Cullen launched into the details. “Marine Captain George Neville is…
“A good, solid man to have in a fight,” Arnaud interrupted.
His surgeon threw him a glare and continued. “His father is a country squire in Doddinghurst in Essex, not far from the sea. Captain Neville is the middle of nine brothers, so he followed the drum. He was with our marines in Algiers with Admiral Pellew.” Cullen stopped for a moment, his face pale. “That was a hell of a fight. Don’t see how we’re all still alive.”
Arnaud picked up where Cullen left off. “First Lieutenant Richard Bourne. He’s George’s second in command. Damned fine fighter. Irish, from an old Protestant, landed family in Westmeath.”
Lord Howick waved a hand in his direction. “Say no more.” He sipped from his glass for a moment and then said, “Captain Bellingham, I have a question. Could you please explain whyyouare unable to marry Sophia?” The older man gave Arnaud a long, thoughtful look and took another sip of brandy.
A deep silence filled the room. Arnaud gripped the chair arm so tightly, his knuckles turned white. “I would never take to wife a woman like Miss Brancelli and leave her alone for months or years at a time.”
“Have you asked her what she would like?” Lord Howick’s stare held Arnaud in a relentless grip.
“I would never broach such a question without your permission, my lord. But if I may be frank,” Arnaud continued, “the pain I would have to bear would probably be much worse than hers. Having come to know Sophia as I have, if I pledged to love and protect her, I could never sail away and leave her.”
After a long pause, Lord Howick said, “I understand and admire your devotion to our country’s service. I simply wanted to make sure you are committed to Sophia finding a husband who will cherish her as well as meet the requirements of her grandmother’s estate. And that man will not be you? On that we are now clear?”
Arnaud’s heart rolled over and nearly knocked out of his chest at his denial of any possible suit for Sophia, but he ignored the fickle instrument and nodded his assent.
“I will make inquiries tomorrow to discover who might have reason to cause her harm.” Lord Howick gave an impatient wave to indicate their discussion was over. After Arnaud and Cullen finished their brandy and headed for the door, Lord Howick had already sharpened his writing quill and pulled sheets of vellum from his desk drawer.
Teddy walked through the outside door of Lord Jameson’s game room and found a dark corner among the hedges of ornamental shrubbery enclosing the estate’s gardens.
He shivered and let out a long breath of relief after holding his water throughout an ugly card game that, frankly, had not been in his best interest. But he couldn’t let his fellow rakehells know how hard the losses would hit him. What he was planning required a certain amount of acting on his part. Before his scheme came to fruition he would be as good as any actor who ever trod the boards at Covent Garden. The night air was so bitter cold, clouds of steam blew out of his mouth and he hastened to re-button his trousers. When he whirled to return to his gaming accomplices, he slammed into a solid mass blocking his way.
“Who are you?”
“Don’t signify,” the immovable mass said. “Come wit me.”
The man half-pushed, half-dragged him toward a dark carriage waiting in the curved drive. By now, Teddy was in full panic and jerked away from the large man’s hold.
“Wouldn’t do that iffn I was you” was his only warning before everything went black.
Might have been hours, might have been days for all Teddy knew. He returned to consciousness in the darkened upper room of what he supposed was a nearby inn. Stubby candles in hardened pools of wax flickered on a table in the corner. His head throbbed like the devil, and he wished to God he’d stayed in London. When he tried to stand, all he could do was strain against the bonds attaching his hands and legs to a chair and rock back. His old friend, the mass, must have been right behind him and gave him a helpful slam back down onto all four of the chair legs.
Another tall, substantial man, obviously a gentleman and the mass’s superior, sat severely upright in a wooden chair. The thing that most commanded Teddy’s attention, however, was the cat-o’-nine-tails he swung casually from side to side. And then, of course, there was the long, sharp blade on the table next to him, gleaming in the candlelight.
Just when Teddy was about to venture a question of the two men, the gentleman abruptly spoke. “I’ve heard tales about you.”
Teddy quaked and nearly cast up his accounts. He felt the blood drain from his face but he’d be damned if he’d ask about the “tales.”
“I’ve heard you fancy the Brancelli chit in your aunt’s household.”
This time, Teddy shook so hard he pissed himself.Damn.
The man in the opposite chair laughed, a harsh, mirthless bark. “Don’t worry. I’m not here to defend her honor. I’m here to make you a better offer. Because we both know you really don’t want her. It’s the blunt you’re after.”
“You? You’re the one trying to ruin her?”
“I was, but the little by-blow keeps outwitting the idiots I hired to turn her into a ruined social outcast. And now she has a champion. However, I have a better plan, and you’re going to help me. This time she’ll be gone forever, and that whore-monger of a naval officer will have no idea where to look.”
Sophie pushed one toe up through the soapy bubbles and sank a little further into the steamy water.Heaven. And she didn’t have to do a thing. The Howick servants seemed to have a sixth sense about what one needed and when. She supposed, though, some things didn’t need to be said. Lydia’s grandmother probably had realized all they’d been through that day after the first glimpse of their faces - hers and Lydia’s.
She sneaked a glance at the privacy screen separating her from Lydia’s soaking tub. “Are you over there?”
“Where else would I be? And this is where I plan to stay for at least the next half hour.” At that pronouncement, Lydia’s lady’s maid, Jane, tapped at the door before entering with two more buckets of freshly warmed water.
After Jane replenished the heat in their tubs and closed the door behind her, Sophie ventured, “Aren’t you amazed she knows exactly what you need before you want it?”
