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“You are too ticklish. What will you do when you receive your first kiss? Twist about and lose your breath?”
Lily’s enormous eyes widened in trepidation. “You think? That would be a disaster!”
Sophia chuckled at her younger cousin. “You are such an innocent! Please never change. And, no, you will figure it out with the right beau.” She leaned down and gave the girl a swift hug. “I love you, Lily. I will miss you.”
“That is good, for if Mama does not relent on pushing me into the path of every well-connected man in London, I may have to come knocking on your door.”
Sophia smiled at her in the mirror. “Just promise me you will not settle for someone unsuitable? I want you to be happy, cousin.”
Lily shrugged. “It will all work out.”
She smiled at the girl’s optimistic outlook. Lily always found the silver lining. It was one of her most endearing qualities and helped balance Sophia’s more jaded point of view. It was why they were such good friends.
She plaited Lily’s hair. They had dismissed their lady’s maid hours earlier and were up late, talking the night away. It was the last time they could spend this sort of time together. Tomorrow Sophia would be a married woman, and their relationship would shift to something new.
In the distance, she heard the tall case clock down the hall toll twice.
“Two in the morning! We need to get some sleep, or I shall marry with dark circles under my eyes!”
She tied Lily’s braid in a ribbon and hustled her cousin to the bed. Sophia made her way around the room to extinguish the lamps while Lily used the steps to crawl into the bed. Sophia had no need of the steps, being several inches taller than her petite cousin. She strode over and pulled the sheets back.
“WHAT’S THE MEANING OF THIS?” The shouting, along with scuffling sounds, was coming from the hall.
She glanced at Lily in confusion, who stared back at her in consternation.
“That sounded like Papa.”
Sophia nodded in response as dread crept over her. She had thought she was being overly cautious when she bribed the footman, Thomas, to sleep in her room with coin and the promise of a position in the Saunton household if his current became forfeit because of his cooperation. Now, with the commotion out in the hall, she was alarmed that her caution had been warranted. She ran over to the door and opened it a bit, noticing Lily join her while she peered into the dark corridor.
“Where is Sophia?” Lord Moreland cried out.
Sophia swung the door wide and stepped out into the hall, where she found Thomas holding on to a squirming Lord Leech whose eye was swelling shut.
Uncle Hugh appeared fearful but exclaimed when he caught sight of her, clutching his chest as he inhaled in relief. “Oh, thank the Lord! Niece, where have you been?” He was dressed in his nightclothes and barefoot, evidently running out of his bedchamber after the initial scuffle between Leech and the footman.
“I was sleeping in Lily’s room.”
“What? Why? And what was Thomas doing in your room?”
“I asked him to sleep there … in case.”
Uncle Hugh scowled. “In case what? Were you aware this … this …lechwas going to sneak into your room?”
Sophia bit her lip, ashamed that she had not informed her uncle what had been happening under his roof. She had not wanted to burden him with the worry, and she wanted to take care of her own problems to maintain some tenuous control over her choices, but the concern etched on his face … Perhaps she should have told him what Cecil had planned. Her fingers tugged nervously at the cotton of her night rail. She felt awkward in her half-dressed state, but she doubted anyone was noticing her attire given the situation at hand.
“Sophia! Tell me, what is this about? Why is this depraved lunatic in my home?” Uncle Hugh gestured with disgust toward the squirming Lord Leech, who was muttering in indignant outrage at the servant holding him fast.
Aunt Christiana hovered down the hall in the doorway to her chamber, tying her dressing gown nervously, but she moved toward the gathering. “Sophia, what is this?”
Lily took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Did you expect Lord Leech, Sophia?”
Sophia shook her head in disbelief. She could not believe Cecil had tried to go through with his plot. She was utterly grateful she had taken the threat seriously, or even now she could be tied up in Leech’s carriage, racing out of London with no one the wiser that she was absent until the morning.
“Unhand me or you will regret this!” The despicable Leech chose that moment to interrupt.
Her uncle turned to glare at the man. “Charges can be brought for breaking into a peer’s home, and even you cannot sweep such a matter under the rug. I, too, have powerful friends, Leech.”
Leech fell silent at the threat. Turning back, her unexpectedly fierce relative gestured for Sophia to talk.
