An Unconventional Countess (Regency Belles of Bath 1)

‘His childhood?’ Anna drew her brows together. ‘Not a great deal, except that his father left his mother for another woman and was killed in a duel.’

‘That’s true. He and his mother came to live with Hector and me afterwards, but I’m afraid it was a difficult situation. I don’t like to criticise my daughter, but she wasn’t the most attentive of mothers. She felt humiliated by the scandal, you see, and Samuel looked so much like his father that she found it hard to be around him. Consequently, she spent most of her time in London. That’s where she met her second husband, Lord Hammerton. They were married a year after she was widowed and went straight to his estate in Cumberland. Samuel wasn’t invited to join them.’

‘He said he was sent to boarding school.’

‘Yes, and spent his holidays with Hector and me, though I believe he was deeply hurt by his mother’s rejection. When he was sixteen he ran away from school and went to find his father’s family in London.’

‘Oh?’ Anna leaned forward, intrigued. ‘He never told me that. What happened?’

‘According to Samuel, nothing. When I asked he said no one was at home so he went to a gambling club and forgot all about it. In reality, he spoke to his grandfather.’

‘But why would he lie?’

‘Because of what happened next. His grandfather offered him money, a sizeable amount, to go away and never darken his doorstep again. He suggested that he go to the colonies, I believe. Naturally, Samuel refused both the suggestion and the money.’

‘But that’s awful!’ Anna’s heart wrenched at the thought. ‘How did you find out?’

‘Because his grandfather wrote to me, expressing his outrage at my having allowed the boy, as he called him, to visit him. There were other comments, which I shan’t deign to repeat. Suffice to say, Samuel never attempted to contact his father’s family again.’

‘And you’ve never told him you know what really happened?’

‘No, he was miserable enough. I let him keep his pride, but I believe that Samuel has been made to feel second-best and rejected for most of his life. By his father, who ran away with some silly woman, by his mother, who chose a fresh start over him, and by the whole of the rest of his family who didn’t want him.’

‘You didn’t reject him.’

‘No. Hector and I did our best to make him feel wanted and loved, though he was quite a handful at first. There were times when I feared he might follow in his father’s footsteps after all, but he had the strength of character enough to choose the opposite path. He determined to find his own place in the world and to prove his worth without help from anyone. As much as I disliked him joining the navy, it gave him something he’d never had before: a sense of self-worth and belonging. He found a place where he wasn’t judged for being his father’s son. When this inheritance situation arose it must have felt as though his family were trying to take that life, the one he’d striven so hard for, away from him. But then he met you and you gave him a reason to want to stay on shore.’

‘But our engagement happened so quickly.’ Anna had to swallow the lump in her throat. ‘Maybe it was a response to all of that? Maybe he was just looking for a distraction?’

‘Nonsense. My grandson may be impulsive, but he always knows what he’s doing. He inherited that trait from me.’

‘Yes, but...’

‘However, if you really can’t abide the thought of being a countess, then you’re quite right to say so now. And don’t worry about Samuel turning out like his father, either. He has more backbone than either of his parents, I’m relieved to say, only I hate to think of him feeling rejected again, or of you ending your engagement just because you were both too much in shock to know what you were doing.’ A grey eyebrow arched upwards. ‘By the way, what did your mother think of all this?’

‘I...’ Anna looked to one side sheepishly ‘...I don’t know. I left a note, but I didn’t see her before I left.’

‘Because you were in such a rush to get away?’

‘Yes. I wanted to come home.’

‘Because you panicked?’

‘I did not panic.’ Anna thrust her chin out. ‘I never panic.’

‘Goodness me—’ Lady Jarrow rolled her eyes ‘—you really might be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met, Miss Fortini, present company excepted, of course. Once you get an idea in your head it seems remarkably hard to dislodge it. Now that you’ve run away, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you’ve talked yourself into doing something dramatic and final solely for the purpose of justifying your decision for years to come.’ She pursed her lips speculatively. ‘Travelling to Italy, perhaps?’

‘No, actually.’ Anna dropped her gaze at the thought of Thomas Etton. She had been planning on visiting him first thing that morning, only somehow she hadn’t been able to go through with it...

‘Then what?’

‘It doesn’t matter. I didn’t come here to be insulted.’

‘Then why did you come here?’

‘To tell you that my and Samuel’s engagement was over.’

‘Or perhaps you were hoping I’d talk you around?’