The Cursed Countess (The Daring Drake Sisters 1)

Tessa sipped her coffee, enjoying the aromatic taste on her tongue. “What made you think I hadn’t slept well?”

Anne laughed as she reached for a gown. “My bedroom is right below the study. I heard you up and about around four. It sounded like you were up for some time.”

Her hand stopped its upward progression to her mouth. The toast would have to wait. “You heard me in the study at four?” she repeated in an uneven tone.

“Of course, ma’am. As I said, my room is directly below it.” Anne brushed out the tan cotton day dress before gathering a clean shift and stays.

There was only one person who could have been wandering in her study at that hour of the morning. What the bloody hell had Jack been searching for? Thoughts of what he might have found tumbled in her mind but no answers came to her. Who had she slept with?

“Are you well, ma’am? You look quite peaked.”

She was not well. “I am fine, Anne. Let Roberts know I am going out and will need the carriage brought around.”

“Of course, ma’am. Do you still wish to wear the tan gown?”

“The dress is fine, now hurry and inform Roberts.”

She didn’t care what she wore to see that devil. Vanessa’s words haunted her. Could someone truly be investigating her again? Could that man be Jack? It didn’t make sense that he would be looking into the deaths of her husbands. He was the second son of a viscount. But what other possible reason could there be for him sneaking through her study?

As Anne left, Tessa yanked the covers off and pulled on a clean shift. She paced the room as she waited for Anne to return to help her dress. She had no idea how to confront the man but she would think of something. There had to be a good reason for him being in her study, but the only thing that came to her mind was he needed something in that room. But what? Stanhope had never spoken of Jack to her.

Anne quickly returned to the room and the task of dressing her. “Do you not like the dress, ma’am?”

Tessa blinked and returned from her woolgathering about Jack. “I am sorry. The dress is fine. I was deep in thought.”

“Oh,” Anne replied before drawing a strand of pearls around Tessa’s neck. “You had a mighty fierce look on your face.”

Tess felt a feline rub against her leg. Perhaps that was what Anne heard last night. Sometimes the four of them sounded like horses running through the house. “Good morning, Nefertiti. Where are your friends?”

Anne laughed. “Mrs. Williams swears sh

e saw a mouse in the kitchen so she kept the cats locked downstairs last night. Nefertiti must have escaped when I came up.”

So much for the cats being in the study. “Another mouse? I thought the footman found the hole and blocked it.”

“I do not think Mrs. Williams could see a mouse even if she wore the spectacles the doctor prescribed for her.” Anne quickly pulled up Tessa’s hair into a chignon and pinned it in place. “There you are.”

“Thank you, Anne.” Tessa reached down and pulled the cat into her arms. Nefertiti rubbed her head against Tessa’s jaw. For a long moment, she enjoyed the relaxing sound of the cat purring before Nefertiti decided she’d had enough and jumped down. It was time to confront Mr. Raynerson. Perhaps if she thought of him as such and not her lover Jack, she would be able to find out exactly what he had been about in her study last night.

She left the cat to fall asleep on her bed and headed down the front staircase. “Roberts, is the carriage ready?”

“Not yet, my lady.”

“Very well, I shall wait in my study.” Tessa walked down the hall until she reached the room. She half expected to find the room in shambles, but glancing around she did not see one thing out of place. It didn’t look as if anyone had been in the room at all yesterday. She sat at the desk and opened each drawer hesitantly as if something might pop out at her. Yet, nothing did. In fact, if Anne hadn’t told her someone had been in this room, she never would have believed it. Even her few bills were stacked in exactly the same place she had left them.

Could Anne have been wrong?

Tessa doubted Anne would have awakened if it had just been one of the cats moving about in the room, and besides they had been locked in the kitchen. Someone had roused her maid from her sleep. There was no one else who would have been in that room but Raynerson.

“Your carriage is ready, ma’am,” Roberts announced from the threshold.

“Thank you, Roberts.”

“Would you like a footman to go with you?”

She shook her head. “That will not be necessary. I have to make a quick inquiry with a friend and then I shall return.”

The short ride to Viscount Bideford’s town home was nowhere near long enough for Tessa to formulate a plan on how best to confront the man. But she would not leave until he told her exactly what he’d been searching for in her study. As the carriage rolled to a stop in front of the home, she steeled her emotions and her heart.