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“The countess made several good points. I agree with her assessment that a journey to Somerset would be fraught with peril.”
“I must dosomething! This is my fault!”
“Richard, this may be easier to resolve if you have a clear head. You may have done something to cause this situation, but a man who targets an innocent woman and child is deranged, which is beyond your control. And, thus far, nothing but gossip, threats, and minor incidents have occurred, so calm yourself.”
Richard groaned, leaning his elbows on the smooth finish of his desk to drop his head into his hands in a gesture of agony. “Perry, do you not understand? It is only a matter of time before the blackguard heightens the stakes.”
“Your wife is losing her patience. Be careful she does not leave our household to return to the Morelands. Currently, she is cooperating with you, but you will push her too far and complicate the threat further.”
“Why do you say that? How would you know?”
“It is what I would do in her position.”
Richard stared at his brother. The possibility of Sophia leaving him was … It made his heart ache in his chest and his breathing shallow. “I will think on it.”
Perry left him to his thoughts, and Richard sat staring sightlessly at the street through the window, aggravated by the boarded-up window in his peripheral vision.
He felt lost. He wanted to rant and rage and use his fists to sort out this turmoil, but on whom? Whom had he angered in this way? And why now? It could not be a recent situation, because he had ended the arrangement with his mistress in December the year before. It was five months since he had lain with a woman because of his decision to wed this year and he could not bear a repeat of his betrothal to Annabel, who had discovered himin flagrante delictoin the stables with Caroline Brown. At the time, he thought that once he wed, he would be free to return to his philandering ways, but that had been before he met the provocative minx whom he ultimately married.
This situation made no sense. Who could be so angry with him, yet they waited a minimum of five months to enact their revenge? Had his nuptials triggered their anger? And how had they known or reacted so swiftly? He himself only knew he would wed mere days before the event. Unless they had known about his search for a bride and been lying in wait to pounce.
Richard’s head swirled with the possibilities.Blast, he needed a drink! Not the damn water he had been sipping since his wedding day, but a real damn drink!
* * *
Sophia was solivid when she stormed out of Richard’s study that she took herself back to the Morelands’, inviting herself to dinner because her earlier visit had disclosed the family’s plans to stay in for the evening.
Smiling and forcing small talk gave her a megrim. Light glinting off the silver and crystal at the dinner table caused it to worsen into a sharp, throbbing pain until she was forced to massage her neck despite her aunt’s disapproving stare at her unladylike behavior.
The moment dinner was finished, she grabbed her cousin Lily by the hand to drag her to the library, where the last slivers of sunlight were visible through the windows.
“Lily, the man is so frustrating! Attempting to send me to the country to rusticate with Ethan while he remains in town. Is he trying to get rid of me?”
Lily’s face showed her concern. “I do not think so, cousin. I think he fears on your behalf.”
“Did I make a mistake?”
Lily’s elfin face scrunched in confusion. “What mistake?”
“Should I not have married him? Did I make a mistake in my choice of husband?”
Lily sighed. “I do not think so. This situation will resolve, but you need to give it time—give Lord Saunton time to straighten it out. Why so impatient, Sophia? You are one of the most level-headed people I know.”
Sophia sighed, lifting a hand to knead the stiff muscles in her neck. “I am afraid. My feelings for the earl are growing. At first, his crusade to redeem his honor was so exciting, but now I fear …”
“What is it?”
“I worry that the only reason he married me was that I somehow represented this crusade. What am I to him, merely a talisman or a … moral compass of some sort? An ethical lodestone, if you will? What if that is all I am to him? What if he resolves his quest and loses his interest in me once he no longer needs me?”
“Silly goose! No man could lose interest in you once you got your hooks in him! You are one of the cleverest, most interesting people I know. Your mind bends around problems to solve them. Look how you sorted out the debacle with Lord Leech. It was perfection. The man was thoroughly outwitted. Nay, your husband will only grow more attached to you over time.”
Sophia shot a sideways glance at her petite cousin sitting beside her on the library sofa. “Truly?”
Lily snorted inelegantly. “Of course. When will you inform the man that you are in love with him?”
Sophia stiffened in ire. “What do you mean?”
“You are independent and do not care a whit about other people’s opinions on how you should live your life. But here you sit, lamenting about what you mean to the earl, and will he lose interest in you? Clearly you have fallen in love with the man, just as I predicted.”
