AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mr. Burroughs the investigator?” Sophie asked pleasantly, glancing at Augusta and her daughters.
Gabe’s sister nodded. “He arrived at Fort Macon with a note from Lord Liverpool demanding the immediate release of the Earl of Northwold’s sister and daughters into Mr. Burroughs’ care.”
“You know Burroughs?” Gabe asked his wife.
“Only by reputation. Chase has mentioned him in awe.”
Gabe handed Sophie the last letter, but his attention was focused on his sister and his nieces. “How long have you been here?”
“Almost three years, not quite.”
“I see.” He nodded.
“Your parents…” Sophie glanced up quickly, blinking rather meaningfully at Gabe.
“Quite legal, it appears,” he replied softly, though there were so many other things to focus on in those letters. An entire family Gabe had never known he had.
“Lord Northwold says you brought family documents back with you from America?” Sophie asked.
Augusta nodded. “In the safe in Clayton’s study.”
“I wish he’d sent for me,” Gabe breathed out. “I would have…”
“He knew he was sick.” Augusta heaved a sigh. “Before he even found us, he knew he was dying. He was quite adamant that you not witness his decline.” She shook her head. “He meant to make restitutions to my mother before he died, to leave you unburdened by the past.”
Unburdened by the past? Gabe would never be that. How the devil was he to take care of all of them? His one hope had been to sell Fairhaven to keep Northwold afloat. But he couldn’t do that now. He couldn’t sell the home where his sister and nieces lived, the one haven they’d found since their ordeal at Frenchtown.
He pushed off the settee. “Excuse me,” he said. “I think I need to stretch my legs for a bit.” Not that he had a hope of divine intervention hitting him, but suddenly the walls in that sitting room threatened to suffocate him as did the weight and magnitude of his duties.
“Gabe,” Sophie said, coming to her feet. “I’ll come with you.”
But he shook his head. He needed to be alone with his own thoughts. “I won’t be long, Soph.”
CHAPTER 19
Sophie swallowed down the hurt she felt at Gabe’s abandonment and smiled at her new sister-in-law. She didn’t know this woman at all, and she had no idea about what sort of conversation she should make until Gabe decided to return. Mundane topics she discussed in London over the latest fashions or a recent performance at Drury Lane would be of no help with Lady Augusta. And Lady Augusta was who she was even if she had decided to call herself Mrs. Henri Caplette. Lady Augusta Caplette, only known daughter to the late Earl of Northwold, black-hearted villain that he was.
“If Clayton is still at Rosewood, I don’t understand how Gabriel came to find us,” Lady Augusta said.
Sophie breathed a sigh of relief that her sister-in-law had found a topic of discussion so the two of them wouldn’t simply stare silently at each other. “Mr. Hill, the Northwold solicitor, summoned Gabe home from Canada.”
“Canada?” Lady Augusta squeaked.
Drat it all. The woman had been held captive in Canada. Sophie gulped. “He was in Spain at the time of your capture. Recovering, actually, from a wound he received at the Battle of Vittoria.” Or thereabouts, timewise, anyway.
“Sorry,” Lady Augusta took a calming breath. “It was a traumatic time for us.”
As Sophie could well imagine. The loss of her husband, brother and child, could not have been easy to survive.
Aurelie Caplette returned to the sitting room, carrying a tea service in her arms. Her little sister trailed in after her.
“Ismérie, ask your Aunt Sophia how she would like her tea,” Lady Augusta instructed.
The girl who couldn’t be older than ten made her way across the room and said very softly to Sophie, “How do you like your tea?”
“Two sugars and a splash of cream, please.”
But it was her older sister who prepared the drink and brought the cup and saucer across the room to Sophie. “Aunt Sophia.”
