Page 33 of The Rebellious Countess
“Your father was a fool.”
The slap to Hag’s cheek left a silence in the room no one seemed willing to break. Máira’s chest heaved with each breath she took. Hag raised her hand to the quickly forming red hand imprint on her face and stared at Máira, her face blank of emotion. Elias eyed Hag and then Tomás, silently willing them both not to retaliate. If they did, he wasn’t sure how he would react. Tomás eyed him as well. They both knew Hag could hold her own against Máira. Neither knew if his wife had any skills in fighting.
Before he could step between the two women, Hag smiled and said in her thick French accent, “It’s about time you took a stance for yourself.”
“I took a stance for my father. He was the best of men.”
“I can only take your word for it, but I can tell you he was a fool when it came to his judgement of that scoundrel.” Hagcaught Máira’s hand before she could land a second slap, the two women sizing each other up and Elias knew it was time to intervene before they began fighting in earnest.
He stepped in between them and bent down to look Máira in the eyes. “She has the tact of a whore selling her wares.”
Hag laughed and Tomás growled but did nothing to keep him from continuing. “Let her explain why she said what she said. She obviously knows something we don’t about the Comte.”
Máira searched his eyes and reluctantly agreed. “Fine.” She crossed her arms across her chest and Elias ignored the temptation she waved in front of him.
Damnation,the woman challenged his self-control.
She peered around him and asked Hag, “Why do you think my father was a poor judge of the Comte’s character?”
“Because I know the Marquis de Lafayette. He has no cousin on his father’s side.”
Máira’s brow furrowed, her eyes tracking back and forth as if she searched her memory for something to disprove Hag’s statement. He was certain she wouldn’t find anything. In his gut he’d known the Comte was a fraud the moment she mentioned him, and he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her Hag’s knowledge did not change the man she knew her father to be. It only meant her father had been human. Everyone was capable of being duped, including Hag. That was why she was the woman she was today.
Except he couldn’t tell her Hag’s story. If he did, he would be pointing out the similarities Máira shared with the woman—both had been fooled by the men they married. He only hoped he had not created the same cynicism in Máira as Hag’s husband had created in her.
Máira’s eyes closed for a moment and when she reopened them, he saw her determination to move forward in thehardness of her gaze. She’d accepted what she couldn’t change, how that admission changed her, remained to be seen.
“How will you break into a prison?”
He gave her the straightforward answer she deserved. “If I must pretend to be a guard, I will be a guard. I’m a very good actor.” He got it from his mother.
“I see.” Her mood dropped and he knew exactly what she was thinking. He had acted when he was with her. He supposed to a point it was true, but everything he’d felt while he was with Máira had been real. Every emotion, every desire. It had all been real. Especially the physical attraction. She brought out the best, and worst in him. He wanted to be a better man when he was with her, yet he also wanted to steal every moment and enjoy them to the fullest, even though he knew he would not be there for her in the future.
He ignored that pinch, which was turning into a clenched fist in his chest and continued. “Our Regent is depending upon me to bring the earl home. I will bring him home one way or the other.”
The color drained from her face as Máira thought of the implication of his words. “You mean alive or…or dead?”
“Yes. I would prefer it if he were alive, but if he is dead, I will return his body to English soil.”
Máira began pacing the tavern back and forth across the dark gloomy room. She stopped. “How will you find him?”
“Máira, I can’t tell you everything.”
“I could help.”
“You can’t. Not in this.”
“But I?—”
“Are you willing to sell your body?” She needed to understand what was at stake.
She hesitated and then lifted her chin. “If that’s what it takes to save him—yes.”
“Like hell,” he ground out between his teeth as he walked to her and grabbed hold of her upper arms. He gazed down into her expressive eyes and wished they were upstairs in bed. He wished he were a different man, a gentleman she could truly love and that this was a real honeymoon trip. But he wasn’t, this wasn’t, and they didn’t have the time to pretend it was anything but a deadly mission.
“I will not let you sacrifice your body and soul for a mission you did not undertake.”
“Simon is a family friend,” she argued.
