“You will approve if I dispatch of your stepbrother?”
He knew. Somehow, from what she had said, he’d guessed.
He had just told her everything. He had trusted her. He’d been open and honest with her. How could she be anything but with him?
“I am safe from him now,” she said.
He squeezed her protectively, but she felt a new tension emanating from him. “Thank God for that. That is why you were anxious to marry, was it not?”
“It was.”
Sophia remembered some of her first encounters with Dudley. He would pinch her, or poke her, trip her, step on her toes — anything that he could do without the adults catching on. And when she told her mother or Mr. Scofield, he would deny it, indicate that she was being overly fussy. She was a girl, after all.
“I think he resented taking on a sister. I was a baby, and he was a growing boy. He did not like that my mother had entered his life and stolen some of his father’s affection. Dudley could not treat my mother poorly, but he found me easy prey.”
“Was this ongoing? Did it happen more than once?”
He nuzzled her ear from behind. She shook her head, just enough so that he could feel her answer and then closed her eyes and remembered. “After he got into my room that one time, I locked my door whenever he was home from school. He tried, but I was diligent. And since he was away most of the time, I had breaks from… from the threat of him.”
She’d been such an idiot to ever trust Dudley!
“When he returned from school that one year, he’d changed. His voice had deepened, he had hair growing on his face, and he was taller. His friends were all taller too. Although they told me I was an annoying child, I knew things were different. And I, well, I did not find objections with much of it. They were handsome older boys. They teased me. Some of them flirted with me.”
She did not wish to keep talking about this but continued anyway. “In all honesty, I do not know for certain what happened. I struggled with him, tried to shove him away, but he struck me. When I awoke, there was evidence… but, I don’t actually remember any of it. I should not have let him enter my chamber. Since then, I always lock my door. It never happened again.”
She felt Dev swallow hard once and then again before he spoke. “You never told your mother?” he asked.
She covered her face with her hands. She’d been such a coward. She’d not told anybody until she’d met Rhoda. “I just wasn’t… I didn’t…” Oh, this was mortifying. “I told Rhoda last spring.”
Strong arms tightened around her. And then, “She is protective of you.”
“And Peaches,” Sophia added. “I do not trust him with Peaches. I caught him kicking her once. He snarled and told me that nothing would make him happier than to see her hanging from a tree.”
“So, he would hurt a pet,” Dev pointed out. “He hurt you. Might he hurt someone else?”
This man whose arms held her so tenderly wanted to dispatch of Dudley. What did that mean? Dev was a military man, a captain. He would wish to mete out some justice. Not just for deeds Dudley had done in the past, but to prevent him from injuring another. Which, as she considered it, was a reasonable possibility. Dudley was not above using violence and force, and if the lady trusted him…
“And so, you would wish to… dispatch of him. Could he not simply be punished? I would not wish his death on your hands, nor on mine.”
Dev was quiet for a moment. It was obvious he wanted to say more, ask more questions, but he was being sensitive to her feelings. “If that is what you wish, I will honor it. If you wish nothing to be done, I will honor that as well. But bullies such as he need a deterrence. They need to suffer repercussions.” Although he lay calmly, anger shook his voice.
“Then so be it,” she said. Dudley would not be allowed to hurt another.
Sophia did not want to think about Dudley. She tucked her face into his Dev’s chest. She hated the subject of her stepbrother! She would erase him from her every memory if possible.
“So, this Stewart fellow… He is Harold’s valet then? And they… love one another? Do the duke and duchess know?”
Her gown had ridden up slightly, and the wool of his pants brushed against her bare legs. She felt the strength of his calves and thighs through the fabric.
“He is. It allows them to be together in the way that they would wish. And, yes, I believe his parents know… or have guessed anyhow.”
Sophia continued, slightly in awe. “They were unclothed. The valet, Stewart, he is a handsome man. When I met him earlier, I thought he had a sort of presence unusual in a servant. I’d never considered this sort of love. Is it the same, do you think, as men and women feel?”
Dev’s hand slid along her shoulder, down her arm, to her hips… “It is difficult for me to imagine, Sophia, but it is real enough. Harold has fought it in himself for a long time. He would not have chosen such a life if it were not ingrained within him. Much like the color of his eyes, or the shape of his face.”
Sophia tilted her head back as Dev’s lips trailed down her jaw to the base of her throat.
“I don’t think I will ever understand it completely. My imaginings run more along the lines of sweet-smelling blondes. I have imagined none other but you since that first afternoon.”
