She turned, winced but bit back the moan of pain, and saw Patrick standing in the doorway.
“I can’t stay in your bed. I need to get back to the Monmouth town house and Letty and Timmy.”Be strong, Sophie, or he will try and control you.
“No. You are not leaving.”
“I am and will. It is a bullet wound to my arm, so I am perfectly capable of leaving.” He glared at her. “Where are my clothes?”
“You don’t have any.” He stood there, legs braced, arms folded, looking as moveable as an oak tree.
“Of course I have some. I arrived in them yesterday.”
“Are we going to ignore the discussion we had last night, Sophie?” Lowering his arms, he moved closer.
She braced herself for his nearness. The man was overpowering when she was healthy, but today he seemed to take up all the space in the room.
“We are not marrying.”
“We are marrying. In fact, I have already applied for a special license to do so.”
The steady look he gave her had Sophie’s good hand clenching into a fist.
“I don’t need you to do this for honor. I don’t need you to throw your life away when no one else knows what happened between us. You believed I was a widow?—”
“We will marry. The decision is made.”
“This is not your choice alone to make,” she hissed.
“Do you want Timmy to walk in society one day?”
She blinked at the question. “I, ah, hadn’t thought about it.”
“He can under my protection. I can teach him what he needs to succeed in society or whatever he chooses to do.”
She shook her head, but that was really to clear it.
“What plans did you have for him, Sophie?”
“We will retire to Monmouth, where I will teach him… things,” Sophie finished lamely.
“And what? He is to live there tied to you forever? He could go away to school?—”
“And be bullied,” Sophie interrupted him.
“He will not be bullied if we teach him to be strong, and I can do that. He can rise above his birth if he wishes to, like you have.”
“You may find someone else you wish to marry,” Sophie said, looking for anything to stop this.
“I won’t. Do I frighten you, Sophie?”
He hadn’t touched her, but he was close now, and she felt the tips of his boots brushing her toes.
“Of course not.”
“Do you dislike me?”
She wanted to say yes but couldn’t. She shook her head.
“Then say yes.” His eyes looked down at her, and she had no idea what he was thinking. “I will never let Jack Spode near you or the people you love again.”
