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His annoyance added force to his already gruff tone as he said, “Not so fast,” and the woman stiffened.

“I believe I deserve an explanation for why your child is wandering about my estate after dark.”

He took yet another step toward them, unable to help himself—indeed, he felt like a moth being drawn to a dangerous flame.

And he despised the feeling immensely.

The woman moved with a speed he hadn’t thought she could manage, placing herself between him and the boy—a move he considered both reckless and admirable.

What did she suppose he would do? Did she really believe she would be able to fight him off, should he decide to do it?

The fact that she believed him a brute based on his appearance alone made his expression harden even more. That was probably not helping his case any further, but he didn’t thinkhewas the one who had anything to prove here. The woman and child were the intruders onhisproperty.

“I assure you, Your Grace…” she spoke with the confidence of a woman used to fending off the attentions of many men, and he did not know why that irritated him.

“I had no idea about my son’s little adventure… until this evening. It was not my intention—” she started to explain, but Victor interrupted her with a wave of his hand, brushing her off.

“Intentions mean very little when it comes to results,” he scolded.

But Victor could deny it no longer: the woman was beautiful. Beautiful in that way that Society adored. She was the kind of beauty that had once captivated him in ballrooms and at dinner parties before the war and loss had dulled his appreciation for such things.

It has dulled no such thing.

Victor’s jaw clenched as he willed himself to turn away from that thought without considering it.

Instead, he focused on her gaze—and the directness of it that many of her standing lacked—and it made him pause.

“And you are?” he prompted, though a suspicion was already forming in his mind.

He caught the sharp intake of breath from the way her chest heaved once before she spoke.

“Lady Cuthbert,” she replied, her gaze never leaving his own, as though she were tracking a predator. “Dowager Countess of Cuthbert.”

And that was the moment realization dawned.

So, she was the widow of Cuthbert—that arrogant, sneering fool who had publicly mocked his decision to serve in the war. The man had openly scorned anyone who had chosen duty over privilege and anyone who stepped outside of the confines of aristocratic laziness, and Victor had loathed him with particular fervor.

Now, here was his widow, who seemed to have wandered far from the comforts of her mansion, wading in the dirt of his garden.

Victor knew that he ought not to regard the woman with the same lack of favor he’d considered her late husband, but he could not help it. He did not suppose a woman who’d been under the influence of that lazy oaf would have any thoughts of importance on matters of state or any such thing.

A smile that lacked any kind of warmth curved his lips. “Lady Cuthbert.”

He saw the way her eyes narrowed at his tone, noting how quick she was to detect the lack of sincerity in his greeting.

Perhaps she was much more quick-witted than he’d thought.

“I understand that we are… neighbors. In the loosest sense of the word,” he said, gesturing toward the boy—Tristan.“But I don’t suppose you have a habit of misplacing important belongings of yours on other people’s grounds? Because that would be rather careless of you.”

In the glow of the lantern light, Victor watched as her face flushed red with affront, blooming color on her otherwise pale skin.

It was fascinating to see, after months of near-total isolation from any other human being. It was so fascinating, in fact, that Victor felt a stirring in his loins.

What in the devil’s?—

He clenched his jaw, willing his awareness of this woman to be gone at once. There was nothing more despicable than reacting so wantonly to another man’s widow, and even though Victor considered himself to be quite the despicable bastard, he did not think he wasthatdespicable.

It is nothing. Probably just because she is the first woman I have seen in a long while.