Page 39 of The Redemption of the Shrew

It still irked him. No man likes to be called a coward, but at least he should know why he is so accused.

Elspeth took up the tale again. “Her ladyship took to her bed—her usual method of expressing a grievance, but to be just, her health was poor by then—and Miss Glow sent me after the footman with all she had left of her allowance. She wrote secretly to Lord Garrison in London, who gave the man his full year’s pay—more than was owed—and wrote him a good reference. But after that, Miss Glow learned to pretend, for—” The maid paused, perhaps thinking better of what she was about to say. “She’s a good actress, sir.”

“Is she,” he said, but it wasn’t a question. It seemed he knew very little about the real Gloriana Warren.

~ ~ ~

Sophie’s lover arrived so late that she’d begun to give up hope of seeing him that night. “Ah, mon Dieu, I am so happy you have come, Eric.” She shut the door and hurried ahead of him up the back stairs.

“I’ve just got here, love,” he murmured, “but I’ll be coming soon, I hope.”

She laughed softly. She loved his vulgar jests. He did not pretend to be something he was not.

In her bedchamber, he shucked his overcoat and laid it on a chair. “I met your brother tonight.”

“What?” she squeaked and clapped a hand over her mouth. What if one of the children woke? She hurried over to lock the door. “When? Does he know about us?”

“No.” He grinned. “You did not tell me he was a thief.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t admit to Philippe’s criminal past.

“I see why you couldn’t,” he said. “It so happens he’s friendly with Cartway, a burglar I’m acquainted with. And you are correct—he is in love with Miss Glow.”

“Tell me!” she said, so while she undressed him, he told her about playing bo-peep with Miss Glow, who, he said, was the tensest armful he’d ever encountered. “At first, I thought it was because she is an innocent, not used to such close proximity to a man.”

“A man with a reputation,” she said wryly. A reputation which he had mended as best he could. He was a clergyman and a schoolmaster. If their liaison were revealed, the consequences would be disastrous. Miss Glow’s school was a respectable one, and Eric risked his livelihood every time he sneaked into Sophie’s house.

“But when your brother came into the tavern, I realized it was also because she is in love with him.” He chuckled. “He scolded her, and he was jealous of me. Called me a libertine.”

“How dare he!” But Eric was laughing, so she knew he didn’t mind. He was so easygoing, so forgiving, and so kind. What if she told him why they couldn’t marry, and he decided to end the liaison? She couldn’t keep refusing without a valid reason, or he would think she didn’t love him.

If she really loved him, she should send him away.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“Nothing, why should there be?” She unbuttoned the fall of his breeches. She kept her eyes downcast, for she could not meet his gaze.

He ran his hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head. There was a pause—a silence that frightened her. Don’t ask me to marry you again. Please don’t.

He didn’t. Instead, he said, “Between us, Cartway and I forced him to accompany Miss Glow home. We shall see what comes of that.”

“He refuses to take her to bed. He insists he does not love her.”

Her lover snorted. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off her.” Judging by the way Eric was looking at Sophie, he felt much the same way about her. “We don’t have long tonight, love. Let’s disport ourselves while we can.”

In other words, until it is over. She thrust that thought away and kissed him with all the desperate passion in her heart.

Chapter 9

Gloriana huddled under the coverlet and wondered what Elspeth was saying to Philippe. She was probably apologizing on her behalf.

Oh, God, why did he think she was a wanton? He’d wanted to marry her, or so he’d said. How could he think she’d gone to him naked for any reason but love?

As well as longing for escape from her mother and aunt, that is, but Philippe had been a godsend—or so she’d thought. She wouldn’t have used a similar trick on any other man. She would have put up with her autocratic, bigoted female relatives until they died, exactly as she had done in the end.

She tossed and turned and tossed again. After a while, she heard Elspeth close the front door and shoot the bolt across. She considered getting up to question the maid, but decided against it. Far better to accept that Philippe disdained her. Far better to set all feelings for him in the past where they belonged.

She slept late, but woke determined to find her own path to the tranquility of the previous months. She couldn’t stop Philippe from risking his life, but she had done her best. If only she knew what, if anything, he had said to Elspeth last night! But she shouldn’t ask. She shouldn’t care. She should concentrate on finding a way to recover the book without Philippe’s help.