Free The Runaway Countess by Amanda Mccabe

stretch her aching back. It was much like every other day here at Barton, taking advantage of the lull in the rain to work in the garden. Emma was darting around with a book in one hand and a trowel in the other, no doubt collecting more botanical specimens, while Murray chased sticks and barked, and their maid, Hannah, hung out the laundry.
    And yet it wasn’t like any other day, not really. Because Hayden sat on the terrace, watching them all.
    Jane tried to ignore him. The clouds were gathering again and she had work to do inthe garden before they were forced to go inside. In fact, she had been trying to ignore him completely for the two days he had been at Barton.
    It hadn’t been too hard to avoid him. He stayed in the guest chamber they had hastily cleared out. Hannah carried his meals to him, scurrying in and out as fast as she could. Emma took him books to read and Jane checked on the bandages after dinner. After their quarrel that first night, they were scrupulously polite, exchanging few words.
    It made Jane want to scream. Careful, quiet, distant politeness had never been Hayden. That was what had drawn her to him in the first place, that vivid, bright life that burned in him like a torch. He shook up her careful life, turned it all topsy-turvy until she wanted to run and dance and shout along with him. Be alive with him.
    She hadn’t realised at the beginning the other side of that beckoning flame. She hadn’t realised how very hard married life would be. She had been so young, so romantic, with so little experience of men like Hayden and their world. When she had leftLondon, she had wanted only the quiet she found at Barton, and that was her healing refuge. Her chance to get to know herself.
    But quiet sat uneasily on Hayden. The silent tension between them, under the same roof, but not in the same world, only reminded her how long they had been apart.
    She held up her hand to shade her eyes from the grey light and studied him as he sat on the terrace. His black hair shimmered, brushed back from the lean angles of his face, and his finely tailored green coat and elegantly tied cravat made him stand out from the shabbiness around him. His polished boot rested against the old chipped planter and he leaned on the walking stick Emma had unearthed from somewhere as he solemnly studied the garden.
    He looked like a god suddenly dropped down from the sky. He didn’t belong there any more than she belonged in London. They didn’t belong
together
.
    Yet he had dismissed any talk of divorce.
    Jane sighed as she tugged off her dirty garden gloves. Soon enough he would be on his way, as soon as the doctor said he couldtravel. Then they could go back to their silent, distant truce, their limbo.
    But she was afraid she would have to work at forgetting him all over again.
    She made her way to the terrace and sat down on the old stone bench next to him. They were silent together for a moment, watching as Emma and her dog disappeared into the tangled entrance of the old maze.
    ‘How are you feeling today?’ Jane asked.
    ‘Much better,’ he answered. He gestured towards the maze with his stick. ‘Should she be going in there?’
    Jane laughed. ‘Probably not. The maze hasn’t been maintained in years, it’s surely completely overgrown with who knows what. But it’s hard to tell Emma what not to do. She is sure to do it, anyway.’
    Hayden smiled down at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the light. ‘Unlike her sister, I dare say,’ he said teasingly.
    ‘Very true. I always tried to do what I should.’ Jane sighed to think of how hard she had worked to be what everyone wanted, to take care of everyone. And look how that ended up. ‘I think Emma has the right idea.’
    ‘I should have taken better care of you, Jane,’ he said quietly.
    Jane was shocked by those words. She turned to look at him, only to find that he still watched the garden. ‘In what way? You said it yourself—you gave me everything I