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The future countess waved her apology aside, smiling warmly. “He and Zeke will sort out the conundrum of the messenger. The important thing is you’re here—and you’ve brought our Caden home. Would you like to sit? Let’s sit.”

With that, Lady Thurgood took one of two plush looking velvet armchairs in the sitting area. She arranged her skirts with efficient flicks of her fingers then fixed Anna with an expectant eye.

Feeling a bit like a cornered fox under that frosty green stare, Anna had no choice but to follow suit .

“I have so many questions. You don’t mind if I ask just a few? While we wait?”

Anna swallowed. “Er…I believe Caden wanted to—”

“Where did the two of you meet? Of course, I myself have known Caden only a little while in the grand scheme of things. Have you known each other many years, or are you more recently acquainted?”

After a moment’s consideration, one of her father’s adages came to her. Whenever possible, stick to the truth .

“As it happens, Caden and I were acquainted as children. We met again, quite by accident, at a house party hosted by Lord and Lady Fenton.”

The raven-haired beauty nodded, a satisfied expression on her face. “We knew Caden accompanied Viscount Randall’s younger brother, Mr. Harrison Randall, to the party. A happy coincidence, then. You say you knew each other as children?”

“Yes.”

A pregnant silence passed.

Anna held herself very still though inwardly she squirmed under the lady’s watchful gaze.

“It’s the most extraordinary thing, perhaps unrelated, but only recently Zeke told me of a family who spent many a summer nearby, in a quaint little cottage on the river, not a five minute carriage ride from Chissington Hall.

He mentioned a young girl who was a particular friend of Caden’s.

That young girl wouldn’t happen to have been you? ”

Anna shrugged clumsily as her pulse raced. “It seems likely, my lady. My family did summer not far from here, and Caden and I were friends, as I mentioned.”

Lady Kitty’s green eyes softened. A small smile played at her lips. “Zeke said Caden had a terrible crush on you. ”

Anna barked out a laugh, then immediately covered her mouth with one hand as the mortifying sound reached her own ears.

She cleared her throat. “I beg your pardon, my lady. I can assure you, Caden did not have a crush on me.”

Amusement glinted in the future countess’s feline eyes.

Yes, that was what her eyes brought to Anna’s mind. A graceful, watchful cat.

“You sound very sure of that, Mrs. Jones. I shall have to put the question to Caden, to see if he gives a similar response.”

Anna’s cheeks went hot. She peered over her shoulder at the door. Would the tea tray never arrive?

“Widowed, and at such a young age. Do you mind if I ask for how long?”

She plucked at her skirts. The surprising change of subject caught her off guard, not to mention she did not want to lie to this woman. She’d never been particularly good at it, and she had the distinct impression the lady would see right through her.

A soft knock sounded just before the antechamber door opened. A fresh-faced, white-capped maid pushed a rolling cart laden with a gold tea service and a two-tier plate laden with fruit, scones and finger sandwiches.

Making no move to rise, Lady Thurgood smiled her thanks as the young woman parked the cart and departed. The door closed behind her with a soft click.

She picked up the ceramic teapot, filling two delicate looking tea cups. “Sugar? Milk? You were saying?”

“One sugar, please.” Anna hated the tremor in her voice. When next she saw Caden, she intended to brain him for the third time this week.

“It’s a rather difficult conversation,” she finally said in all honesty .

“I see.” Eying Anna, she held her cup to her lips to sip.

Anna felt the lady's unwavering stare as she stirred the sugar cube into the steaming jasmine scented tea, watching it dissolve. She picked up her delicate cup and took a tentative sip of the smooth, hot liquid.

Across from her, Lady Kitty set her cup into its saucer soundlessly. “I see I shall have to come straight out with it. I fail to ascertain how you can be a widow and engaged to Caden while married to Lord Baron Bolton.”

Anna met the woman’s eyes and said the first thing that came to her. “The thing is, I thought I had killed him. I only just learned he survived.”

After a beat of silence, she said, “I think you’d better start at the beginning.”

***

“And that, my lady, is how I ended up here.”

Anna sat back in her chair, oddly relieved. It had taken over an hour, but she’d told the future Countess of Claybourne everything. She’d glossed over certain details, such as those concerning Lord Bolton’s attack on her person which precipitated her hitting him in the head.

As far as the intimacy shared by she and Caden, she’d left that out entirely.

Lady Thurgood had listened, quiet and attentive, throughout the long discourse, save for occasional murmurs of commiseration and concern. She regarded Anna with compassion filled eyes.

“You poor dear. You lost your father, and never had a moment to grieve.” Brows beetled, she rose and moved to the open window .

She gazed toward the waning sun on the horizon. “I can’t help but feel a certain affinity with you. I’m not sure what, if anything, Caden shared with you of my experience prior to marrying Zeke.”

Anna joined her. It felt good to stretch her legs and breathe in the balmy air. “He did not disclose any details. He mentioned a difficult time you’d been forced to navigate, which you managed with evident grace and courage. He can’t sing your praises enough.”

She chuckled. “I’m not so sure about the grace part. But yes, I underwent a difficult ordeal. Suffice it to say, with the earl’s help, and of course that of Zeke and Caden, I escaped marriage to my guardian, who we believe planned to marry me, then murder me.”

“Oh, my,” Anna murmured, pressing her hand to her heart. They did share a similar story.

“I ran for my life, on the cusp of the death of my beloved grandfather. I’d lost both my parents several years before that, and at the time, believed my brother dead, as well. So I know a bit about what you must have suffered—what you undoubtedly suffer, still.”

“I miss my father terribly. Both of my parents, really, though my mother has been gone for some time and the sting of loss is less acute.”

“I understand. No other family to speak of?”

Anna shook her head. “My father’s family relocated to New York. After losing both his parents to illness, he set sail, returning to England where he attended university, became a physician, and sometime thereafter, met my mother.

“Mother rarely spoke of her past. She told me enough for me to know she was an orphan, with no family to speak of. There was only ever the three of us.”

“I’m sure the two of them loved you very much. Your father probably remarried hoping his new wife would be a second mother to you. How could she contrive to sell you off to Lord Bolton? ”

Anna screwed up her face. “I still can’t figure out what was in it for either of them. Caden believes there was some sort of financial motive, but I can’t figure how. Angelique swore father left us destitute. Even if she lied about that, whatever fortune he had would have gone to her.

"As for Lord Bolton, the shape of his home alone tells me he hasn’t the funds to pay Angelique a dowry for me. Whatever they stood to gain by having Lord Bolton marry me is a complete mystery. Frankly, I don’t care why. I just want to be free of both of them.”

Lady Thurgood nibbled the inside of her cheek. “I can understand your position. I, however, do care to know the why’s and wherefores.” She grinned at Anna. “I’m inquisitive by nature.”

Anna grinned back.

She cocked her head and tapped her chin with one graceful finger. “My guardian wanted to marry me to inherit my family’s title. Did your father hold any sort of honorific?”

“Oh, my, no.”

She arched a single, ebony brow. “It’s maddening, missing the puzzle pieces. There are, however, two things we know for certain. One, Bolton is still searching for you.”

“Yes.” Anna agreed. “And the other?”

“That you ended up in the right place at the right time. Crossing paths with Caden was the best thing that could have happened for both of you.”

“Both of us?”

“It’s obvious he cares for you very much.”

Anna’s cheeks went instantly hot. “I’m not sure where you got that idea.”

She gave Anna a bemused look. “He asked you to marry him— ”

“—Oh, but”

“—He secreted you out of harm’s way in the dead of night—very romantic, by the by.”

“Yes, but—”

“Finally, he brought you here, to the breast of his family. That alone tells me everything I need to know.”

Despite her need to set the lady straight on nearly every point she made, her curiosity got the better of her. “Why do you say that?”

She rested one elbow on the window sill. “Has Caden mentioned anything to you about his…er…relationship with his brother, Zeke?”

“You refer to their recent argument?”

Her green eyes gleamed with satisfaction, as if Anna had just proven her point. “Precisely. When Caden left, I feared we would not set eyes on him for a long, long while. Yet, here he is.”

“He came home because he understood the earl to be ill.”

“And to get you to safety—and introduce you to us.”

“I believe I explained I stowed away in his vehicle.”

“He discovered you”—she cleared her throat discreetly—“ after stopping for the night at a roadside inn?”

Blood flooded her cheeks. She must be glowing a bright shade of red. “Yes, and there procured two rooms for us.” He had. At first.

“Of course. Caden is nothing if not a gentleman. My point is, he could easily have left you behind, rather than bring you with him and place himself on the mercy of his brother, for that is exactly what he has done.”

Horror filled Anna. “But I have no wish to cause him distress. I’ve told him so repeatedly.”

Lady Thurgood took both of Anna’s hands in hers.

She squeezed gently. “Please, do not trouble yourself. Distressing or no, mending the rift between the two of them is the best possible outcome for both of them regardless of who blinked first. I’ll add Caden used a large measure of wisdom in turning to his family for assistance.

Zeke did the same when faced with our particular crisis.

“The point I’m trying to make is, I believe Caden chose to swallow his pride and make amends…” she paused, “…for you.”

Anna batted back a rush of tenderness and a sense of belonging she had no business feeling. “My lady, forgive me, but you’re overlooking Caden’s nature. He could never leave me behind once he understood my predicament. Defending those in need is a part of who he is.”

The lady's knowing laugh conveyed an obvious fondness for Caden. “He is a good man, I’ll grant you. But he could have helped you without bringing you here, Mrs. Jones. Miss Masters. Bah, either sound so horribly formal. May I call you Anna?”

“Of course, my lady.”

She smiled warmly. “And you must call me Kitty—especially as we’re to be sisters.”

Anna sucked in a breath and her cheeks pulsed with heat. “Oh, dear. I thought I made it clear. Caden made-up the part about us being engaged in order to explain my presence.”

Lady Kitty laughed with delight. “You hadn’t a notion of him saying so? More of his gallantry at work, then, do you suppose?”

“Well, yes. I mean, no. I mean, I wondered how he planned to explain my presence. When I asked him, he told me he meant to tell you all the truth.”

Lady Kitty gave Anna a delighted smile. “Are you so sure that is not precisely what he did?”

Anna blinked.

“Never you mind, darling Anna. I insist you put all of this from your mind for the next little while and take a well-earned rest. We will sort this mess out, together, as a family. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Zeke, Caden and the earl have already concocted a plan. ”

Without further ado, she hastened toward the chamber door, throwing over her shoulder, “I confess I can not wait to discuss all of this with Zeke and compare my new knowledge with his.”

Her green eyes twinkled with mischief. “Later, I shall send a maid to help you with your toilette, then collect you myself to escort you to the dining hall. This old castle has so many twists and turns, you’d never find your way on your own.”

Before Anna could tell her not to go to the trouble of sending a maid, she was gone, door closed behind her, leaving Anna to wonder just where she’d gone wrong in her story-telling. She’d been forthright—mostly.

Yet, Lady Kitty believed Caden intended to marry her. If she only knew what had transpired between them at the inn, she could have no doubt whatsoever.

Anna’s breath caught in her throat. How could she have been so stupid? How had she missed the obvious? Lady Kitty was right. Wrong about Caden’s feelings, but right about his intention.

He did plan to marry her.

He’d said nothing of the sort in the carriage ride to Chissington Hall, shocking her with his blithe announcement of their supposed engagement. She’d assumed he’d made the claim out of expedience.

She paced the elegant chamber, wringing her hands. The idiotic, wonderful, too-noble-for-his-own-good man intended to marry her. But not because he had affection for her as his sister-in-law supposed.

Anna knew he didn’t love her. He’d said nothing of tender emotions. He’d spoken only of wanting her, craving her. But that was a far cry from love.

He’d marry her out of duty, honor, responsibility .

She could not allow it—even if the thought of not marrying him now left her feeling as if someone had carved her very heart out of her chest.