The Trouble with Anna

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

L ONDON FIZZED LIKE A SHAKEN bottle of champagne and Anna was the cork.

At least, it felt that way, as she elbowed her way through the bubbling mob in the Dowager’s ballroom. Her back ached from all the slaps, her cheeks felt hot from the endless pinches, and one of Marby’s wretched cousins had sneaked up behind her and snipped a souvenir lock of her hair.

It was after midnight! Long past time for everyone to go home! Yet all of London seemed determined to stay and drink their fill of her.

Everyone except Julian.

The ballroom was awash in her racing colors, a dizzying swirl of scarlet and white. Women wore scarlet ribbons in their hair or tied jaunty scarlet-and-white bows around their necks. Lady Cardiff had dashed home and come back, triumphant, dressed “à la Anna” in an eye-popping scarlet-and-white-striped ball gown she’d had made up five years ago and—“Blessedly!” snorted Dame FitzHerbert—never quite found the courage to wear. Quite a number of the men had scarlet cheeks from the sting of their wounded pride, or perhaps their wounded pocketbooks. And then there was Julian’s enormous banner, which now hung drunkenly over the ballroom doors.

Even when Anna closed her eyes, the banner blazed at her. Julian’s words blazed too. Ride like hell, my lady. I’ve come to watch you win.

Anna felt her stomach flip. Where was the dratted man? She muttered darkly and pushed up on her tiptoes, searching over the crowd. How dare he wave banners and boom out what sounded like public declarations, and then disappear? Every time she caught a glimpse of him and tried to jostle her way over, someone grabbed her, or distracted him, or—

“Marby!” Anna latched on to his wrist. “Where’s Julian?”

“What? Julian? I don’t know!” Marby yelled over the noise, with a harassed look over his shoulder “Have you seen Charlotte?”

“By the punch! I’ll wave her over.”

Marby gave a strangled yelp. “Don’t you dare! Each time she sees me she leaps on my back and cries, ‘Away, Archer, off we go!’ I am not a ruddy horse and I’ve told her so!”

Anna laughed. “How wretched for you! Send Julian to me if you see him?”

Marby nodded and slunk away into the crowd.

Anna caught sight of the Dowager in the far corner of the ballroom and plowed her way over. The Dowager was holding forth with the matrons, wearing Mr. Frith’s mangled top hat at a rakish angle like a prize of war. Anna could just make out what she was saying.

“A new orangerie is a shocking expense. Why, the ironwork alone! I may be a chaperone, but I’m a horticulturalist too, you know, and—” The Dowager caught sight of Anna and beamed. “Darling! You were splendid . We’ve all made heaps of money!”

“Have you seen Julian?”

“Not in ages.”

“If he comes by, please tell him to find me?”

The Dowager nodded, and Anna waded back into the crowd, crosser by the moment.

Someone whacked her hard on the back and yelled, “Ripping good sport!”

Half the world had congratulated her, but not Julian. The other half of the world had lectured her, but not him. Surely he was tempted to seek her out? Surely no one could wave a banner at her and skulk off into silence?

On the racecourse, Marby and Hartley had pulled her onto their shoulders and she’d scanned the crowd for Julian, only to watch his phaeton roll off back to London. When she’d arrived at the Dowager’s house, she’d spotted him over the crowd and gone bright as a torch. But he had simply bowed from the far side of the ballroom and stayed there .

It was strange! It was unconscionable! It was impossible to breathe with all these wretched people everywhere.

Anna stalked over to Charlotte at the refreshments table. “That’s it! If one more person pokes me, I swear I will grab the nearest bottle of champagne and—”

“And do what?” Julian’s voice was like the rough scrape of a cat’s tongue along her spine.

Anna whirled toward him.

Julian.

At last.

“Imagine being the toast of London and loathing every minute of it.” Charlotte tossed her arm over Anna’s shoulders. “Whatever shall we do with her?”

Julian gave a quiet laugh. “I have ideas.”

Anna’s stomach flared in response. She knit her eyebrows together and tried to unflare it. She was confused! She was harassed! No inconvenient belly flares would confuse the matter. Where had he been all night?

“Is everything arranged, then?” Charlotte asked brightly.

“What’s arranged?” Anna demanded. “Never mind! I don’t care. I simply want to—”

“Take a turn outside? I understand completely.”

Before Anna could muster a response, Julian swept her across the ballroom and out the wide doors that led down into the Dowager’s garden. The cold slapped Anna’s mouth closed, and by the time she’d found her wits to protest, they were standing alone together by the tall brick wall at the far end of the garden, near the little wooden door that led into the back alley.

It was quiet, blissfully so after the frenzy of the ballroom. Anna stopped twitching and her senses began to wake up. It was just the two of them, together in the dark, and Julian looked more pleased with himself than any man had the right to be.

“Why have you hauled me out to the g-garden?” Her teeth clattered in the cold, but she was much too intent on his answer to notice.

Julian did. He gave a low whistle, the little door opened, and Levy stepped in from the alley carrying a long cloak for Anna and Julian’s greatcoat. Julian laid the cloak carefully over Anna’s shoulders and pulled up the inky-black hood, concealing her face entirely.

“This ought to keep you warm. Charlotte called it her ‘assignation cloak.’ Does she truly sneak out in this, or did she say it simply to shock me? No matter. I refuse to let my sister needle me tonight.”

Anna frowned up at him. “Why are we here? Why have you made poor Levy lurk in the alley? Where were you all night? Your behavior is distinctly strange .”

Julian’s eyes gleamed. “I believe you mean masterful.”

“I do not! ‘Masterful’ is a horrid word. Men only use it when they want to be difficult without facing consequences.”

“How well you understand me.”

“You wretch!” Her laugh faded away. “Julian, your banner. I’ve never—”

His eyes blazed. “Not here, Anna. Not yet.”

Julian nudged her gently through the door and into the alley, where two glossy hunters were saddled for a ride.

Anna gasped. “Oh, what beauties! Whose are they?”

“Mine. I had them sent down from Clare.”

He lifted Anna up onto the nearest of the pair, his hands warm around her waist. When she was settled, he reached up and flicked her nose.

“No more questions? I’ll have to remember that it takes only a fine animal to hush you up.”

“I simply know better than to question a good horse when it comes my way.”

Julian’s handsome face grew serious, and Anna’s stomach turned over in response. “Did I do right, my lightning? I thought you might need peace, and this seemed the quickest way for you to find it.”

Oh! Her eyes started prickling and Anna ducked her face.

His lips curved. “I see. I’ll take that as a yes.”

Julian swung up into his saddle and turned to Levy. “Not a word of this to anyone. You may open a crate of brandy in the servants’ hall tonight.”

“Certainly, sir!” Levy drew himself up. “Lady Anna, on behalf of the house—you’ve done us very proud today.”

Anna gave him a wobbly smile. “Charlotte and I put a bet down for the house. Ten to one odds, Levy, to be shared out equally. We’re so grateful to all of you.”

“Thank you, my lady!” Levy was still beaming as she and Julian rode away.

The two riders made their way slowly down the alley and out into the square, where flickering light from the streetlamps danced on the cobblestones. No one paid attention to the pair, her face obscured by the cloak and his by a large muffler.

Anna soaked in the quiet, the sudden peace.

She’d done it.

She’d done all of it—she could pension off Chatham’s servants with plenty of money left over to buy the best horses and start a stable of her own. Even Charlotte had won her independence. But the wild tension of the day was still with Anna, so she gave herself over to the slight sway of the saddle and the clip-clop of hooves on hard ground, and let those old rhythms steady her.

They hadn’t been riding long before Julian led them away from the narrow streets of Mayfair and onto a wide avenue, the city growing darker as they left the lights of the great houses behind. Julian drew up his mount before the low gray arches that opened into Hyde Park.

“Grosvenor Gate?” Anna asked. “But the park is locked at night.”

Julian shot her a crooked grin. “I’ll send my apologies to the Prince Regent.”

He whistled, and a man came running up to the wrought iron. The gates opened with a groan of metal and Julian rode into the beckoning darkness, pausing for her. “Are you coming?”

Anna clicked her horse into a trot and rode past him. “I hear there are cutpurses after dark!”

His laugh rumbled through her belly. “Don’t sound so excited, my pirate. Was the race not thrill enough today?”

Anna didn’t answer. Her horse’s ears had pricked up, and her senses pricked with them, eyes alert to the blackness around them, her face tingling in the cold. A ribbon of light in the distance drew her attention.

“What’s that?”

“Rotten Row.”

Anna rode toward it as if pulled by a string. She’d been there before, of course—it was fashionable to ride there most afternoons. But in the bustle of the day, it was easy to forget that the Row was built to be the King’s road to Kensington Palace. At night it glowed, lit by three hundred gas lanterns, the first illuminated road in all of England. The lanterns flickered ahead, creating a tunnel of gold against the dark. She brought her horse to a stop at the edge of the light.

Julian drew up beside her. “Shall we ride?”

The pair clicked their horses on, and together they ran. The wind pushed back her hood and yanked on his muffler. The cold slapped her cheeks red and turned his laughter to smoke. They ran and ran, and only when the road ended at the edge of Kensington Gardens did they pull up in the circle of light under the last lamp.

Julian dismounted and lifted her down, his hands lingering on her waist. “My god, I was proud of you today. I thought I would die of pride.”

“Yet you disappeared,” Anna said quietly.

“Mm. So you missed me.”

“I did not!” she denied, then swallowed. He’d splayed her heart open, there was no room for deception anymore. “That’s not true. I missed you terribly.”

Julian ran his thumb down her cheek. “It was your night, lightning. I wanted you to have it all to yourself.”

Anna breathed, falling toward him. Everything was heightened, the cold, the earthiness of the fallen leaves, the warmth pouring off his body. She gripped her courage hard.

“Why have you brought me here, Julian? What’s this all about?”

Anna’s heart stopped beating as he lowered his mouth to drop a single word in her ear.

“Money.”

She reared back. “Money!”

“Yes, my magpie.” He laughed and held her tight as she tried to jerk herself out of his arms. “Have you collected enough, I wonder? You and Charlotte have skulked across ballrooms for weeks now. I assume you’ve reached your goal at last, given what you must have won today.”

“B-but, but—”

His lips curved. “But what, my criminal? You thought I didn’t know? You thought you could run London’s most notorious gambling racket and catch me sleeping?” She pressed her lips together and he pulled her hard against his chest again, laughing. “Don’t glare at me so. Not when my own finish post is in sight at last.”

Anna pushed against him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

He pressed a kiss against her neck. “Yes, you do. You and Charlotte must have cleared five thousand pounds by now.”

“Each!” she flung at him.

“Each!” he agreed. “Even better than I imagined. But is it enough?”

“Enough for what?”

His arms tightened around her and all his teasing fell away. “Enough for you to be completely independent. Enough so you can pension Chatham’s servants and build a stable of your own. Enough so that when I ask you to marry me again, you’ll know it’s not out of guilt, or, god forbid, pity.”

Anna’s breath caught.

A muscle in Julian’s jaw tightened painfully. “I don’t think I can wait any longer, Anna. Buy your horses, load your servants down with gold, dig up all my estates and replace them with paddocks for all I care. Do what you like, so long as you do it as my wife . Marry me, Anna.”

A quicksilver thrill shot through Anna. She could feel her skin flush and her pulse beating hard in her neck, but she couldn’t look away.

“Well?” Julian demanded.

She opened her mouth helplessly, but couldn’t seem to muster a response. The silence grew and grew and still the words wouldn’t come. So, ever a woman of action, she answered the only way she knew how. Anna took two fistfuls of his greatcoat and lifted herself up into his kiss.

Julian’s mouth hovered above hers, just out of reach. “No. Answer me. Say you’ll marry me, you wretch.”

“Yes! Yes, of course I will.”

Something peculiar washed over Julian’s face, as if the sheer magnitude of his relief buckled him. In a blink, the strange expression was gone, replaced by a look so feral it chased everything else away.

“Stay with me tonight.”

The air sparked between them.

Anna’s body trembled, and she tensed her muscles and forced them to still. It was a day for courage, not for fear. She swallowed. “Yes, I’ll stay with you tonight.”