Karen Harbaugh (7 page)

Richard’s eyes followed his sister’s departure with dread. He closed his eyes for a moment. I do not care, he murmured to himself. She is only answering a call of nature, and is only going a different way. In fact, she isn’t even my sister, I don’t know her, she is only some girl who happened to be in the same coach and the same inn. This wistful but thoroughly wild flight of fancy soothed him somewhat. He resolutely returned his gaze out the window, as if the coming and going of coaches were his sole interest in life.

Sophia went up the stairs, in time to see a swath of black skirt disappear to the left. Close! Eagerly she rounded the corner and—

Came face to face with Lord Rothwick. “My lord!” gasped Sophia. The earl had just closed the door directly next to the stairs. An unreadable expression crossed his face, and then he smiled genially. Sophia felt the flicker of pique she usually did whenever she met her fiancé. For some reason she had always thought there was something she could not—ah, such an unpleasant word!—control in him. Perhaps it was that she could never tell what he was thinking. She could not quite pin him down, or always make him do as she wished, and this irritated her.

“Sophia! A pleasant surprise,” said Rothwick, bringing her hand to his lips. There was nothing in his voice to belie his words, but Sophia was uneasy. She was curious about his presence in this inn, for he had made no mention to her about removing from London the last time they had met; but for the first time she did not want to find out more than what appeared on the surface.
It would be so—so untidy,
said a voice in the back of her mind,
to find out more.
She ignored it.

“Most certainly, dear William,” she murmured coyly, looking up at him through her lashes. “I had no idea you were removing from London. What brings you here?”

“I had heard the hunting was particularly good, and since I have a hunting box not far from here, I thought I should take advantage of it.” He took her arm. “But come, perhaps you would like some refreshment.” He started to lead her back down the stairs.

The door behind them creaked, and instinctively Sophia turned to look. A young woman—no, lady, her assessing mind told her unwillingly—emerged from the room Rothwick had just quitted. “Lord Rothwick, I thought you would already be—” The lady caught sight of his lordship’s companion, faltered, stopped, and blushed.

An exasperated, half-angry look flashed across Rothwick’s face, but then he sighed. “Sophia, may I present to you Miss Linnea Amberley. She is Lady Boothe’s cousin, and a friend to Susan, my niece. I am escorting her to my sister Lydia’s home.”

Sophia did not believe this for one minute. Was she not
au courant
of all the foibles of the ton? And had not Rothwick’s name been linked, however vaguely, with various ladies of the demimonde? But all that was to be done with—for after all, were they not betrothed? It seemed Rothwick did not think so. For the first time in her life, all of Sophia’s practiced poise deserted her. She stood staring at the woman before her, numb with the realization that a man could actually prefer another besides herself, the beautiful, charming, irresistible Sophia!

The numbness faded quickly, however, for Sophia was nothing if not self-preserving. She looked at Linnea and knew with all the predatory female’s instinct that she must take action swiftly, so Rothwick would realize his mistake.

Sophia gazed at Rothwick with eyes melting in sorrow. “Oh, Rothwick! How could you!” She lifted a gloved finger and delicately touched it to her eyelashes. “And we just recently betrothed!”

Rothwick made as if to move toward her, but Linnea was before him. “My lord! You never told me you were betrothed already! How could you, indeed!” She swept toward Sophia and extended a comforting hand. “My dear girl, it is not as it seems at all!”

But Sophia flinched from her. “Do not touch me, you si—you horrid woman!” Linnea backed away, her face blanching. Sophia raised a weak hand to her bosom. “Oh, Rothwick, I swear my heart is breaking!”

But here Sophia made a grave mistake. Had she allowed Linnea to comfort her, the earl would not have been proof against the combined recriminations of two females. He might even have banished his idea of marrying Linnea, for Sophia had seemed truly unhappy. But Linnea’s pale and stricken face reflected the realization of all the horrors of her situation at last and moved my lord to pity.

“Nonsense!” he said sharply. “You are indulging yourself in hysterics over a situation about which you know nothing.” Rothwick glanced past Sophia and noticed a chambermaid peeking around a corner, totally absorbed in their altercation. “Further, this is not the place to discuss private matters. I suggest we retire to a private parlour, if we wish to do so.”

“I do not wish!” cried Sophia, and stamped her foot. Things were not going the way they should. Rothwick should have been struck with her sad but appealing beauty, become abjectly apologetic, and abandoned that woman immediately. “Father will hear of this!”

“To be sure he will,” Rothwick replied smoothly. “I shall send a letter requesting a meeting with him at once.”

For the first time Sophia felt a touch of uncertainty. Perhaps she had misgauged the situation. She was not sure if Rothwick’s proposed letter to her father would contain all that she would want it to contain. She would bring Richard into this. He was her brother after all, and it was his duty to put her interests above all else. “As for that,” she said haughtily, “my brother can act for Father. Richard has accompanied me to this inn and you may speak to him as well as you would to Lord Amberley.”

“Very well, then. If you will give me his direction, I will see him. But first, I desire breakfast.”

Sophia stamped her foot again. “How can you think of breakfast at this time, you horrid man! The thought of food should be repulsive to anyone of delicate sensibilities!”

Linnea suddenly spoke up. “Indeed, my lord, I think it best if I did not accompany you to breakfast, and stayed within my—the chamber.” She was still pale, but for all that she spoke with a certain dignity.

Rothwick paused, then said: “To be sure. I will, nevertheless, order a light repast be brought to you, for it would not do for you to be faint with hunger on the way to my sister’s house.” Linnea nodded and slipped back into the room.

“And what of myself?” demanded Sophia.

“Since you apparently have delicate sensibilities, I assume you will not be having breakfast,” he said calmly. “However, I have often known persons of such delicacy to rest in a darkened room after an upset to their nerves. Perhaps you should do so.” This last was said in as solicitous a tone as Rothwick could muster.

Sophia was not mollified, yet to remain would imply she did not, after all, have delicate sensibilities. Further, his tone reminded her that she had just had a shocking revelation, should be totally overset and in a weakened condition.

“Yes, yes, you are right,” she said, her voice returning to a faint and heartbroken murmur. Sophia lifted a hand to her brow. “I am not sure how I will recover from this, this—Ah, I cannot say it!” She tottered away from Rothwick toward her room. She did not bother to tell him where Richard could be found. Why should she make it easy for him?

The earl clenched his teeth. It needed only this to make his situation complete. He opened the door to the stairs and nearly upset Mrs. Chawleigh, the innkeeper’s wife.

“Oh, your lordship, I was only coming up to see if you needed anything. Perhaps a private parlour? My chambermaid was saying as how you might need a place to talk with your lady friends, private-like.”

Rothwick gave a mental groan. No doubt the woman had been listening at the door, and between her and the maid, word of his and Sophia’s altercation would very likely spread rapidly. “Your husband has already given me a private room, but I do need a breakfast, one for myself and one to be brought to the lady who accompanied me,” he replied. “I would also be much obliged to you if you could locate Mr. Richard Amberley and send him to me.”

Mrs. Chawleigh curtsied and hurried away down the stairs. Lord Rothwick followed more slowly. He rarely drank spirits and never in the morning, but somehow he felt a glass of fortifying brandy would not be a bad idea right now.

Chapter 5

Richard Amberley pulled out his watch and looked at it for the second time. Sophia’s chocolate was quite cold now, for its surface was congealing into skin. He wondered if something dreadful had happened to his sister and if he should look for her. The thought of being free of her machinations at last stayed him—for a few moments only, however. He rose from his chair.

“If it please you sir, would you be Mr. Richard Amberley?”

Richard turned to see the angular face of the innkeeper’s wife, Mrs. Chawleigh. He inclined his head slightly in reply.

“Well, sir, Lord Rothwick would like to see you in his private parlour to join him for breakfast, if you haven’t partaken, that is.”

Richard blinked. Rothwick here! What would the earl want with him? Having breakfast with one’s brother-in-law-to-be was not unusual, but their tastes were quite disparate and the circles in which they moved touched only tangentially. He rarely had anything to do with the man.

And how did Rothwick know he was here? Richard paled slightly. Sophia! He hurriedly dismissed Mrs. Chawleigh with the message that he would indeed meet with the earl.

As Richard walked to the private parlour he wondered what Sophia had got him into now. He frantically reviewed his past actions and wondered how his sister might twist them to vex his lordship. He could think of no way she could, but then he did not have the Machiavellian instincts she did. He could only wait and see.

Richard’s first view of the earl was not encouraging. Rothwick sat at the table, grimly surveying his breakfast as if it had mortally offended him. At Richard’s entrance he looked up, his face cleared, and he invited Richard to the laden plates before him. Richard let out a breath. So perhaps it was not he himself who was in trouble! Lord Rothwick’s easy conversation and the fine breakfast before him quickly eased the young man’s spirits, and he fell to dining with more optimism than he had felt for a long time.

At last Lord Rothwick pushed himself back from the table. A sigh escaped him, and Richard looked at him inquiringly.

“I suppose you are wondering why I asked you to join me,” Rothwick said.

“Well, it was very kind of you to invite me to breakfast,” replied Richard. “Not that you haven’t been in the past, that is, but—”

“But I haven’t put myself out to be more than pleasantly civil, is that it?”

“No, no!” Richard said, slightly alarmed. “Always up to snuff—I mean to say—we don’t run in the same circles, after all!” He thought of Sophia again and hoped that whatever she had told her fiancé, it wasn’t too incriminating.

His lordship raised a hand. “There’s no need to say it. I have heard others say that I am a bit high in the instep.” His brief smile was grim. “I saw your sister abovestairs a few minutes ago. We had some unfortunate words. She said I might talk with you in lieu of your father.”

Richard blanched. Never before had Sophia referred to her brother as a figure of authority, and he was certain this new development was yet another twist in her schemes. He closed his eyes briefly. He was sure Sophia was trying to get him in trouble with Rothwick for some reason. If only he could see where this interview was leading!

The earl apparently took Richard’s expression for something else. “Yes, it is a painful situation. It is one, however, that must be resolved quickly.”

“I assure you, my lord, you needn’t regard anything my sister says,” Richard said desperately. “She doesn’t always, ah, mean it.” She’s a damned liar! I swear I didn’t do whatever she said I did! cried Richard’s inner voice, but the rules of good ton stopped him. He ran a trembling finger under a neckcloth that was suddenly tight.

Rothwick shook his head. “I will be blunt. It is not anything Sophia has said. My presence here is not totally innocent, but I am trying to remedy that. Your sister found me with an unescorted—though respectable—lady, and thus that lady’s reputation is now ruined. The lady’s reputation must be saved. And yet here I am, recently betrothed to Sophia.” Rothwick paused, and Richard thought he almost saw him wince. “You may not see it my way, and I will understand if you do not. I believe the least amount of damage would be done if we could hush up all of this. However, I am afraid our, ah, encounter was overheard and no doubt it will become well known. If Sophia could possibly find it within herself to break off our engagement, I would gladly take the blame. But I am not at all sure she will do it. And yet the lady who accompanied me to this inn is quite innocent and does not deserve a ruined reputation. You see my dilemma.”

Richard’s world whirled. It was not he who was in trouble, after all! An immense relief descended upon him, and then it hit him: Sophia might not marry Lord Rothwick! There was the distinct possibility that she was not going to be a countess, nor become disgustingly rich. For the first time in a long while a flicker of joy dared creep into his heart. He had been positively sick of Sophia’s boasting that Rothwick had found her irresistible.

“Thank God!” blurted Richard.

Rothwick raised his eyebrows.

“What I mean is, thank God you aren’t the sort of man who would abandon a lady after compromising her reputation,” said Richard, recovering himself hurriedly. “I would be saddened, indeed, to think our family is that mistaken in your character.”

The earl’s eyebrows were still raised, but he gave an acknowledging bow. “I fear you flatter me,” he said. “It’s a damnable situation, and reflects badly on my judgment. I hope I can choose the course that will cause the least amount of scandal. There will be some gossip, but I will endeavor to see that your sister will not suffer any harm. You may be sure I will make it known the fault lies at my door, not hers.”

Richard bowed in turn. “I have heard nothing that has not been honorable regarding you, sir. I am certain you will do all you can.” An embryo plan suddenly sprang to life in his mind. “But... I think I may be able to convince Sophia to break your engagement, my lord.”