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Richard appreciated the offer, but he preferred his brother remained in England. The errand would take a minimum of four months to complete. “Nay, brother. I need you here. Without your assistance, I would have been lost.”
Perry turned his green eyes to look at him with a hopeful glint. “Truly?”
“Aye.” His younger brother seemed quite pleased at the acknowledgment. Mayhap Sophia was right; his brother needed purpose to fill his days. “Mr. Long will escort Hayward along with two of the Johns because Johnson has family to care for. I want my men safe from this trickster, so it will take more than one man to complete the task.”
Annabel folded her arms in contemplation and added her thoughts. “It is unconventional, but it gets the job done. Pursuing justice is not as important as the peace of mind that your family is protected from this vengeful lunatic. With his predilections, he will be geographically tied down to that source of funds. Perhaps make their payment contingent on the countess being well and alive and ensure it is enough that he will not be willing to walk away from it.”
Halmesbury nodded. “One could also remind the young man that his gambling debts will no longer plague him if he remains far from British soil.”
Richard looked around at his … his—what word would best describe what was unfolding around him?
Family!
His cousin and the duchess, his brother and Sophia, they were all family.
He sighed with deep contentment. Here they stood together at his side, assisting him to solve the predicament that faced him. Appreciation and gratitude filled his being. What an incredible change in his circumstances in such a short period, all because he opened his heart. These were the true riches of his life. Perhaps he should try telling Sophia he loved her again? It seemed almost certain she did not hear him say it before.
Damn,he was proud of his feisty wife for tackling her horrid brother to the ground!
CHAPTER21
The duke offered to mediate with Cecil, which Richard accepted to Sophia’s relief. Her husband’s sleepless nights, the fact that he had killed a man the night before, and his belligerence toward the sibling who had laid hands on his wife suggested it was the wise choice to make.
The men headed over to parlay with the scoundrel tied to the chair, which left Sophia to show the duchess back to where her babe was waiting in the study. The duchess collected the boy and his nursemaid and took her leave when the Halmesbury carriage drew to the front.
After the duchess departed, Sophia found herself with nothing to occupy her attention. She dared not enter the drawing room where the negotiation was taking place. Her presence would only infuriate her brother, rendering him uncooperative.
She was too tense to read and too anxious to complete any tasks. Briefly, she considered visiting Lily to tell her what had happened, but cast that idea aside as premature.
Which was why she paced up and down in her bedchamber, wringing her hands. Now that the worst of the threat had passed, she had too much time to think.
Does Richard regret that he married me?He had said she brought him peace, but today’s events revealed that was not the truth. He must now live with the fact that a man had died at his hand because the infamous Haywards had entered his life.
Did I make things worse when I tricked him into meeting with Annabel?She was having second thoughts about that decision. After the most traumatic evening of the man’s life, she then deceived him into a confrontation that he perhaps was ill-prepared to handle. What had she been thinking? It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but in retrospect, it was terribly manipulative and controlling. She would be angered if he tried something similar. Hell, shehadbeen angry when he attempted to interfere with her life by removing her to Saunton Park.
Now that he has confronted the worst, will he lose interest in me?After all, she had raised the possibility to Lily just yesterday that she might be some sort of ethical lodestone. Richard had risen as a hero from the ashes, reconciled with his cousin’s wife, and even now was downstairs to conquer her villainous brother. What role would Sophia serve now that he had uncovered his true self? Would she fade into the role of nobleman’s wife with her only duty to sire his heir?
What if I want more?Could their marriage grow into a true partnership despite her troubled past? She had returned home the night before intending to talk to him. To explain. Perhaps to disclose that … she loved him. But so much had happened since she had stepped through the front door and been accosted by the inebriated Lord Wood. This morning she had hoped they would find an opportunity to talk things out, but then she had been shocked to her core to see the note—realizing that she had missed all the clues that her brother was the secret enemy working against them.
Damn!This was harder than she had expected. Building a life with another person was quite an undertaking. Would Richard remember how she had accepted Ethan without complaint? Would that stand in her favor when they next spoke?
Sophia concluded that thinking was not the best use of her time. She was arguing herself into tighter and tighter binds. Something to occupy her attention was what she needed to find while she awaited Richard’s return from the drawing room negotiation with her trussed-up brother.
Making up her mind, she left her rooms to find Ethan in the nursery. She would read him a story and discuss his day with him.
* * *
Two hours later,Sophia returned to her bedchamber, stopping short when she found Richard sipping coffee on her settee.
“I have been waiting for you.”
“How did it go with Cecil?”
“Quite well. I suspect that part of the reason he took the post as groom was it gave him somewhere to hide out. Those gambling debts of his are more prolific than is safe for a man of his current financial position. When Halmesbury proposed he leave English soil, he did not demur and then, when he heard about the trust, his relief was palpable despite his blustering to the contrary. The duke stipulated he would not be allowed to drink during the voyage, a rule which his escorts will not hesitate to enforce.”
Sophia listened with only half of her attention. Her heart was pounding hard. She wanted to race into his arms and smother him in kisses, but she did not know if he would welcome them. “It sounds like Cecil has a very uncomfortable journey ahead of him, then.”
“The hope is that sobriety might take hold if he is dry for such a long voyage. We can at least attempt to assist him to recover from his addictions before we set him loose.”
