Lords of Honor (40 page)

Lyon did
not realize
at the time that the reason he was hard before he entered the room was because he also,
on top of the opium, was given
a drug that enhanced one’s sexual desire
.

After weeks of being flaccid and unable to perform sexually due to his drugged and drunken state, he merely considered himself fortunate that he
w
ould sate his desires
that night
.
Unknown to him, t
he slight woman on the bed lay fevered from
a
harsh drug that filled her with sexual desire
, s
omething she never
before experienced
.
She
was
also
given
a dose of
laudanum to render her weak, scarcely able to speak
.
It left
her unable to escape the rutting goat Mr. Crow brought to
the
room.

Lyon realized immediately when he thrust into
her
and
felt
the barrier
tear away
,
she was a
n innocent
.
He k
new
immediately
her tears were because of that
.
As they were both
were under the influence of drugs to increase sexual desire, their need
became overpowering
.

But, as the
effects of his
drug
began to wea
ken
for him
after
many
sex-filled
hours
, Lyon
managed
to gain a small amount of trust from the
young lady
, enough to get her name and address
.
As he broke through his haze, he cradled her
in his arms and
whispered soothing words to her
.
He
tried to comfort her
as they fornicated throughout the night
.
T
here was no other word for it
.
It was an act not done for pleasure, not done for attraction or love
.
It was fornication
, to appease
the need the drug
demanded of them
.
For her need was as great as his
.
Her hips moved with it
, gyrated
beneath
him
.
Her fevered body writhed
under him
.
Even when he was not inside her, she
burned with the fever,
gyrat
ing
and
buck
ing
against him
.

She wept in his arms, even
told
him of the men’s plans she
overheard in her laudanum induced stupor
.
They beat her,
would
kill her, and accuse Lyon of doing it
.
In the hours before dawn, Lyon ma
naged to get her into his shirt for the only clothing remaining in the room was the gown of the whore her captors dressed her in
.
Clinging to one another,
helping each other walk,
t
hey slipped out a back entrance
.
He
hailed a hackney and got her to his house
.

Once Sophia was
ensconced
in the safety of his London house, he sent word to her grandmother
telling her Sophia was
safe but unable to travel
.
As
she was
still under the effects of the
sex
drug, he dismissed the servants
for the
next twenty four hours
and
tended to Miss Hart himself
.
He b
athed her
, fed her
and
held her
close
.
He e
ven made
gentle
love to her when the fever of the sex drug overcame her again
and again
.

When the next day dawned, and with it the effects of the
philt
re
amoureaux
much decreased;
Miss Sophia Hart
began to
put up her wall
.
Lyon could see she loathed him
.
She cringed when he touched her
.
The copper-haired beauty r
efused to look at him
directly
most of the time
.
She b
egged him to let her leave
.

S
ophia
broke the mirror in the room Lyon put her in
.
She
could not even look
upon her reflection
.
Lyon
feared
let
ting
her go
back to her home at that point
.
He stayed with her for
t
wo
entire
day
s
and night
s
, though she did not want his company
.
He feared she might harm herself, so he
could not leave her
alone
.
The only time he opened the door was to take trays of food from the housekeeper
.

Finally,
two days later,
after hearing
what a
horrible
man
he w
as and how much she loathed him;
Lyon
being strung out and feeling the need for opium, laudanum, alcohol, any
or all
of it;
allowed
her
to
return to her home
.
H
e
continued to
fear for her safety after she left
.
He
knew
she was still in danger
.
Yet
she hated him, and would not
listen to
him or
to
reason
.

Lyon
’s worry for Sophia increased
.
He
realized, almost immediately,
he
should
never
have let her leave
.
She was in danger from her self-hatred and from the m
en w
ho
kidnapped
her initially
.
He would wake at night wondering if Sophia was safe
;
i
f she
lived
.
He k
new he couldn’t go to her,
he doubted
she
would see
him
.
He started out to see her one night, but after stopping in Madame Rosier’s for a bit of liquid courage, he never made it
.
Newt
came
across him
there hours later
and
deposited him in his bed at his London
home
.

He returned to Limehouse
the next morning
, his
self-
hatred so great
, almost u
nbearable
.
He wished to see
Sophia and
make certain she was well
.
S
he hated him
. Knowing
what he did to her, what he took from her, he knew she would
refuse to see
him
.
He could not blame
her
.
He
not only
ruined
Sophia’s reputation,
but her life
, as well
.
She
didn’t
answer the
letters
he sent her
inquiring about her well-being
.
Once again,
Newt pulled Lyon out of Mr. Crow’s den and
this time
locked him up inside Alloway House
.

Lyon realized he could
no
longer
bear worrying about Sophia
.
He wanted to make certain she was safe and well
.
Finding himself locked up
in Newt’s home
, he
told
Newt
of his abominable actions toward Miss Hart
.
It was Newt
who
let
a house where Sophia and her Grandmother would be safe
and
Newt
who settled them in
.
It was h
e who also left
the
money
Lyon provided
for them
.
Newt
explained
to Sophia and her Grandmother
how very dangerous the men were who kidnapped her
.

Lyon
told Sophia
before he let her
leave
his London house
he would marry her, he could do no less
.
Especially when she
visited
London for the express purpose of finding a husband to keep a roof over
the two ladies heads
.
He told her he was ill
, t
hat he
was recently
wounded and t
ook
to drink, laudanum an
d opium to ease his pain
.
H
e
admitted
to her
he must
, and would,
overcome his addiction
.
In several weeks, he would come to her and they would marry
.

Miss Sophia Hart
said she would not marry a man who was addicted to such vices.

Lyon
argued
with Sophia
that as
many times as he spilled his seed inside her
,
it was probable
she carried his child and hei
r, and there would be a wedding
!

Realizing she might very likely be with child, Sophia broken-heartedly agreed
.

Newt fulfilled Lyon’s wishes and saw to it Sophia and her grandmother
enjoyed a
safe
home
,
had
the
money
necessary for them to live comfortably
,
and provided
servants and guards
.

Sophia
insisted
she would not marry him for several weeks
until she knew his demons were defeated
.

Now Lyon
was
aton
ing
for his sins, and work
ing
on making things right with Sophia, his family and the Avalon Society.

T
he Brown Coats converged on them
in London
.
They needed to join their colleagues in Templ
e
combe
for the
re
was
strength in numbers
.

Sophia
remained
in danger
.
Her
grandmother was frail and voiced her conce
rns about traveling
.
She
stay
ed
behind
in
London at
the home
of an old friend
.
Lyon hired two
guards to pr
otect
the elderly woman
.
Sophia
agreed to marry Lyon
and
travel
to Horethorne Hall
with him
.
Lyon reasoned Sophia
might hate him, but she
was an intelligent woman and
knew she
would be
safer
from the Brown Coats
staying with
him
and his friends
than
remaining on her own
.