“Where is Stephen?” Patrick asked.
“He left us to visit the stables,” Letty said.
“Well then, come along,” Patrick said. “I will call for tea.”
He collected Timmy on the way and lifted him onto his shoulders. He then took Sophie’s hand and walked back inside with the others following.
He liked the feel of her hand in his, liked her tethered to him.
“This, Ribble, is Doddy. He is the countess’s dog,” Patrick said as the animal sat and stared up at the butler.
“I’m sorry we have disturbed your peace, Ribble,” Sophie rushed to add.
“Not at all, my lady. We are happy to have something to do,” he said.
“If only I’d known you were bored,” Patrick drawled. He then introduced Letty, Amelia, and Timmy.
They went to the small parlor that had windows and a door leading out to the garden.
Patrick waited until the women were seated, then lowered Timmy onto the sofa beside his wife. The boy immediately climbed onto his sister’s lap and snuggled against her chest. Patrick envied him and his youthful ability to do that with so many people in the room. If he tried the same trick, he would behurled bodily from the house, he thought, looking longingly at Sophie’s breasts.
“Tea, please, Ribble,” Patrick said as he went to open the door.
“Tell me why you are here,” Sophie said from behind him.
“Lord Coulter?—”
“Would never judge you or tell anyone what you say. Isn’t that right, my lord?”
He gave his wife a look before nodding.
“I have left Mother, Sophie, and I will not be returning.”
Nowthathe had not expected. Shooting Sophie a look, he saw she was shocked too.
“I am sorry to arrive unannounced and with you having only just married Lord Coulter,” Amelia rushed on. “But she said horrible things about both you and Lady Carstairs after the wedding. We fought, hurling vile things at each other.”
Patrick watched Letty hand Miss Logan a handkerchief.
“I thought to reason with her. So I went to her room, but she called me S-Satan’s whore because I still wore the bridesmaid dress and said she was going to church to pray for my black soul. I packed a valise and left.”
“Amelia arrived just minutes before we were to leave London,” Letty said, “so I took her with me.”
“How dare she!” Sophie was outraged.
“Sophie,” Patrick said softly.
“Well, that’s not very nice,” she added.
“I took a hackney to Lady Carstairs’s house,” Amelia added with a small sniff. “I had nowhere else to go, you see, Sophie.”
“Of course you should have gone to Letty,” she said. “I would have been very angry had I found out you had done any differently. You are my friend.”
“Oh dear,” Amelia cried into her handkerchief, Sophie’s words making her sob even harder.
Patrick was about as happy with a woman’s tears as the next man, and yet he didn’t leave. Every time someone talked to or about Sophie, he learned more about his wife.
“I insisted Amelia send her mother a letter explaining our destination and when we would be returning,” Letty added.
