Page 70 of No Ordinary Lady

“No, thank you, my lady,” she ground out.

“That’s better. A lady must keep her poise in every circumstance.” Lady Scarsdale stood and removed Marian’s gag, but the moment Marian opened her mouth, Lady Scarsdale stuffed the biscuit in its place. “Never let it be said I was churlish to those in need.”

Marian was too busy eating the delicious biscuit to form an answer. The biscuit was so good that when she was done, she thanked the countess, hoping for another.

But make no mistake, Marian was a prisoner of the countess. It was her own fault for underestimating the woman and not checking that she’d remained unobserved.

“Now tell me, and be honest—what you are doing here?”

Marian answered, “Nothing.”

The countess dropped all the money Marian had stolen on the table beside the tea pot. “What were you doing in my son’s bedchamber?”

There didn’t seem much point in lying about it again. “Stealing his money.”

Although the truth, that did not seem to satisfy the countess, who straightened in her chair. “Who sent you?”

Marian frowned. “No one sent me.”

“And yet a member of the scandalous Trill family suddenly appears in this part of the county, has wormed her way into my very home when you must know I swore swift retaliation should any of your cronies darken our doorstep again. I paid the blackmail in full, as agreed.”

Marian reared back from the countess as much as the chair allowed, confused, and shocked at her suggestion. “What blackmail?”

The countess took a bite of the last sugar biscuit and then stood to pace to the window. She peered outside into the dark night and sighed. “How much will you demand this time to stay away from my family?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I knew what you were here for the moment I saw you, of course,” she said as she resumed her seat. “Another bite of the apple, so to speak. But I’m not having it. Not again.”

Marian wet her lips before speaking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, my lady. I’m just a thief.”

“You’re also a good liar, too. Charming, beautiful, and cunning, but just as deceitful as all members of your family have been through the years,” she claimed. “I will release you at dawn and you will leave this place, empty-handed, but be sure to take the others hiding out there with you. The authorities were warned days ago to be on the lookout for your uncle Crossman and his band of thieves. Perhaps you will escape imprisonment this time. Perhaps you won’t. But should you see them, do tell them I’m better prepared than I used to be. If any of them show their faces here, threatening my son or my mother, they will regret it.”

“You know my family? We’re not murderers.” Although, the mood toward their victims had taken a dark turn of late, thanks to Tommy and Beatrice. Given the countess’ words, and she had no reason to lie, Marian was a little afraid of what she might have missed the others doing behind her back.

The lady huffed. “I’ve known your family longer than you can possibly imagine, girl, and there’s nothing Crossman won’t do for profit. He’s a persistent blackmailer, thief and all-around scoundrel, your uncle. It’s been four years since I last dealt with him, and I will not pay him another king’s ransom to forget he knows my past.”

“Your past?”

The countess grimaced. “I did not come from a prosperous family.”

“I knew that.” Marian’s eyes widened as she realized there was so much she did not know yet about the countess and her past. But everyone had one, and it was not always pleasant. The countess did not appear ready to divulge hers, though. “Does Danny know about my uncle’s blackmail? He didn’t seem to recognize him when they met in Wraxall.”

The lady turned pale. “My son knows nothing of our dealings with your dreadful family over the years, thanks to him spending so much time in London, and I had intended to keep it that way forever until you arrived.”

Marian gulped. “They don’t know that I’m here. My family, that is. I even doubt they heard his name. I never knew he was an earl until Granny told me.”

“A likely story.”

“It’s true.” Marian took a deep breath. “The last thing I ever want is to see Danny hurt, or you and Granny, either. They wanted to ambush Danny’s carriage on the road. I argued against that, and they would have done it anyway…Tommy and Beatrice, I mean. So I went to warn Danny to travel armed, so he would arrive home safe and whole, and he did.”

The lady pursed her lips, and her eyes narrowed on Marian. “You’re a thief.”

“I am what I was brought up to be by my uncle,” Marian said, lowering her eyes. “I don’t remember anything else. My life before my father died is a mystery to me.”

“There is nothing else for you to remember besides a life of crime, girl. Your father traded in stolen goods, just like his father did. Goods that Crossman stole from my husband.”

Marian digested that information. “So, Crossman really is my uncle?”