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The footman appeared puzzled by this specification, but Sophia paid no heed. She had reached a decision.
I shall sit Richard down and talk to him honestly. Share my concerns, so we can reach an understanding.
Her mind made up, she gathered her skirts in one hand and accepted the gloved hand of the footman with the other to step up through the open door of the carriage. When the shorter John climbed in behind her, she accepted it without resentment. Her husband was taking strenuous action to defend her, and it was time she acknowledged the concern he was displaying. They would need to talk and come to terms, but this time she would not get frustrated with him. She was confident that if they worked together, they could find a solution to navigate the danger they were living under.
* * *
Richard visitedwith Ethan in the nursery and read him a story, then returned downstairs at dinnertime to wait for his wife, until Radcliffe informed him that her ladyship had left for the evening. He had not expected to be so disappointed by this news, but it was the first time since they married that they were not taking their evening meal together.
Sitting in his study, nursing a cut crystal glass of water—blech—he thought about what she had said earlier that day. Perry concurred with her conclusion that it was safer for her and Ethan to remain in town rather than undertake a long journey.
Perhaps she had a point. Mayhap he had not involved her sufficiently, and treated her like a coddled child. But he had never confided in a woman before. This was all so new to him. Perhaps she needed to be more patient with him.
He stared down into his water, wishing it was a fine French brandy, and admitted to himself that perhaps he was not making the effort that he should. If she left him to return to her family, as Perry suggested, he would be utterly lost. Why this was, he could not fathom. They had known each other for less than three weeks, but he grew mawkish at the thought of her absence. He did not want to send her away, truth be told. He wanted to eat dinner with her in the evenings before joining her in her bedchamber. The decision to send her to Saunton Park had been reached because, more important than his time in her company, he wanted her to remain alive.
He could not believe how much he missed her at this moment, merely because she had abandoned him to dinner on his own. The only conclusion he could draw was that he now looked forward to the nightly ritual in her company, only to have it yanked away because of his own failure to include her.
When she returned home from her family,ifshe returned home, he would do better. And if she did not return home, he would haunt the Abbott household every moment of every day until she agreed to come home.
BANG. A loud thud shuddered the wooden floor beneath his feet, causing him to flinch in surprise. Richard sprang up to find out what had been dropped, but when he reached the study door, he hesitated when he heard a loud, agitated voice he did not recognize. He cocked his head to listen closer, but he could not quite make out what was being said. He only knew it was not a member of his household sounding off.
The commotion was coming from the vestibule. Briefly, he hoped Sophia had still not returned home. His body was on high alert while eerie calm descended over his mind. Instinct told him that, as he had predicted earlier to Perry, the stakes had just heightened and it was time for him to act. He finally had something—someone—specific to address.
Bending down, he removed his boots, concluding that his stockinged feet would allow him to investigate what was happening without announcing his presence. Stealthily, he crept into the corridor outside his study and moved toward the disturbance. When he reached the vestibule, it surprised him to glimpse a well-dressed couple facing away from him toward the grand staircase.
Richard stopped short, noting the thickset gentleman who appeared to be embracing a vaguely familiar woman. She was slumped at an awkward angle, and Richard could not make out her face until her head fell to hang forward. With dawning horror, he realized the gentleman was not embracing, but clutching his former paramour, Lady Evaline Wood, around her waist with her arms pinned under his, and she appeared to be swooning.
Richard caught sight of the shorter John behind the Woods, lying in a heap at the foot of the stairs and bleeding. Radcliffe stood to one side of the stairs with his hands raised outwards at an odd angle, as if he had been instructed to show them.
“That is when my wife decided that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and in a fit of pique engaged in an adulterous affair with YOUR HUSBAND!” Lord Wood roared.
Richard’s heart skipped a beat. Sophia was here? Of course! That was why the shorter John was unconscious on the floor.
“But”—the man turned to Lady Wood to yell directly in her face—“you are not a GOOSE! Men dally. WOMEN BEHAVE THEMSELVES!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. The man’s wife appeared to be unresponsive, evidently having descended into a state of shock. Suddenly, Richard was able to see between the clasped couple, their bodies slightly parted by the new angle. Sophia was revealed to be standing stoically on the bottom stair, her gaze fixed on the ornate dueling pistol in Lord Wood’s hand.
Blood thundered in Richard’s ears and his eyes riveted to the pistol Lord Wood waved about while he ranted at his pale wife. With sharpened focus, he noted that the lord’s bloated index finger rested on the side of the barrel, not the trigger, which meant Richard could attempt to disarm him.
One step at a time, Richard.
“Fortunately for me, a friend informed me of what was happening. Did you know Lord Saunton was spotted sneaking into my home last evening? I knew it was all fluff and propaganda that the rake was reformed. Men dally! It is what we do! No man can be expected to remain tied to one woman. We marry a respectable woman to sire our children, and we visit our mistresses to have our fun. It is a good system! It WORKS!”
The man’s ranting was despicable. Despite the danger of the moment, Richard could not help but be repulsed that he had once thought of women and relationships with a similar disgusting attitude as this vile reprobate who aimed a weapon at innocent people. Never had it been more clear that walking away from his past immorality was the correct decision. The only decision.
Slowly, Richard inched forward. If anything happened to Sophia because of his own debauched behavior with the unhappily married Lady Wood, he would find no redemption for his wicked soul. Damnation, what if his wife was killed tonight believing that he had engaged in an illicit affairaftertheir wedding, rather than six months before he had even met her? He must save her because Ethan needed her.Heneeded her. He must save his wife!
Richard approached the dimly lit spot behind the couple. Lord Wood was in the midst of shaking Lady Wood, whose cracked lip was bleeding from an earlier blow.
Radcliffe’s eyes flickered, noting Richard’s arrival. His wonderful, clever butler imperceptibly straightened and lifted his chin, clearly steeling his nerves and preparing to divert Lord Wood’s attention.
“My lord, perhaps a calm discussion might—”
“SHUT UP!”
“But, I assure you—”
“You speak again and I will end you, you insufferableserf !”
Radcliffe’s ploy to distract the irate husband from Richard’s approach succeeded as he crept up behind the couple. Fortunately, the angle of the light thrown by the chandelier above was in his favor, so no shadow announced his arrival. At this proximity, the raving nobleman reeked of hard liquor, which offered some explanation for his unbalanced behavior.
