Page 42 of A Stolen Heart

“In what way does that differ from spying on me?”

He hesitated. “I was concerned.”

“About me? Why did you not call out to me, then, when you saw me? Why did you hide in your carriage and furtively follow me?”

“I was concerned for the Countess.”

“The Countess! How does spying on me help the Countess?”

“I must protect her from those who would take advantage of her,” Thorpe replied stiffly, irritated that she was turning the tables on him and implying that he had been in the wrong.

It took a moment for the meaning of his words to register on Alexandra. When they did, fury flashed through her, flooding her cheeks with color. She jumped to her feet, her arms stiff at her sides. “You are saying that I would take advantage of the Countess?”

She looked beautiful in her rage, Thorpe thought, her skin luminous, her eyes sparkling. He was aware of an intense urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her. The fact that he could want to do so even when he felt so angry and betrayed made him furious.

“It is a possibility I have to consider,” he said in a clipped voice. “You acted as though you had never heard of Exmoor before now. As if you did not know the Countess or anything about her family.”

“I don’t—or, at least, I did not until she told me!”

“Then what were you doing going to Exmoor House?”

“I don’t even know what Exmoor House is! Who lives there? It isn’t the Countess’s house.”

Thorpe grimaced. “You know very well that it belongs to the Earl of Exmoor.”

“Do you mean that man I met last night? The one Nicola disliked? What does that have to do with the Countess?”

“It is the seat of the family. It is where the Countess lived before the death of her husband, who was then Earl—and exactly where you could find a servant who would remember details about the family, about Chilton and his wife and their children. The very sort of facts you need to convince the Countess that you are her granddaughter.”

“What!” Hurt mingled with anger, and Alexandra trembled under the force of her emotions. “You dare to accuse me of—of pretending to be the Countess’s dead granddaughter? To what purpose? Why?”

“For money. Isn’t that always the reason?” Thorpe’s mouth twisted.

“Money!”

“Yes. The Countess is a wealthy woman. Even though the title and the estates passed to Richard when the Earl and his son both died, her husband left her a great deal of money. A woman who was the granddaughter she had long believed dead would likely get things showered on her by her wealthy grandmother—and a good portion of her estate when she died.”

“But I don’t need money from the Countess, or anyone. I have plenty of money of my own.”

“So you say.”

“Oh. Of course. Nothing I say can be held as truth. Exactly why is that? Because I am not British? Or because by some strange quirk of fate I resemble the Countess’s daughter-in-law? I suppose you think that somehow I managed to make myself a replica of this Simone person, too.”

“Hair has been known to change color and can be curled. The likeness could be emphasized.”

“Her portrait was enough like me to be my twin!” Alexandra cried. “You can’t explain that away with talk of dyeing and curling.”

Thorpe was silent for a moment, looking at her. “So now you are claiming a connection with Simone?” His mouth twisted. “And to think that I was fool enough to believe you, to think that you were interested in my collection or in me, when all you really wanted was entrée to the Countess.”

“I didn’t even know the Countess. What did I care about meeting her?” Alexandra cried. “You were the one who introduced me to her. You were the one who invited me to that ball.”

“Ah, but that was part of your scheme, wasn’t it?”

Alexandra looked at him for a long moment, almost breathless from the pain of his words. She would never have guessed that it could hurt so much to have a man look at her the way Thorpe was looking at her, as if she were dirt beneath his feet.

“I would hate to be you,” she said finally. “To see the world the way you see it. You know me, you talked to me, you even acted as though you were attracted to me.”

“I was attracted to you, dammit! My folly, obviously!”