The Cursed Countess (The Daring Drake Sisters 1)

She walked up the few steps to the front door and let the knocker fall from her hand. Just as it hit the door, something jabbed her in the back. Shocked, she turned to see a woman who appeared to be in her seventies staring back at her with an umbrella in her hand.

“Exactly what business would the Cursed Countess have with my grandson?”

The dowager Countess Leicester, or as many people called her, the Dragon of Mayfair. “Good morning, my lady,” Tessa said with a quick curtsy as the front door opened.

“My lady,” the butler said with a deep bow, not to her but to the dowager.

“Bentley, do you know this woman?” she asked with a pointed glare at Tessa.

“No, ma’am. I have never seen her before today.”

The older woman pursed her lips until a line formed around them. “I do believe she is here to see my grandson. Tell him I am here. As is she.”

“And she is?” Bentley asked them both.

“Lady Stanhope,” they said in unison.

“Of course, please come in and I will tell him you both have arrived. Tea?”

“Yes,” the dowager said as she pushed past Tessa and followed Bentley down the hall to the receiving salon.

Tessa trailed behind, but she took in everything from the white marble floor tiles to the gilt frames on the portraits that lined the corridor. She wondered what it must feel like to live in such stunning surroundings but know you’ll never truly own these items. It made her appreciate Stanhope even more for giving her the opportunity to own what she wanted.

The butler opened the door to the receiving salon and ushered them inside. He discreetly closed the door behind him as he departed to inform Raynerson that both she and his imposing grandmother were in the same room.

“Now,” the dowager said as she slipped into the chair with the finesse of a much younger woman. “You never told me why you are here to see my grandson. If you think to make him your next victim, I shan’t allow it.”

Tessa’s lips twitched. “I have no such desire, my lady. He offered me some advice on...” On what? “On my finances.”

The older woman tilted her head back and laughed soundly. “Oh, my dear child, you should not take financial advice from him. The poor man barely has two pence to rub together.”

Irritation filled her belly. She had forgotten that piece of gossip. Perhaps Jack had meant to steal from her? Not that he would have found anything but some pin money in the house. The other thing Stanhope had left her was an excellent banker. But the idea that his own grandmother would ridicule his finances when she had inherited a fortune when her second husband died annoyed Tessa.

“Then perhaps you should open the coffers and give him some,” she said with acid lining her voice.

The older woman’s blue eyes lanced her. “What I do with my money and how I decide to spend it is purely my business, not that of some upstart who had to marry to gain her fortune.”

For once, Tessa had to thank her mother for all her mornings of gossip over breakfast. “If I recall, you were not much different than me.”

The dowager laughed scornfully. “Only I knew how to keep my husbands alive for more than two months.”

“Grandmother, that is enough,” Jack said as he entered the room. He looked between them both as if confused by why they were here together. “Grandmamma, why are you here? My note told you I would call on you later this afternoon.”

“Hmm, you question my reason for being here but not hers. Very interesting turn of events.” The dowager glanced over at Tessa again until she shifted under the intense scrutiny.

“And you haven’t answered my question,” Jake said as he took his seat between them.

“I knew you needed to see me. And now I know exactly why.”

Jake gave his grandmother a long stare as if telling her something that Tessa couldn’t quite make out. “Which is why I said I would pay a call on you.”

The woman rapped her fingers on the arm of the chair as if contemplating her next move. “So you did. But you also know I have no patience when it comes to my grandchildren. You should have arrived unannounced, not that I wouldn’t know you were coming. I always can sense when there is trouble with you boys.”

Tessa tilted her head in confusion.

“My grandmother believes she has some absurd ability to foretell the future. She swears she always knows when something dreadful is about to happen.”

“Do not make light of my gift, boy.”