A Wayward Woman: Diamonds, Deception and the Debutante / Fugitive Countess. Helen Dickson

I really have to tell you—thief?’ she hissed accusingly, looking at him with withering scorn.

      He looked at her very calmly now, everything beginning to fall into place. ‘Thief? Now, that’s debatable.’

      ‘Not to me.’

      ‘You know, if you’re going to take this defensive attitude, we’re not going to get anywhere. I take it that you have found what you were looking for?’

      She nodded.

      ‘So, you saw behind my disguise.’

      ‘That wasn’t too difficult when I had time to piece things together. It was your cologne that gave you away.’

      His lips twitched with the hint of a smile. ‘How astute of you. Trust a woman to notice that—and it certainly explains your attitude towards me at the party.’

      ‘What you did, holding up a coach on the King’s highway and forcing—at gunpoint, I might add—a woman to part with her valuables, is a criminal offence—one you could be hanged for.’

      ‘As you took great pleasure in informing me last night. Please don’t go on,’ Lance drawled in exaggerated horror. ‘You will give me nightmares.’

      His ability to mock his fate and ignore his crime was more than Belle could bear. Her voice shook with angry emotion, and she stared at him as if he were something inhuman and beyond her comprehension.

      ‘And my grandmother? Did you not spare a thought to how your actions might have affected her had she been in the coach? She might have suffered a seizure on being confronted by a violent highwayman.’

      ‘I doubt it. Your grandmother is made of sterner stuff than that. However, I heard it mentioned that she wasn’t feeling well and was to remain in town with Lady Channing.’

      ‘And if she had been in the coach?’

      ‘I would not have held you up.’

      ‘How perfectly noble of you,’ she scoffed. ‘My grandmother could bring charges against you for what you did.’

      ‘And who would believe a high-ranking lord of the realm—as well as being a highly respected and decorated officer in Wellington’s army—would stoop so low as to take to the road as a highwayman?’

      Belle glowered at him. ‘Is there no limit to what you will dare?’

      ‘No,’ he said. ‘No limit whatsoever. If you suspected it was me who took your necklace, didn’t it occur to you to simply ask me about it when we met earlier today, instead of taking matters into your own hands and sneaking into my home to look for them?’

      Belle shrugged. ‘It’s no worse than what you did to me—you—you wretch. Besides, what was the point in asking you? You would have denied it.’

      ‘And you know that, do you?’

      ‘Don’t you feel any guilt at all about stealing the diamonds?’

      ‘No. Should I?’

      ‘I don’t suppose you would. One has to have a conscience to feel guilt,’ she said, shrugging out of her coat to examine the tear in the back.

      ‘If I were guilty of taking something that didn’t belong to me, maybe I would deny it. But I didn’t.’

      ‘What are you saying?’

      ‘The diamonds belong to me—to my family. I was merely retrieving them.’

      Belle stared at him, surprised by his revelation and clearly shocked. ‘To you? But—they are Ainsley diamonds—my grand mother—’

      ‘Told you they belonged to your family, I know. Maybe after all these years she has come to believe that. Is the loss of the diamonds the reason why she has taken to her bed?’

      ‘No. You were right. She wasn’t feeling too well at Carlton House last night and stayed with Lady Channing. She is still not well, so I thought it wise to wait until she is feeling better before I tell her the diamonds were stolen.’

      ‘One cannot steal something that legitimately belongs to them.’

      ‘But why go to all that trouble of pretending to be a highwayman?’ Belle demanded.

      At that moment Lance preferred not to think about the bet he had made with Rowland. ‘Because I wanted you to think the person who took your valuables was nothing more than an ordinary thief. Would you have given them to me if I’d asked?’

      ‘Of course not.’

      ‘There you are, then. You have your answer, but I cannot believe you planned this—to come here dressed as … you are,’ he said, contemplating her attire, thinking that in her white silk blouse, long and shapely legs encased in buff-coloured breeches, she really was a wonderful sight to behold, ‘and that you were foolish enough to come to my house to steal them back.’

      Suddenly Belle felt suffocated by his nearness. Her whole being throbbed with an awareness of him, but she knew that if she gave any hint of her weakness, it would only lead to disaster. She saw where his gaze was directed and, glancing down, realised the twin peaks of her breasts were standing taut and high beneath her blouse. Her cheeks grew suddenly hot with embarrassment, and she folded her arms across her chest, glowering at him.

      ‘I never would have, if not for the fury I was beset with at the time—and there’s a confession for you. I have a temper—I can’t help it, and I’m rarely able to control it once it snaps.’

      ‘I’d already figured that out for myself,’ Lance said drily. By his actions he had woken a sleeping dragon.

      ‘Then perhaps you’ll think twice about provoking it in future.’

      His eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘I, too, have a temper, Belle. You would do well to remember that.’ He stared at her for a moment, his jaw tight and hard, and then he sauntered to the fireplace, resting his arm on the mantelpiece.

      ‘If I were a man, I’d call you out for what you did to me last night.’

      ‘That would not be wise, Belle.’

      ‘No? After threatening my life and the men whose duty it was to protect me, nothing would satisfy me more that to put a bullet between your eyes.’

      ‘What? You can use a gun?’

      ‘Of course I can—I’m a very good shot, as it happens. Where I come from it is not unusual for women to learn how to shoot. I can hit a target with the best of them.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I suppose you will say my vanity is showing itself.’

      ‘No, I’m impressed. Not one of the ladies of my acquaintance would know which end of a gun to fire.’

      ‘Then you should become more selective in the ladies you associate with.’

      ‘I don’t think so,’ he replied drily. ‘To become intimately acquainted with a woman whose skill with any weapon might exceed my own, could prove to be dangerous.’

      ‘Then that lets me off the hook,’ Belle retorted flippantly.

      ‘How so?’

      ‘Last night you let me believe you were as enamoured of me as the rest—just to get your hands on my grandmother’s diamonds. You certainly know how to dent a girl’s pride.’

      Lance would like to have told her that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion, and that he was enamoured with both her and the necklace. The truth was that she was too beautiful, too sensational for a man not to be enamoured of her. But he refused to feed her vanity more than it already was by the doting swains who trailed in her wake.

      ‘I have every confidence that your pride will soon recover.’

      Belle was disappointed that he wasn’t attracted by her, but didn’t show it. Why had she to say that? How absolutely embarrassing. He probably