Page 115 of The Trouble with Anna

“Not for several hours, my lady. However, the Countess informed me that she called expressly to see you.”

“Me?No. She couldn’t possibly want to see me.” Anna shook her head decisively. “There must be some mistake.”

“I’m afraid there isn’t, my lady.”

“Dash it! Well, she’ll simply have to come back another time. I’m due at Josephine’s any moment, you see, so—”

“I believe your appointment is not for another two hours, my lady.”

Anna narrowed her eyes. “Yes, Levy, how meticulous you are. However, I haveanotherappointment—”

“The Countess said she would wait, my lady.” Levy’s façade cracked. “Wait.”

“Oh. Yes. Right.” Anna could see how uncomfortable that would be for the household. Like having a wolf in the drawing room, and everyone wondering when it might get hungry.

Anna’s shoulders slumped. “I suppose I’ll be right in.”

“Very good, my lady.”

Anna pushed open the door to the grand salon. “My lady?”

The Countess had claimed the central settee, her skirts swallowing the whole of it in cresting waves of silk. As always, theCountess held herself in perfect stillness, as if she were a portrait, as if the cold perfection of her beauty—the mass of dark hair, the ivory brow, the sculpted upper lip—demanded slow and careful study. Charlotte and her mother had much the same features, but where Charlotte’s face was mobile, laughing, moving all the time, the Countess seemed to regard each new expression as a gift bestowed on the unworthy. Anna wondered if the Countess could sit unmoving, perhaps even unblinking, all day.

Frosty blue eyes swept Anna up and down. “You’re dressing like a countess, at least. I presume Charlotte chose your gown?”

Anna had the urge to peek down at herself. She’d changed into a hunter-green morning dress with a white stand-up collar and a neat row of buttons down the bodice. A military style, by no accident. “She did.”

“It was long past time someone took you in hand. Sit down.”

Anna perched awkwardly on a side chair. “What an honor to see you, my lady. How did you find France?”

The Countess flicked her a look. “I did not come to gab about my travels.”

Anna gave a weak smile. Outside, she could hear the squeak of wheels and the clop-clop of horse hooves on the cobblestones as carriages passed by. Inside, the mantel clock ticked in slow beats, each second its own eternity. “Shall I ring for tea?”

“I do not come to partake of refreshment, either.”

“If you came for Charlotte, she’s not due home until—”

“I believe I know my own daughter’s whereabouts.”

“I see.”

Another flick of a look. “You don’t see farther than your own nose, girl. Not if you intend to marry Ramsay.”

Anna shot to her feet. “I’m quite late for an appointment—”

“Sit down, you silly child. I haven’t finished yet.”

“I believeI’mfinished—”

“I saidsit down.”

Much to her dismay, Anna sat.

The Countess smiled wide, a brief flash of teeth. “You’re right to be wary. I’m no friend to your fiancé.”

Anna went hot. “I will not sit here while you disparage him. He’s been nothing but generous with you. I’ve seen the books myself.”

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