The Substitute Countess

“Why did you come for me? I mean, you in particular. The task is a bit above your station, I should think.” She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and brushed another off her brow as she spoke, suddenly embarrassed for anyone to see her in such disarray.

He glanced at her then, a quick taking of her measure, she thought. Then he looked back at the road they traveled.

“I came because we are kin,” he explained. “I am your cousin. Had I known of you earlier, I would have come sooner. It was almost not soon enough, was it? I should have shot that wretch like I threatened.” He snapped the reins again.

Her cousin. She simply stared, fully taking in his sun-browned visage, wide-shouldered frame and the fine cut of his clothes. Travel dust did nothing to detract from his roguish appeal, and doubtless he knew it well.

He looked down at her travel bag and back at her. “You packed fast or perhaps had already packed before I arrived. So you were planning to leave. Where were you going?”

She didn’t bother to correct his assumption. “To the convent, where else?”

“You didn’t mean to take vows or you’d never have left in the first place.”

His presumption irritated her, as did the flutter in her stomach that his very appearance caused. She pressed a hand over her middle and inhaled to steady her nerves. “I had very little choice of destinations.”

“No matter, a different life awaits you now,” he said with a smile in his voice if not yet on his face. “I know you were not aware your father was of the nobility,” he stated. “No one at the convent was apprised of the fact, so I’m told. A shock for you, I daresay.”

She nodded and took another deep breath that caught in her throat. There were too many questions flying through her mind to get them in order.

“We need to reach the coast before dark,” he declared. With that, he snapped the reins more harshly, urging the sturdy roan to an even faster gait.

They were well down the road before her wits returned enough to realize that a total stranger, this incredibly handsome rogue, had her at his mercy. What if that letter were false? She had never met an earl, of course, but always imagined nobles having a more stately look and pleasant attitude.

Yet she had only three choices as she saw it. She could demand to be let down or returned to Orencio’s house, beg this fellow to take her straight to the convent or go with him and see what happened next. The convent would be the safest choice, but she could not bring herself to ask for it after going to such lengths to escape it. Going back to Orencio was out of the question.

“This is good of you, but I still do not understand why you would go to so much bother for a bastard cousin.”

“Bastard?” he asked with a short, mirthless laugh. “My lady, you are as legitimate as I. Whatever gave you the idea you aren’t?”

“Perhaps the fact that I was sent to a foreign country to spend my life with nuns?”

He shrugged. “Oh, well, there is that.” And he offered no explanation for it. Perhaps he did not know why, either. But wouldn’t he have had the truth of it from her father if he was the heir? This made very little sense and did nothing to ease her mind about him.

If this Jackson “Jack” Worth, supposed earl, had designs on her person, then so did Señor Orencio. If she was to be ruined by one or the other, she found she preferred the stranger. Maybe she would even prefer that fate to being immured in a nunnery for the remainder of her life. That required a divine calling and ought not to be undertaken simply for the sake of security.

As if he read her very thoughts, he turned to her, his stern and angry expression softened, now sympathetic and very serious. “You needn’t fear, my lady. I swear you will come to no harm, And I will see you safe to London, to your new home.”

Caught by the steady blue gaze and held like a rabbit in a snare, Laurel Could only nod. Why not trust him? She had nothing to lose if he was lying, aside from her virtue. That had done her little good thus far. And she had much to gain if he was telling the truth.

My lady, he had called her. Daughter of an earl. Legitimate, he had said. Could it really be true that she was born of nobility? If so, why was she never told of her circumstance before today?

“Have I other family?” she finally asked.

“Of course you do.” He grinned at her then, a singularly merry expression she had not seen thus far. “There is me. I told you we are cousins.”

Could she trust him? She supposed she might as well do that, since her other two options held no appeal. “We are truly kin?”

“We are. Why else would I be here?”

“I’m sure I don’t know. This is all so…”

“Sudden, I understand. But there’s nothing at all to worry about.” His smile looked sincere. “I’ll take care of everything for you, little cousin, and you will love England and your new life there.”

“If you say so, I suppose I must believe you.”

“I promise I will explain the details after we are settled for the voyage home. Your worries are over.”

Laurel disagreed. She had worries aplenty at the moment, and there was absolutely nothing she could do to alleviate them.

Chapter Two

Jack worried about their introduction. He had planned to charm Laurel from the outset, not appear as a threat. Unfortunately, Orencio had left him no choice.

Though the girl was doubtful Jack was who he claimed, she hadn’t refused to come with him. Her relief at leaving Orencio’s might be short-lived when she had time to reflect on it. He wished he knew what more he could say to put her fears to rest.

He had reserved his final decision until he met her, but he now thought she would do well enough as a wife. Her looks certainly were greater than passable, but more important than that was the spirit she had shown in that confrontation with her employer.

The way Jack had first seen her—face red with anger, eyes flashing, tight little chignon askew and one sleeve torn at the shoulder seam—had roused his protective instinct to the maximum. She needed him on a level that no woman ever had before.

He knew he would miss Saskia in Amsterdam, Maria in Portugal, Joanna in Jamaica and a few others who welcomed him with open arms and merry laughter. This girl was not of their kind, however. Attaining regard from her would require more than he had offered the others. This time he would need to make irrevocable promises. Vows.

He only hoped he was up to the challenge. Given the fire he had seen in her, he figured she would be anything but boring.

Jack rarely met a woman he didn’t like, even the guileful ones with nefarious schemes to trap him. Now the shoe was on the other foot, but he knew well all the means of avoiding the nuptial noose should this girl try to use them. He meant to marry her even should it require employing a bit of guile himself. She needed charming and he could do that.

“Aside from your employer’s unwelcome attention, how did you like being a governess? Was the work more difficult than expected?” he asked, assuming his most genial tone. He knew women liked questions about themselves.

“Impossible,” she replied. “The boys were too old for it. What They needed was a male tutor.”

“Or a lion tamer with a whip and chair?”

She laughed and Jack joined her, releasing some of the tension between them. He continued. “Like their father, eh? They had no discipline from that quarter, I’d wager.”

She sobered immediately. “None. He lacked even self-discipline. This was not the first time he behaved so abominably, but I’m certainly glad it is the last. I might have managed by myself, but you certainly were a great help. Thank you for the rescue.”

Jack was not all that surprised Orencio had made advances. Laurel was a fetching little thing, even in that dowdy garb of a governess.

She had handled the issue more than once, so she said. While that was admirable for an innocent with no worldly experience, it might not have turned out so well this time if he hadn’t interfered. It gave him a good feeling to know he had saved her from ruin and she seemed properly grateful for it.

Jack didn’t think it would be much of a sacrifice to marry her, assume her fortune and secure his future. And hers, too, of course. She deserved to be treated decently, especially after being dealt with in such a cavalier manner all her life. There was no reason whatsoever that they shouldn’t both profit from such an alliance.

He might not become the best husband she could have chosen, given his rough upbringing and checkered past, but she would be a countess. That had to appeal to her more than scrubbing floors in a nunnery the rest of her life or herding a passel of spoiled Spanish brats while fending off their lecherous father.

He admitted feeling a certain affinity for her already, probably because they really were cousins. Very distant cousins, he reminded himself. The girl had grit and he really admired that in anyone.

They should get on rather well unless she somehow discovered his motive. He had to make sure she did not. At least not until after the marriage. Even then, he would not want her to know. A trifle dishonest, perhaps, but he would not like to see the accusation in her eyes or the death of trust.

They spoke little more until they reached the coastal town of La Coruña where he had reserved rooms.