could offer. It had left him feeling slightly sick and in need of a bath. He knew he was jaded, but he had never seen something so disgusting as a woman pimping herself to get her daughter married.

  He moved to sit down and encountered legs and a squeak.

  “What on earth are you doing?”

  He looked down and found the woman he had been ordered—by his mother and Jack—to protect for the weekend. Anna was in delightful dishabille, her hair slightly mussed, her dressed wrinkled.

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  She pulled herself up to a sitting position and swung her legs to the ground. “I am taking a rest.”

  He crossed his arms and lifted one eyebrow.

  “All right. I was hiding. I cannot seem to avoid anyone, even in my room.”

  “I know the feeling,” he murmured.

  She eyed him. “Someone accosted you in your room?”

  His blood ran cold as he thought of what might have happened to her. “There was a man in your room?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No. Lady Reynolds called on me. Just why do people behave differently at house parties?”

  Despite the situation, he smiled. He could not help it. She sounded so indignant. “I have no idea.”

  She humphed. “So I picked the one place that I thought the woman would not come into.”

  “Really, the library?”

  “There are books here. She avoids anything where she might learn.”

  He couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of him. “You definitely know the woman.”

  She narrowed her gaze on him. “What are you doing here?”

  He thought of his encounter and frowned. “I had the same problem, only with another mother.”

  “Hmm. That would be interesting to find out who that was, but knowing you, you will not tell me. What I meant is what are you doing at this party?”

  For a second, he couldn’t think of anything to say. He knew that his mother had given him a story, one about looking for a wife or some such idiocy, but he couldn’t remember really how to speak.

  “Daniel.”

  He shook himself. “I think that would be obvious.”

  She cocked her head to one side. “No, it truly isn’t.”

  He cleared his throat and settled onto the couch on the opposite end. “I am here to find a wife.”

  If anything, her face lost all expression. “Oh.”

  “Mother thinks it is time to find one, and I daresay I think she is right. I am getting up there in years.”

  She frowned. “Your mother asked you to do this and you decided to come to find a wife?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re lying.”

  He kept his expression blank as he said nothing.

  “Really, Daniel, if you are going to lie, you need to be better at it.”

  That took him back. He was well known to be the best bluffer of the group, able to lie to just about anyone. The fact that she saw through it was disturbing and arousing.

  “That is the reason I am here. Much for the same reason your mother has dragged you here.”

  She sighed. “Very well.” She rose and started toward the door. “But, Daniel, you might want to be a little more active in finding a wife. Hiding in the library isn’t the best place to find one.”

  And with that, she slipped out the door and left him alone to his thoughts. Really, the woman was a menace to his sanity. Even just being in her presence for several minutes he wanted her. He ached to touch her, to strip off the pink confection she was wearing and explore every bit of flesh it exposed. He closed his eyes and asked for guidance, but the only thing he could hear was the way his name had sounded on her lips.

  Anna watched Daniel from the shadows as he walked around the room. She had never really noticed it before, but now that she studied him, she knew that he was looking for something or someone. Her heart sank as she thought about their conversation before. Even knowing he was lying to her, it had hurt to hear him say the words. He paused to talk to his mother and she noticed that he continued his survey. This went beyond just watching others. There was something almost…military in his behavior.

  “You won’t find a man back here, Lady Anna.”

  She jumped at the sound of the low, female voice. Lady Joanna stepped up beside her. “That is why you are here.”

  Anna turned back around. “That is why my mother wants me to be here.”

  Lady Joanna laughed. “Yes, I can see that. Your mother is ready to have you settled.”

  The knowing tone in the other woman’s voice irritated Anna. She could not help gnashing her teeth together.

  “I thought you did not like such amusements, Lady Joanna.”

  “I do not, probably not any more than you do. But duty calls.”

  Anna cut her a look and noticed that she too was watching Daniel. Jealousy surged through her as Lady Joanna turned to look at her with a knowing look on her face.

  “So you have come for assignations.” Just saying it hurt.

  Joanna shook her head. “Don’t believe everything you see or hear, Lady Anna.”

  Anna opened her mouth to ask her a question but she said, “And do not believe Daniel either. He is…too smart for his own good.” She looked at Anna, her expression serious for the first time. “He is entirely too stupid when it comes to you.”

  “I need to get back to my room. It is just too stifling in here.”

  Joanna moved out the French doors to the left of them. Before she could discern just what the older woman had meant, Daniel was standing in front of her.

  “What the devil are you doing here?” Daniel asked.

  “Hiding.”

  That took him back. “I have been looking for you.”

  So it had been her he had been looking around the room for. Interesting. “And here I am. You can go away now.”

  “Your mother is not going to be happy with you if you do not even dance.”

  “I am not in the mood.” She was irritated beyond belief at her mother. What on earth had possessed her seemingly intelligent mother to tell people Anna was looking for a husband? And rumors were swirling about her fortune. Every fortune hunter in attendance had been bothering her. This had been the one place she could hide.

  “Come now, the waltz is next I believe.”

  She gave him a suspicious glare. She truly loved to waltz and it had been one of the things she had missed the most the past few years. But she would not expose herself to the hordes of suitors.

  “No, thank you.”

  He sighed. “Anna, you cannot hide here all night.”

  “I can at least for a while.” She hated the idea that her voice rose like a little girl’s. “It is the only course of action that makes sense.”

  He eyed her suspiciously. “What is the matter?”

  She hesitated. “My mother has told people I am looking for a husband.”

  “That is what most people are presuming.”

  “And that I have a
bigger fortune than people previously thought.”

  His eyes widened. “Good God, what was she thinking?”

  She nodded. “Every fortune hunter in attendance has been bothering me. Including that creepy Lord Seaton.”

  “Lord Seaton? He is older than your mother!”

  “Shhh. You will draw attention to us.” She looked around but was happy to realize that Daniel had not been heard.

  “Your mother must have lost her mind. Does Sebastian know about this?”

  She shook her head. “I just found out myself. I really do not know what my mother is thinking.”

  He crossed his arms over his massive chest and glared. “To lie like this is just not her usual thing.”

  “She knows I do not want to marry.” Anna sighed. “So here I hide. And it is a shame because I do like to waltz.”

  He smiled and grabbed her hand. “Come.”

  Before she could say anything, he pulled her through the doors and away from the heat of the dance.

  When they were free of the others, he released her hand. She smiled.

  “This is getting to be a habit with us.”

  “What?” he said as he looked around as if looking for something.

  “Being alone, out on the terrace.”

  He frowned at her. “I did it so that we could dance.”

  He took her hand again and drew her into the shadows. Then he drew her into his arms. Without the ballroom full of people watching them, he drew her closer, so close she could feel the heat of his body. When she took a deep breath, her breasts brushed against his chest.

  He moved her around the terrace, just as he had before on the dance floor, all power and grace, but this was more intimate. It was only the two of them, dancing in the shadows.

  She looked up at him and found his serious gaze. She could not look away. Something shifted in his eyes, something so dark it should have frightened her, but it did not. Instead, she felt a jolt of awareness swiftly followed by a rush of excitement.

  He continued the dance, his gaze never wavering from hers. She thought it impossible but he pulled her closer. The scent of him filled her senses. Bayberry, musky, so much Daniel as she knew him.