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‘No, he didn’t get a chance.’ Sophie gave a tiny smile as she raised the frying pan. ‘Knowing how to use a cricket bat meant I could swing the frying pan with some force. It took three goes before he finally believed I was serious.’
‘Sebastian does rather take pride in his attractiveness to the opposite sex.’
‘Did Robert send you, Henri? Does he intend on making me marry Sebastian now? Sebastian said he would and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. He…he looked forward to taming me and he was going to spend every penny of my inheritance.’ A single tear trickled down Sophie’s cheek. ‘I won’t. I can’t. I wanted so much more from my life. You must tell him that for me. You will have to do it.’
‘I’ve no idea what Robert’s intentions are,’ Henri replied truthfully. ‘But he wants what’s best for you. He wants the truth.’
‘He won’t like the truth.’ Sophie shook her head. ‘I can’t tell Robert the truth!’
‘Why did you go with my cousin? Why not just go back to the New Lodge?’
Sophie winced. ‘I didn’t really know how I felt about Sebastian except he made things more exciting and I was tired of being good. I thought…about you and how you met the love of your life and you eloped. You were my age. It was so romantic. I want romance in my life.’
‘Sophie…you never knew me then.’ Henri sighed. Sophie deserved the truth. ‘I may have eloped, but it was not romantic. Edmund was seriously ill. We married so I could nurse him. I had a notion about saving his life and I suppose escaping from my parents. A woman should be a wife before she is anything else, my mother used to say, but I didn’t understand what she meant. I think I was too young to understand the different sorts of love.’ She closed her eyes and thought of Robert, how he was there for her in the quiet moments and how he challenged her without making her feel small or insignificant. And how the passion flared between them. She wanted to be his lover before anything. With Edmund, she had only wanted to be his ministering angel. Edmund would always occupy a place in her heart, but she wanted Robert with all his faults in her life. ‘I do know now.’
‘Sebastian seemed romantic and certain of his love. He wanted to make a grand gesture.’ Sophie ducked her head. ‘It seemed exciting, a man of his reputation interested in plain old me.’
‘You are far from plain, Sophie. But what went wrong?’
‘When we stopped at this inn and I became worried because I thought surely someone would have caught up with us. Robert couldn’t have believed the notes. I thought he’d have asked you. Then Sebastian seemed concerned about his hair, his problems with his coat and getting a pint of beer. He wanted…he wanted…Anyway…I hit him on the head. He refused to believe me about the frying pan. I did warn him, Henri, if he persisted I would.’ A tiny giggle escaped from Sophie. ‘You should have seen his face and he became ugly, not at all like he had been. It was the last blow to his head that sent him downstairs, shouting about how I was a hell-born fury and how he’d tame the wild-cat. I barricaded the door.’
‘He hasn’t touched you.’ A burgeoning hope bubbled up inside her. Sophie was unharmed and no longer infatuated with Sebastian. ‘He hasn’t actually ruined you?’
‘No, he hasn’t. My stepmother always is going on and on about keeping my reputation spotless so the family does not suffer, but how I must marry someone in aristocracy.’ Sophie hung her head. ‘Adventure is thoroughly disorienting. Like my canary, I prefer my gilded cage. And I left the door open for him. Do you think he will still be there?’
‘Your stepmother will do as Robert says. And I am certain that we can convince him. And, yes, I think your canary will be close by.’ Henri started to pace the hallway. Her mind raced. She could do this. She could save Sophie, but the words had to come from Sophie. Sophie had to tell Robert the complete truth and trust him.
The young woman’s eyes widened. ‘Do you mean that? I don’t deserve you as a friend.’
Henri put her hands on the young woman’s shoulders. ‘Take responsibility. Tell everyone the truth, rather than saying what you think you want them to hear, and people will stand by you. It is the character of a person that is important, not the reputation. Reputation is what others think of you. Character is what you are.’
‘I don’t like myself very much now.’ Sophie gave a huge sigh. ‘I deserve to be unhappy.’
Henri put an arm around Sophie’s shoulders. ‘Now, shall we get you cleaned up a bit before you go down? Grace is waiting in the carriage.’
