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Gabe placed his hand on her back, warming her through and through. “All will be well, Soph,” he said quietly.
She agreed with a nod and then slid closer to him to rest her head against his arm. All had been well. The last fortnight as his wife, things had been better than well. They’d been perfect. She could not love him more than she did and was quite anxious for theirofficialwedding to be over so the rest of the world would know her as Mrs. Prideaux.
Across the carriage, Augusta slept with her head against the window while Aurelie read to herself and Ismérie gazed out the opposite window. They were such sweet girls, her new nieces. But this was all very new for them. If she was in their place, she’d be a bundle of nerves. Of course, they had survived worse things than she could imagine. Still, society awaited them, they just didn’t know it yet.
“I cannot wait to see Charlotte and Cassie,” she said. After all, she’d never been apart from her sisters for so long, and the closer they came to The Hall, the more anxious she was to see both of them again. They would be kind to Aurelie and Ismérie, of that she had no doubt. Oh, and Prissa. Her cousin would probably be at The Hall as well, and she did seem to be of the sweetest disposition.
Who else, she wondered, would be there? How many others had Papa invited to witness herofficialwedding? Goodness, she hoped Grandfather wouldn’t be there. She could go the rest of her life without laying eyes on him again.
“Hopefully, Charlotte will decide she doesn’t hate me anymore,” Gabe said with a teasing little lilt to his voice.
“She will love you becauseIlove you.” Sophie grinned up at him. “She’s very loyal like that.”
The coach began to slow and Aurelie closed her book to look out the window beside her sister. “Itisgrand,” the girl breathed out.
Sophie supposed it was, but she’d never thought of it like that. The Hall had always just beenhome. “I hope you’ll enjoy yourself while we’re here,” Sophie said. “There’ll be so many people for you to meet.”
Ismérie winced slightly at that, but the expression was gone from her face a moment later.
The coach came to a stop on the circular drive and in an instant, a team of servants poured through the doors to gather their trunks, and Aurelie woke her mother from her nap.
Gabe helped his sister and nieces from the coach. Then he reached his hand inside to help Sophie find her feet. She gazed up at him and was certain she would never tire of the sight. “Do you remember the first time you came here?”
That smile of his she loved so much graced his lips. “How could I ever forget, Sophie? You mesmerized me the first moment I saw you.”
It had been so many years ago. Gabe and Chase had visited during a break from Eton, and her life had never felt the same since.
She grinned at her husband. “I was quite annoyed that Chase had brought you with him. I thought the two of you would go off and I’d never get to see my cousin.”
Gabe chuckled. “And in the end it was Chase who was put out with me as my entire focus was onyoufrom that very first day.” Something behind him caught his eye because Gabe’s brow lifted in surprise and that boyish twinkle was once again in his eyes. “Speaking of the devil.”
Sophie looked over her shoulder, toward the house. Chase stood in the threshold. “It is about time you arrived,” her cousin called to them. “Starting to worry about you.”
“We spent a few days in Derbyshire,” Gabe called back, linking his right arm with Sophie’s and offering his left to his sister.
“Yes, yes,” Chase replied and started down the steps to greet them on the drive. “Mr. Hardy sent me a note,” he said once he was closer to them. “You liked Oakcliffe, then?”
“Far superior to Rosewood,” Gabe agreed. Then he tipped his head toward Augusta and said, “Chase Winslett, my sister Lady Augusta Caplette. And my nieces Miss Aurelie Caplette and Miss Ismérie.”
“Lady Augusta.” Chase smiled in greeting. “I am so glad to meet you and your daughters.”
“And you, Mr. Winslett,” Augusta said. “Gabriel says you helped secure space for Clayton at Oakcliffe. We can never thank you enough.”
“Ah, we’re all family now, aren’t we?” Then he winked at Sophie. “Or we will officially be soon enough.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her cheek. “Tell me he’s taking care of you, sweetheart, or I’ll be forced to call him out.”
“You know he is.” She beamed at her cousin. “Who all has come, Chase? Is Grandfather…”
Her cousin snorted in response. “Decidedly not,” he said. “But let’s do go in. It would take me the better part of the day to name everyone else in attendance.”
And then from the open front door, feminine squealing spilled outside.
“Sophie!” Charlotte and Cassie called in unison.
And her heart lifted to see her sisters. Sophie released her hold on Gabe’s arm, stepped around her cousin and raced toward The Hall’s entrance. At once, her sisters enveloped her in a lung-crushing hug, but she didn’t care and she hugged them back just as fiercely.
“When I think about your lecture on propriety,” Cassie began, “and then you ran off to Gretna—”
Charlotte cleared her throat. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said, sounding quite a bit like Mother. “Sophia has been at The Hall all this time recovering from an awful case of the ague.”
