CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

It took less than twenty-four hours for Anna to recognise that her reservations about the Earl and Countess of Hazelmere had been completely mistaken. Christian and Sophia were exactly as Daniel had described them. Never for an instant did they make her feel the interloper she’d been telling herself that she was and, instead, treated her as they might have done had Daniel married her because he’d wanted to rather than because his situation had left him little choice.

Sophia encouraged her to talk about Hawthorne’s and how that part of her life fitted in with Daniel, her new family-by-marriage and everything at Reculver. Then, she revealed concerns of her own – principally about how her mother was going to take the news that Julia and Gerald Sandhurst, now on their way back to London, were fathoms deep in love with each other.

‘Kit has told Gerald he must ask Mama for Julia’s hand – and soon. Even self-absorbed as she is, Gwendoline must eventually notice their attachment; and if she does so before Gerald speaks to Mama … well, let’s just say that won’t make things any easier.’

‘But why would your mother object to Mr Sandhurst?’ asked Anna, baffled. ‘He is a gentleman and the fact that he’s been learning sign language speaks volumes about his feelings for your sister.’

‘True. But he’s Kit’s secretary as well as his friend. Gerald works . And there’s something else. Mama used to think that Julia’s deafness made her unmarriageable but if Gerald offers for her that will change. After all, if Julia can charm one man into not minding about it, she can charm another. One who is a better match in the world’s – and therefore also Mama’s – eyes. Do you see?’

‘Only too well. She sounds exactly like my own mother.’ Anna smiled wryly. ‘She hates my involvement with Hawthorne’s – always has. Now, she can’t understand why I won’t give it up or why Daniel doesn’t make me.’

‘According to Kit, the latter isn’t at all likely.’ Sophia paused, her attention on shifting Michael from her shoulder to her lap and adjusting his shawl. ‘He says Daniel was fascinated by his tour of the manufactory and would like to visit it again but isn’t sure you’ll welcome him taking too much interest.’

‘Really?’ asked Anna, startled.

‘Really. Is he wrong about that?’

‘Completely.’

‘Then perhaps,’ suggested Sophia gently and finally looking up, ‘you should tell him.’

***

However, it was half-way through their stay when the final seal was put on both Anna’s feelings towards and understanding of Christian. She entered the library in time to hear him say, ‘Eustace has been trying to persuade Alveston to sanction Basil’s release. It’s been over a year, after all, and Eustace thinks –’

And that was as far as he got before Daniel cut across him saying, ‘Later, perhaps.’

‘Pardon me,’ said Anna, turning to go. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt.’

‘You aren’t,’ said Christian. And then, differently, ‘Daniel … you haven’t told her?’

‘No.’

‘Why on earth not?’

‘It’s over and irrelevant,’ shrugged Daniel. ‘So why rake it all up?’

‘Because she’s your wife , you idiot!’ Christian stalked across the room to take Anna’s hand and draw her to a chair. ‘It’s no reflection on you that Daniel hasn’t shared my story, Anna. Keeping it strictly between ourselves is a hard habit to break – and it still holds true outside our immediate circle. But you aren’t outside it. So here is what he hasn’t told you.’

And as economically as possible, he explained how Basil Selwyn, his cousin, had arranged for him to disappear, of the three years that had followed it … and finally of how, thanks to Benedict, Daniel, Anthony and Gerald, he had been rescued and Basil brought to justice.

When he stopped speaking, Anna stared silently at him for a long moment before saying, ‘I can appreciate why you prefer to restrict this to as few people as possible. It is at once remarkable and iniquitous. Thank you for telling me … and you may rely on my discretion.’

‘I know that,’ said Christian. And to Daniel, ‘So should you have done.’

‘I did know it – but that isn’t the point!’ returned Daniel, mildly annoyed. ‘The point is that we agreed not to tell anyone who didn’t need to know. And since, as you said yourself, it was finished a year ago, it seemed to me that Anna didn’t.’ He looked at her. ‘It was never that I didn’t trust you. I know that I can. And I think that you know that I do. Don’t you?’

‘Yes.’ She smiled. ‘But I’m honoured that his lordship – that Christian chose to tell me himself. And we’ve secrets of our own, haven’t we? For example, have you told him about Grimshaw?’

‘Oh bloody hell,’ muttered Daniel. ‘No. I haven’t. And now I’ll have to.’

Rising, Christian pulled the bell and, when the butler appeared, ‘Ask her ladyship to join us, Fallon. And bring sherry, please.’

‘Sherry?’ queried Daniel. ‘Not that I’m quibbling … but isn’t it a bit early?’

Christian grinned. ‘Not necessarily. Anyone named Grimshaw is almost guaranteed to be a villain. However … why do I get the feeling you weren’t going to share this?’

‘Because he wasn’t,’ said Anna.

Daniel sent her a mock-scowl. ‘I could have said that myself, you know.’

‘Yes. But would you?’

He opened his mouth then closed it again as Sophia walked in with Fallon hard on her heels.

She said, ‘Sherry before noon, Kit? How very decadent. Or are we celebrating?’

Christian waited until the door closed behind the butler, then said, ‘Daniel is going to tell us a tale of dark doings – at least, I think he is.’

‘ Attempted doings, thus far,’ Anna corrected. ‘But, in essence, yes.’

‘That sounds intriguing,’ said Sophia.

‘Doesn’t it?’ Christian handed everyone a glass and when Daniel remained stubbornly silent, said, ‘You may as well tell us, Daniel. If you don’t, I’m sure Anna will.’

Daniel met his wife’s gaze. ‘Will you?’

Sighing, she shook her head. ‘Not if you’d rather I didn’t.’

‘I’d rather you hadn’t said anything in the first place,’ he grumbled. ‘However, I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll tell them about Grimshaw if you’ll tell them about Harvill. I imagine I needn’t point out that you have the better end of that arrangement?’

‘No.Very well.’

‘And you can go first.’

Anna cast him a long-suffering look and nodded.

Christian, a note of laughter in his voice, said, ‘Anything else, Daniel? Blood?’

‘Very funny.’ Daniel wasn’t laughing. ‘Anna?’

So she reluctantly gave a brief account of Harvill’s inexplicably persistent attempts to buy Hawthorne’s. So brief that, at the end of it, Daniel said, ‘Is that it?’ And when she nodded, ‘No mention of him holding you up on the road?’

‘You’re making it sound as if he pointed a pistol at me,’ she objected. ‘He didn’t.’

‘All right, he didn’t. But he could have. And what about the business with the kiln?’

‘We don’t know he was responsible for that.’

‘Neither do we know he wasn’t.’ And, to Christian and Sophia, ‘What we do know is that he’s recently made the acquaintance of Anna’s mother and wormed his way into her favour. What would you make of that?’

‘The same as you, I imagine,’ replied Christian. ‘What are you doing about it?’

‘My man-of-law has is having Mr Harvill investigated,’ said Anna, tired of being dismissed. ‘There’s not much else we can do.’

‘But Daniel’s right to be concerned,’ said Sophia. ‘It all sounds very peculiar. Perhaps it might be best if you stayed away from Worcester for a while?’

‘Thank you, Sophie.’ And to Anna, ‘Listen to her … and also to me. If you have to go the Hawthorne’s for any reason, I’m coming with you. And that is set in stone.’

The warmth his words created in her heart manifested itself in Anna’s cheeks and she said faintly, ‘Very well. And if – if you wanted to visit the manufactory again, you would be very welcome to do so.’

The grim expression relaxed and he said, ‘Thank you. I’d like that.’

‘I, meanwhile,’ murmured Christian, ‘am still waiting to hear about this fellow Grimshaw – which is where, if anyone can think back that far, this conversation started. So … who is he and what has he done?’

Daniel shut his eyes for a moment and expelled a long breath. Finally he said expressionlessly, ‘He’s the slippery individual largely responsible for the financial disaster left behind by my father. And now he’s trying something similar with me to the tune of four thousand pounds.’

There was an appalled silence into which Christian eventually said, ‘Are you talking about what I think you’re talking about?’

‘Blackmail? Yes. Grimshaw lives with his widowed sister-in-law and her son – which isn’t nearly as irrelevant as it sounds.’ He paused and then added baldly, ‘I’ve seen the son. He looks more like Rebecca’s brother than I do.’

This time the silence was even longer. Finally, Christan rose, picked up the sherry decanter and began refilling glasses, saying, ‘I was right about fortification being needed. Go on.’

***

Later, alone and able to speak privately, Sophia said, ‘Well, we speculated on why Anna asked Daniel to marry her … and now we know. She’s in love with him and is walking on egg-shells in case he guesses. He, of course, has no idea – any more than he realises he’s well on the way to feeling the same about her.’

Christian laughed. ‘I’ll give you the first one because it’s the only explanation that makes sense. But the second? I doubt it.’

‘Weren’t you listening earlier?’

‘Yes. But don’t let his reaction to this Harvill fellow fool you. That’s just the in-built instinct to protect what’s his.’ Then, frowning a little, ‘I suspect that discovering he has a half-brother his father spent twenty-five years and a great deal of money to keep secret has hit him harder than he yet realises. He says he won’t give Grimshaw a penny – and neither should he. But ignoring the brother’s existence?’ Christian shook his head. ‘That won’t last a month. Oh, he’ll keep it from his mother and sister. But he won’t be able to forget what he knows and he’ll be curious about everything he doesn’t.’

‘What are you saying?’ asked Sophia.

‘I’m saying Daniel will want to find out about this brother he didn’t know he had and doing so will take him closer to Grimshaw’s orbit than is wise, given the circumstances. Fortunately, however, there’s Anna. If she thinks he’s sailing too close to the wind, she’ll say so.’

‘Undoubtedly,’ said Sophia. Then, ‘You like her.’

‘Much better than I expected,’ he agreed. ‘When Daniel decided to accept her proposal, I feared it might be the worst mistake of his life. But it’s not. Far from it, in fact. He seems to tell her everything … and he listens to her. Listens and, what’s more from the little he’s told me, takes her advice. This is a good thing because he’s always been prone to grabbing the bull by the horns without considering the consequences. It used to be Benedict reining him in. Now Anna’s doing it. And she’s no fool.’ Christian grinned suddenly. ‘Although he did tell me a tale about her, a boy, his dog and a muddy field that made her sound mildly deranged and Daniel more like his old self. He likes her, Sophie and I’m glad. Relieved, even. But I’ve yet to see signs of anything more than that.’

‘Look harder, then,’ retorted Sophia. ‘The signs are there. You’re missing them.’

***

Alone with his wife in their own rooms, Daniel said, ‘Since it’s bound to crop up later, I’d better admit that I told Kit about the Great Mud Rescue. Hit me now, if you want to and think I deserve it. I’m ready to duck.’

Anna sighed. ‘Then I won’t bother. But can I ask why you told him?’

‘The conversation was getting far too serious. I needed to lighten the mood and that was the first thing that came to mind. However, I did resist the temptation to make myself the hero of the piece.’

‘That was noble of you.’

‘Yes. I thought so.’

Lounging idly in an armchair, he watched her absently pulling pins from her hair in readiness for Sophia’s maid to re-dress it before dinner. Regardless of how it had been styled throughout the day, each lock fell straight within seconds. It was as if, like Anna herself, her hair had a will of its own. He realised that he wanted to touch it.

He said, ‘Why did you want me to tell Kit about Grimshaw?’

‘As I understand it, you always confided in him and your other friends before, so – ’

‘Before what?’

‘Before your father died and your life was turned upside down.’ She shrugged and laid a handful of hairpins on the table beside her. ‘I didn’t see why that should stop just because …’ She paused, then said, ‘… because you have less opportunity now.’

He knew that hadn’t been what she’d originally intended to say. He was also becoming increasingly aware that it wasn’t only her hair he wanted to touch. He examined that thought. It wasn’t entirely new. It had occurred more than once in the last few days. So far, he hadn’t acted on it. Now he wondered how Anna would react if he did. Perhaps it was time to find out.

Hesitantly, not entirely sure of his ground, he rose and strolled over to sit beside her and sliding his fingers down one silky strand, said, ‘You have nice hair.’

Her eyes locked with his and she was suddenly very still. He wasn’t even sure she was breathing. He waited. Finally, she said, ‘It’s … annoying.’

This was so typical of her that he relaxed and smiled. ‘Your hair is? Why?’

‘Because it won’t curl and needs a hundred pins to hold it in place.’

‘Ah. Yes. I can see that might be aggravating. But even so, it’s pretty when it’s loose like this and it’s nice to touch.

Her mouth opened in shock before she resolutely closed it again and stood up, clearly intent on moving away – though, from what, Daniel didn’t know. From him? Or from another self-deprecating remark? Whichever it was, he stopped her doing it by standing up himself to place his hands on her shoulders and gently turn her to face him.

After one startled glance into his eyes, she fixed her attention on his cravat and, without moving or saying a word, waited to see what he would do next.

Not sure what that ought to be, Daniel said, ‘I was thinking that perhaps it might be time we tried a kiss … if that would be acceptable.’ And, after a moment, when she said nothing, ‘Would it?’

She swallowed hard and nodded. ‘Yes. But …’

‘But what?’ he asked softly, aware of the pulse beating erratically in her throat.

‘I ought to mention that I – I don’t know how.’

Distantly and with a glimmer of amusement Daniel supposed he might have guessed, not just that she hadn’t been kissed by a man before but that, being Anna, she thought some pre-knowledge was required. He said, ‘Well, luckily I do. So why not leave that part to me?’

Still not meeting his eyes, she gave a jerky nod, her shoulders rigid.

Taking this as permission, he lifted her chin with one hand and slid the other around her waist. A tiny tremor which he took for nerves went through her as he drew her just close enough for their bodies to meet. And then, bending his head, he touched his lips to hers and felt, rather than heard, her small, involuntary sound of surprise.

Slowly, lazily, Daniel trailed barely-there kisses over her cheek and jaw until he felt the tension begin to drain out of her and was aware of her hands creeping uncertainly up to his shoulders and, after some hesitation, on around his neck. He gathered her closer, sliding his fingers into her hair to cradle her skull while his lips found hers again, this time moving lightly against them. She sighed and, very tentatively, kissed him back.

Encouraged, he tightened the embrace a little more and lifted his head to look into her face. Her lashes fluttered open and eyes, more blue than grey, gazed dreamily into his.

Daniel smiled. ‘All right, so far?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘Good. Then let’s try this.’

And his mouth settling more purposefully over hers, he turned the kiss into a slow, languorous seduction whilst somehow managing to remember not to take it too fast or too far.

Meanwhile, although she’d tried not to let it happen, Anna had been lost since the moment he’d touched her. Now, with the kiss growing ever deeper and little sparks dancing inside her veins and along her nerves, she had only one coherent thought.

Don’t stop. I love you and this may never happen again. So please don’t stop yet . Give me just a little more time.

Daniel didn’t want to stop but knew he’d have to. Inevitably, his body disagreed with this … which indicated that he ought to have ended the kiss some time ago. But Anna’s body fitted beautifully against his; her mouth was sweet and her untutored response, oddly addictive. Slowly, regretfully, he brought the kiss to an end and waited for her to open her eyes so that he could read her reaction.

She looked shy and confused … and as regretful as he. Sighing, he drew her down on the sofa in the curve of his arm and, with a hint of rueful humour, said, ‘I’m wondering why it took us – took me – so long to do that. We should try it again … in fact, I’m already looking forward to doing so. But not just yet.’

‘Why not?’ whispered Anna.

‘Because right now it’s likely to become rather more than a kiss.’ For a moment, she looked blank before belatedly taking his meaning and growing even pinker He grinned. ‘Exactly. It’s a male thing – one in which we’re all basically the same. Don’t worry about it.’ There was a tap at the door. Daniel laughed and stood up. ‘Here’s the maid. Just in time to stop me getting into deep water.’ Having called the girl to come in, he pulled Anna to her feet, dropping a kiss on each of her hands. ‘I’ll see you downstairs presently.’

***

An hour later, over a glass of wine in the drawing-room before dinner, Sophia immediately sensed that something had changed between them. Whenever he thought no one was looking, Daniel watched Anna … a very faint smile mingled with an expression Sophia couldn’t quite interpret. And Anna seemed distracted and reluctant to meet his eyes at all. Something, Sophia decided delightedly, had moved on apace since this afternoon.

Good , she thought. And tried to find a way of bringing it to Christian’s attention.

Anna felt as if she was floating several inches above the ground. Daniel had kissed her – really kissed her, not a mere peck on the cheek. That, in itself, was a miracle … and those moments in his arms had been sweeter and more magical than anything she might have imagined. But, more miraculous still, he’d said he wanted to do it again. She’d tried never to hope that one day he might want her that way. Even now, she reminded herself that it might not mean what she wanted it to mean – merely that he had decided it was time to begin addressing the question of the all-important heir. But still, hope had been born and she could not quite quench it.

Without quite knowing why, Daniel was struggling with surprise. He was surprised by how much he’d enjoyed kissing Anna and surprised by how much he wanted to do it again. He found himself looking forward to the end of the evening when they would be alone. Perhaps he could even go beyond a kiss. Not very far beyond it, of course. It was too soon for full intimacy. But perhaps a few caresses, just to pave the way? And then, once they were back at home, they could progress gradually towards the consummation for which, he realised, he was now eager.

He didn’t examine his feelings too closely. In some distant corner of his mind was the knowledge that Anna was important to him; perhaps even necessary. But that wasn’t a thought he was entirely comfortable with … so he put it back where it came from.

As for the rest, however, they had waited long enough.

And anticipation of what lay ahead was a pleasure in itself.

~** ~**~