The Desires of a Countess

by Jenna Petersen

  At least travel had given her one benefit. Her blackmailer hadn’t a chance to molest her beyond a few forced, horrible kisses. But she knew he was aching to do more than press his lips against hers. At home, with beds and so many opportunities, she wasn’t sure how long she could put Robert off. She frowned. Probably not as long as it would take Simon to find her.

  The knock at the door put Ginny on edge. The last thing she needed was Robert’s sneers and advances. She was just getting over her latest bout of nausea.

  “What is it?” she called out as she steeled herself for the unpleasant encounter.

  “It’s Mrs. Wilding, my lady, the innkeeper’s wife. I brought you something light for your stomach.”

  Ginny breathed a sigh of relief as she went to the door to let the woman in. “Thank you, Mrs. Wilding. You can put it on the table.”

  She wasn’t certain if she could handle more than tea and a cake, but she wouldn’t argue. She could offer Jack some when he got up and carry the rest with her for the hours Robert refused to stop.

  “I know you’re feeling poorly, but I thought a bit of food could do you good. Keep your strength up.”

  The older woman carried the tray to the table and set it down. Then she eased her large frame into the chair and took a cake for herself. Ginny sighed. Apparently this stranger was settling in for the long run.

  She took the seat opposite Mrs. Wilding and poured herself a cup of tea. “Thank you, I do appreciate your kindness. The bath helped a great deal.”

  “Yes. And this is special tea. I took it all the eight times I was in the family way and it helped me considerably.” The woman gave her a knowing smile.

  Ginny froze with the cup halfway to her lips. “What makes you think I’m breeding, Mrs. Wilding?”

  “You’ve got the look about you. But you don’t seem to get along with your half-brother. Is he treating you right, my dear?

  Ginny had almost forgotten Robert had called himself her half-brother to keep suspicions from being aroused.

  “Actually, I simply miss my husband.” She leaned closer. “Would it be possible to get a message to him in London?”

  The other woman bit her lip. “My dear, your brother has insisted I tell him if you try to send any messages out. I’m sorry, but my husband is quite strict about such things, and Mr. Dennison paid him a good deal of money to follow his orders.”

  Ginny sagged back in her chair. So much for reaching Noah or Simon. “I understand.”

  “How far along are you?” Mrs. Wilding asked with a quirked eyebrow.

  Ginny bit her lip. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t even certain I was carrying a child until you mentioned it.”

  “Well, I can tell you, you are.” The other woman frowned. “But you seem so unhappy. Is there anything I can do, besides post a letter?”

  “No, I’m afraid-”

  But before she could finish, she heard loud voices outside her window. She jumped as recognition flooded her. That sounded like Noah! But no, it couldn’t be true. How would her brother know to be looking for her at all, let alone where?

  On shaking legs, she crossed to the window. When she looked outside, her heart leapt. It was her brother. He was walking around the corner of a building near the stables in the distance.

  “There is something you could do,” she said as she tried to control her excitement in the event that Mrs. Wilding was under orders to report all her movements, as well as any messages she tried to send. She wouldn’t put it past Robert to do just that. “I’d like to get a breath of fresh air, would you mind watching my son?”

  Mrs. Wilding’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Oh, of course, my dear. My grandchildren are all spread about and I do miss the sight of a baby. You go take your walk. And don’t be afraid. The men who work here are good ones. They won’t let you come to any harm.”

  Ginny smiled as she slipped from the room and hurried down the hallway. The men might be kind, but the person they needed to protect her from wasn’t some stranger. It was the man with whom she’d come.

  And now her head spun with the possibility of a child. She prayed the man she’d seen from the window really was Noah and not just her hopes manifesting themselves as visions. Because if she’d ever needed saving, she needed it at that moment. If it couldn’t be Simon who would come for her, she’d take Noah in a heartbeat.

  The trouble was, where was Robert? She hadn’t seen him for an hour, since she’d gone to her room to take her bath. He’d muttered something about joining her that had set her teeth on edge, but he never arrived. And she thought most of his threats about her body were empty, for now. For some reason, he wanted to wait to have her until they were at Westdale. Perhaps to copy Henry.

  With a shiver, she looked around outside, then turned toward the stables where she’d seen the man who looked like Noah go.

  “Please let it be him,” she whispered as she nodded to the men who worked in the inn. The closer she got to the stable, the more anxious she became.

  “Noah?” she whispered as she entered the building. “Noah?” she said it louder this time.

  “So there is a young woman and a child here?” came a voice in the distance.

  It was him! Now that she was close, she knew his voice like it was her own.

  “Noah!” she called out as she hurried toward the stable office in the back.

  Her brother turned from where he leaned on a wooden pillar and when he saw her his face cracked into the widest grin she’d ever seen.

  “Ginny! Thank God!” He swept her into his arms and spun her in a circle.

  Behind them, the stable hand smiled and excused himself. Once the man was gone, Noah set her down and stepped back. “Are you unharmed? Dennison didn’t touch you?”

  “No.” She trembled in relief. “But he’s around him somewhere, I don’t know where. Robert is dangerous, Noah. We must be very careful. How in the world did you find me?”

  Not that she cared. All that mattered was that he was here and he would protect her. She may have lost Simon, but her brother would free her. And then she’d just have to do her best to protect the man she loved. She’d have to tell him about the baby. Perhaps they could find another chance together once everything was settled.

  Noah smiled. “I found your letter. Ginny, we know Dennison blackmailed you.” Her brother dragged her into another hard hug. “Did you really kill your husband?”

  “It’s a long story, Noah,” she said as she pulled away. “And I promise you I’ll tell you all of it once you take me and my son home. Take me back to London so I can see Mama and explain everything to you all. But you must promise me you’ll take care of Simon. You must help me protect Simon.”

  Noah wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Protect Simon?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I know he’ll never speak to me again after what I did and what I said to him, but I want him to be safe. Dennison has promised to hurt him if I don’t go with him.”

  “Actually, I think Simon can take care of himself.” Noah smiled at her. “And as for not speaking to you, he’s…”

  Then there was a loud thump and her brother got a strange look on his face.

  “Noah?” she said as she drew back, then let out a squeal as he crumpled to the ground. “Noah!” She dropped down to her knees and cradled his head in her lap. Blood trickled from a wound in the back of his head, but his breathing was regular. He was only unconscious.

  Robert Dennison stepped out from a stable stall with a knobbed club in his hand. He looked like a cat who’d been in the cream. The sunlight behind him made his shadow look even more foreboding as he took a step toward her.

  “Naughty, naughty girl,” he said with a cluck of his tongue. He lifted up the club in mock toast. “This thing has come in handy a few times.”

  “Noah,” she whispered as she kept half an eye on Dennison. “Please wake up.”

  “Oh, he won’t wake up for a while now.” Robert lifted the club again and looked at it with a smile. �
��Doesn’t this seem familiar?”

  Ginny let out her breath in frustration. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, I’ll go with you, just leave my brother alone.”

  “You will go with me, but I’m afraid I can’t leave Lord Woodbury here.” Robert picked a splinter out of the weapon in his hand before he pointed it in her direction again. “You should know this.”

  “Why?” she asked in a half-yell, finally giving into his game. “Why would I know anything about that barbaric thing?”

  Dennison’s eyes lit up with pleasure. “Well, this is the club I found outside your home that fateful night so long ago. This is the club I killed Henry with.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Simon burst into the room he had been told was Ginny’s. He thought his heart would burst from his chest with the fear and anticipation quaking through him. All he wanted to know was that she was safe. The rest would come later.

  A heavy, older woman rose from the chair by the window with a start. “Who are you?”

  “I’m sorry, I must have the wrong room,” he said as he began to back out. “I was looking for Virginia Blanchard.”

  He turned to close the door when he saw a little boy on the bed. Jack. He stopped in shock as he stared at the child, then slowly turned back to the stranger. She returned his stare with a guarded expression.

  “Where is Ginny?” he asked, surprised his voice sounded so calm when he was bursting with emotions.

  “This is Lady Westdale’s room, but I still don’t know who you are,” she answered as she blocked Simon from reaching the sleeping child.

  “I’m sorry, I’m a, uh…”

  Well, what the hell was he to Ginny? He wasn’t a friend, their relationship had gone far beyond that. He was no longer a fiancé and wouldn’t be until he’d had a chance to speak to her and straighten out this whole mess.

  “Are you her husband?” the woman asked. “Judging from that lovesick look on your face, you must be.”

  “Yes.” Simon latched on to the woman’s assumption. “She, eh, mentioned me, did she?”

  “Yes. I’m Mrs. Wilding, the innkeeper’s wife. Lady Westdale asked me to watch little Jack while she got some air.” Mrs. Wilding motioned to the child with a much friendlier smile. “You must want to see your son, Lord Westdale.”

  Simon flinched at being called by his cousin’s title, but there was no need to explain the entire convoluted scenario to the woman, so he didn’t correct her.

  “Yes, I don’t want to wake him though,” he said as he crept over to the bed. “He looks exhausted.”

  Mrs. Wilding nodded sympathetically as Simon brushed a few locks away from the child’s face.

  “Oh yes, poor little lamb is all tired out from the trip. Lady Westdale’s half-brother has been running them pretty hard.”

  “Her half-brother?”

  “Mr. Dennison,” she said with a brief nod.

  Simon stiffened, but the woman didn’t seem to notice.

  Her tone turned much sharper. “I swear, you’d think the man would slow down with a child and sick woman in tow.”

  That caught Simon’s attention. “Ginny is sick?”

  He had prayed the reports from men along the road had been wrong. After all, Ginny hadn’t seemed ill when she’d come to see him a few nights before. What had happened? If that bastard had done something to her…

  “Well, just the usual morning sickness. I’m sure you remember from the first child.” She smiled at Jack as he rolled over in his sleep.

  “The-first-child.” Simon raised his face to look at the woman, but she seemed perfectly serious. She believed Ginny was carrying a baby. His baby.

  Swallowing hard, Simon stepped back from the bed. She could be. His child could very well be growing inside of her.

  “I’m certain you’ve been worried.” Mrs. Wilding leaned over. “Mr. Dennison wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but Lady Westdale has been desperate to write you, but he wouldn’t let her.”

  Simon clenched his teeth. “Wouldn’t he?”

  The woman nodded. “You two must not get along.”

  “Where is Mr. Dennison right now?” he asked as calmly as he could manage.

  “I’m not certain, though your wife went for a walk down by the stables.”

  Noah was at the stables questioning the people there. Relief washed over him. Surely the siblings would find each other. Ginny would be safe until Simon could reach her side. Once there, he never intended to leave again.

  “Thank you. Will you continue to watch my son while I go find her? I’m sure we’ll straighten everything out with her brother when I do.”

  The woman’s face lit up with happiness at his request. “Of course. The little boy is just a lamb. I’d be pleased to stay with him while he naps.”

  Simon pressed a bit of coin into her hand with a smile, then hurried from the room. If he was lucky, Ginny had already found Noah and was safe. If not, then she was still at the mercy of Dennison. And so was his child.

  His child.

  If the woman’s guess was right and Ginny really was breeding, Robert had put his child in danger as well as Ginny and her son. He would pay. Simon would see him transported for what he’d done. Dennison might be a magistrate, but Simon had some connections of his own, and he had a feeling Noah and Audrey had even more.

  He ran as hard as he could to the stable. He was about to burst through the partly opened door when he heard voices. One was Ginny’s, but the other was a man’s.

  And it wasn’t Noah.

  Simon flattened against the wall and drew the pistol he’d stuffed in his waistband. As much as he wanted to burst inside and sweep Ginny out of danger, he needed to analyze the situation first.

  When he peeked inside, he was horrified to see Ginny on her knees in the dirt, cradling Noah’s bleeding head in her lap as Dennison stood with his back to the stable door, brandishing a nasty bludgeon.

  Dennison tapped the stick against his palm. “This is the club I killed Henry with.”

  ***

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ginny said as she gently laid Noah’s head on the dirt and tried to get up. She needed to be able to run if Robert started swinging his weapon again. “I killed Henry. You saw me from the window, you told me so.”

  Robert laughed. “We all have our little secrets. You have yours, but I have mine, too. And mine is the most delicious one of all. I killed my brother that night.”

  The man had lost his mind. Not that he’d ever been that stable to begin with, but now he was completely gone.

  Ginny shook her head. “Robert, I was there. Henry turned on Jack so I hit him over the head with the fire poker. He fell.”

  Ginny winced as the memory returned but managed to push it away. She had to stay focused on the madman before her, not get lost in memories of another.

  “Yes, let’s retrace the steps of that night, shall we?” Robert said as he smacked the club against his palm over and over. Each solid thwack made Ginny shiver with fear. “You struck my ‘beloved’ half-brother over the head with the fireplace poker. Then what happened?”

  Ginny swallowed. As distasteful as it was to relive the horror of that night over and over, the more time this took, the more likely it was someone else would come into the stable to save her and her brother. Her only choice was to play along.

  “After I hit him and he fell, I gathered up Jack and ran from the room. I went to Ingram and we sent for Harriet.”

  “You were quite hysterical. I remember how much you screamed when he fell.” Robert smiled. “I think you terrified yourself more than you surprised him by finally fighting back.”

  “How can you take pleasure in this?” she asked with a shake of her head. “If you claim to love me, how can you look at my pain and find it amusing.”

  “Life is pain and pain is amusing.” Dennison shrugged. “But we’re talking about your story right now, so let’s get back to it. What happened after that int
erfering bitch Harriet arrived?”

  Ginny ground her teeth as she took a few long breaths. Finally, she felt strong enough to continue. “I told Ingram and Harriet what had happened. It took a while because I was crying. Ingram suggested Henry might not be dead from just one blow, so we went to the parlor together to check on his condition.”

  Dennison leaned on a stable door like he was discussing sport in a gaming hall. “Was there anything different about the room when you came back?”

  Ginny’s mind spun. She was too terrified to have this sick conversation. “I don’t know.”

  He frowned. “Yes, you do. And if you don’t think of it soon, I’ll start in with the club again. Your brother is quite defenseless, I don’t think he’ll survive many blows. Your husband learned that.”

  Ginny took a step to protect Noah, but Dennison waved the club at her to wield her off. “What was different about the room, Virginia?”

  “I don’t know!” she shrieked before she regained some control. She covered her eyes with her hands and tried to think. “H-Henry was on his back.”

  “Yes, but you’d hit him from behind and he’d fallen forward, hadn’t he?” Robert shot her an evil smirk.

  She nodded slowly. “I-I thought perhaps he had turned over during his last moments of life.”

  “Wrong.” Robert said with a laugh. “Now let me tell you what really happened that night.”

  Ginny blinked back tears and nodded. Just a few more moments. Surely someone had to come soon.

  “After you left the room, I snuck inside. Henry was already coming around and he was furious. He told me in great detail how he planned to kill you.” Robert frowned. “I looked at him with his perfect life. A life he couldn’t even be grateful for. And I knew he would never appreciate it or you. When he turned his back to make himself a drink, I hit him as hard as I could with a big piece of wood I’d found in the yard.” He held up the stick with pride.

  She stumbled back a few steps. “You killed him?” she whispered. “You really killed him?”

  Robert nodded. “But my first blow only stunned him. My brother always did have a thick skull. He rolled over to face me and I choked him to death. I wanted him to see that it was me who took his life. All of his life.”