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“Sophia, my love, can you explain, how did he make that clear?”
“He beat me.”
Richard jumped to his feet, agitated. Sophia needed to tell him the rest, which meant he needed to stay calm and let her finish.
Perry, noting his distress, asked the next question. “How … did your uncle not notice?”
“Cecil was very careful to slap me across the face or punch me in the stomach. Evidence was minimal.”
Richard ran his hand through his hair and gestured for Perry to stay quiet. His stomach was in knots thinking of his sweet wife being abused by the brute she was related to. The man who should have been protecting her. “Has he done it all these years?”
“Nay, after the first few times, I started reading military texts and working on strategies to outwit him. I hid items of sentimental value I did not wish him to take. I hid pin money, too, and told him that Aunt Christiana was making me spend it all on expenses related to the Season. He eventually stopped coming to me for funds, but I believe the gambling continued.”
Richard drew a deep breath. Her resourcefulness was impressive, but he would have expected it from her. His sweet Sophia was no man’s victim.
“How did we get to today? Why did our wedding rile his wrath after all this time?”
“He uncovered the truth about my dowry and realized he could come to a financial arrangement with a fortune hunter. Stealing me from my bed and taking me to Scotland for a forced marriage was discussed.”
Richard stared at her in horror. “Leech!”
“Leech?” Perry hissed. “The wife killer?”
Richard nodded. “I interceded that night at the Yardley ball, or she would have been compelled to dance with him. The coroners in the matter of his wives’ deaths could find no evidence of foul play and the man has powerful friends, so he walks amongst us unscathed, but he must have orchestrated their deaths.”
Sophia spoke in a low, sad voice. “Based on the conversation I overheard, he definitely had a hand in their deaths. He alluded to the possibility of my own.”
Richard shook his head in dismay, pacing back and forth while he tried to settle his thoughts. “Is this what you meant when you said you needed protection?” Sophia nodded, her face still averted toward the window. “Blazes, I thought you meant in a general sense that a woman needed a protector, or that you had concerns about fortune hunters pursuing you. I did not know you neededactualprotection!”
“I was uncertain how much of a threat they posed, but once we agreed to wed, I took to sleeping in my cousin’s room and paid a footman to sleep in my bed. The night before our nuptials, Lord Leech attempted my abduction, but Thomas apprehended him.”
Richard and Perry looked at each other, aghast. They considered their dead father to have been the worst kind of scoundrel, but yet even he possessed innocence when compared to Sophia’s brother. Richard could not believe she had lived under such intimidation. He wanted to walk over to his wife and fold her in his arms to comfort her, yet he knew she needed to finish her story for her own peace of mind, so he clenched his fists and stayed rooted to where he stood.
“I was forced to tell Uncle Hugh about Cecil’s involvement. I … I thought it was safe to do so. I would marry you in the morning and then I would be beyond his reach. I did not know he would take it this far.” Sophia’s voice thickened with tears. “I am so sorry for dragging you into this. I hoped to spare the Abbotts, but I endangered your household instead!”
At that, Richard raced across the room to embrace her. “Hush, Sophia, the only regret I have is that I did not know. If I had known, I would still have married you.” He waved his hand at Perry, who left the room and quietly closed the door behind him. “Sophia, nothing—nothing—could have dissuaded me from pursuing you.”
* * *
Sophia was mortifiedthat she had been weeping again. Since the moment she thought Richard had been killed, her emotions had been skittering out of her control. Just when she had regained her equilibrium, she discovered she was the one at fault for the jeopardy their household was in.
She had been willing to tolerate Richard’s troubles because she entered their marriage with her eyes open, but to learn that she was the true cause … The guilt was chewing her up from the inside. She had miscalculated the risk that Cecil posed and exposed Richard, Perry, and little Ethan to his diabolical revenge.
“Sophia?”
A shiver of apprehension scurried over her skin. She looked up but had trouble meeting her husband’s eye.
“Sophia, I need you to look at me.”
Her eyelids flickered. With reluctance etched in every line of her body, she lifted her gaze. Richard’s eyes were blazing in their intensity, green with gold striations, catching her in a net of fascination.
“Sophia, you are not to blame. Your brother is a diabolical fiend, but we will take care of it. Together.”
His words penetrated the cloud of guilt she was cloaked in. “You do not blame me?”
“I do not. However, I accept your apology from earlier that you were not forthright with me, now that I comprehend what you have been hiding.” His lips quirked into a wry smile. Sophia chuckled despite her dark mood. It was one of the things that made Richard so special—his ability to make her laugh in even her darkest hours.
“If I knew that he would follow me here …” She trailed off in wordless dismay.
