Sophy, I have explained to you that the worst is over. There is no need to
retreat behind that agreement you insisted upon."
"I suppose not. Especially since you have made it clear I have so few means by
which to enforce the agreement." She pulled out of his arms and walked over to
the window. "You were quite right, my lord, when you pointed out that a woman
has very little power in a marriage. Her only hope is that she can depend upon
her husband's honor as a gentleman."
Another wave of guilt rolled over him, drowning Julian for an instant. When he
surfaced he longed to be able to confront the devil himself rather than Sophy.
At least that way he could fight back.
The position he was in was intolerable. It was shatteringly clear that there was
only one honorable way out and he had to take it even though he knew that it
would ultimately make everything far more difficult for her.
"Would you be able to trust my word a second time if I agree to return to our
three month arrangement?" Julian asked roughly.
She shot him a quick glance over her shoulder. "Yes, I think I could trust you
this time. If, that is, you would agree not to seduce me as well as not to force
me."
"I promised you seduction last night and forced myself on you, instead. Yes, I
can see where you might want to expand the terms of the original agreement."
Julian inclined his head formally. "Very well, Sophy. My judgment tells me it is
the wrong course of action, but I cannot deny your right to insist upon it after
what happened last night."
Sophy bowed her head, her fingers clenched in front of her. 'Thank you, my
lord."
"Do not thank me. I have a strong conviction I am making a serious mistake.
Something is very wrong here." He shook his head again, trying to will forth the
memories of last night. He got only a blank wall. Was he losing his mind? "You
have my word I will make no attempt to seduce you for the remaining time of our
agreement. It goes without saying that I will not force myself on you, either."
He hesitated, wanting to reach out and hold her close again but he did not dare
touch her. "Please excuse me."
He let himself out of her bedchamber feeling he could hardly sink lower in her
eyes than he already had in his own.
The next two days should have been the most blissful of Sophy's life. Her
honeymoon was finally turning into the dream she had once fondly conceived.
Julian was kind, thoughtful, and unfailingly gentle. He treated her as if she
were a rare and priceless piece of porcelain. The silent, subtle, sensual threat
that had plagued her for days was finally removed.
It was not that she no longer saw desire in Julian's gaze. It was still there,
but the fires were carefully banked now and she no longer feared they would rage
out of control. At last she had the breathing space she had tried to negotiate
before the marriage.
But instead of being able to relax and enjoy the time she had bought, Sophy was
miserable. For two days she fought the misery and the guilt, trying to assure
herself that she had done the right thing, the only thing she could do under the
circumstances. A wife had so little power, she was obliged to use whatever means
came to hand.
But her own sense of honor would not let her soothe her anxiety with such a
rationale.
Sophy awoke on the third morning after her fictitious wedding night knowing she
could not continue the charade another day, let alone the remainder of the three
months.
She had never felt so awful in her entire life. Julian's self-chastisement was a
terrible responsibility for her to bear. It was obvious he was berating himself
savagely for what he thought he had done. The fact that he had done nothing at
all was making Sophy feel even more guilty than he did.
She downed the tea her maid had brought, set the cup back in its saucer with a
loud crash and pushed back the covers.
"My, what a lovely day, ma'am. Will you be riding after breakfast?"
"Yes, Mary, I will. Please send someone to ask Lord Ravenwood if he would care
to join me, will you?"
"Oh, I don't think there will be any doubt about his lordship joinin' you," Mary
said with a cheeky grin. "That man would accept an invitation to go all the way
to America with you, if you asked him. The staff is enjoyin' the sight to no
end, you know."
"Enjoying what sight?"
"Watchin' him fall all over himself tryin' to please you. Never seen the like.
Reckon his lordship is thankin' his lucky stars he's got himself a wife who's
very different from that witch he married the first time."
"Mary!"
"Sorry, ma'am. But you know as well as I do what they used to say about her back
home in the village. Tweren't no secret. She was a wild one, she was. The brown
or blue habit, my lady?"
"The new brown habit, I think, Mary. And that will be quite enough about the
first Lady Ravenwood." Sophy spoke with what she hoped was a proper firmness.
She did not want to hear about her predecessor today. The guilt she was
suffering was causing her to wonder if, once he learned the truth, Julian would
conclude she was very much like his first wife in certain scheming ways.
An hour later she found Julian waiting for her in the front hall. He looked very
much at ease in his elegant riding clothes. The snug, light-colored breeches,
knee-high boots, and close-fitting coat emphasized the latent power in his
figure.
Julian smiled as Sophy came down the stairs. He held aloft a small basket. "I
had Cook pack us a picnic lunch. Thought we could explore the old castle ruin we
spotted on the hill overlooking the river. Does that appeal to you, madam?" He
came forward to take her arm.
"That was very thoughtful of you, Julian," Sophy said humbly, striving to
maintain a smile. His anxiousness to please her was touching and it only served
to make her feel even more miserable.
"Have your maid run upstairs and fetch one of those lamentable books of yours. I
can tolerate anything but the Wollstonecraft. I've picked out something from the
library for myself. Who knows? If the sun stays out we may want to spend the
afternoon reading under a tree somewhere along the way."
Her heart leapt for an instant. "That sounds lovely, my lord." Then reality
returned. Julian would not be in any mood to sit reading with her under a tree
in some leafy glade after she told him the awful truth.
He led her outside into the bright Spring sunshine. Two horses stood saddled and
waiting, a blood bay gelding and Angel. Grooms stood at their heads. Julian
watched Sophy's face carefully as he slid his hands around her waist and lifted
her into the saddle. He looked relieved when she did not flinch at his touch.
"I'm glad you felt up to riding again today," Julian said as he vaulted into his
saddle and took the reins. "I've missed our morning treks these past two days."
He shot her a quick, assessing glance. "You are certain you will be, uh,
comfortable?"
She blushed vividly and urged her mare into a trot.
"Most comfortable, Julian." Until I find the courage to tell you the whole truth
and then I shall feel absolutely terrible. She wondered morosely if he would
beat her.
An hour later they drew to a halt near the ruins of an old Norman castle that
had once stood guard over the river. Julian dismounted and walked over to the
gelding Sophy was riding. He lifted his wife gently out of the saddle. When her
feet touched the ground he did not release her immediately.
"Is something wrong, my lord?"
"No." His smile was whimsical. "Not at all." He took his hand from her waist and
carefully rearranged the plume that had fallen forward from the brim of her
small brown velvet hat. The plume had been dangling at a typically precarious
angle.
Sophy sighed. "That was one of the reasons I was such a failure during my short
season in London. No matter how carefully my maid did my hair and arranged my
clothing I always managed to arrive at the ball or the theater looking as if I'd
just been run over by a passing carriage. I think I should like to have lived in
a simpler time when people had fewer clothes to worry about."
"I would not mind living with you in such a time." Julians grin widened as he
surveyed her attire. There was laughter in his sunlit green eyes. "You would
look very good running about in very few clothes, madam."
She knew she was turning pink again. Hastily she swung away from him and started
toward the tumbledown pile of rocks that comprised what was left of the old
castle. At any other time Sophy would have found the ruin charmingly
picturesque. Today she could hardly focus on it. "A lovely view, is it not? It
reminds me of that old castle on Ravenwood land. I should have brought along my
sketchbook."
"I did not mean to embarrass you, Sophy," Julian said quietly as he came up
behind her. "Or frighten you by reminding you of the other night. I was just
trying to make a little joke." He touched her shoulder. "Forgive me for my want
of delicacy."
Sophy closed her eyes. "You did not frighten me, Julian."
"Whenever you move away from me like that I worry that I've given you some new
cause to fear me."
"Julian, stop it. Stop it at once. I do not fear you."
"You do not need to lie to me, little one," he assured her gently. "I am well
aware that it will be a long while before I can redeem myself in your eyes."
"Oh, Julian, if you say another word of apology I think I shall scream." She
stepped away from him, not daring to glance back.
"Sophy? What the devil is wrong now? I am sorry if you do not care for my
apologies but I have no honorable recourse other than to try to convince you
they are genuine."
It was all she could do not to burst into tears. "You don't understand," she
said miserably. "The reason I do not want to hear any more apologies is because
they are… they are entirely unnecessary."
There was a short pause behind her before Julian said quietly, "You are not
obliged to make matters easier on me."
She gripped her riding crop in both hands. "I am not trying to make matters
easier. I am trying to set you straight on a few points about which I… I
deliberately misled you."
There was another short pause. "I don't understand. What are you trying to say,
Sophy? That my lovemaking was not as bad as I know it must have been? Please
don't bother. We both know the truth."
"No, Julian, you do not know the truth. Only I know the truth. I have a
confession to make, my lord, and I fear you are going to be excessively angry."
"Not with you, Sophy. Never with you."
"I pray you will remember that, my lord, but common sense tells me you will
not." She gathered her courage, still not daring to turn around and face him.
"The reason you need not apologize for what you think you did the other night is
because you did nothing."
"What?"
Sophy wiped the back of her gloved hand across her eyes. In doing so she jarred
her hat and the plume bobbed forward again. "That is to say, you did not do what
you think you did."
The silence behind her grew deafening before Julian spoke again. "Sophy, the
blood. There was so much blood."
She hurried on quickly before her courage deserted her entirely. "On my own
behalf, I should like to point out that you did try to break the spirit of our
agreement as far as I am concerned. I was quite nervous and very, very angry. I
hope you will take that into consideration, my lord. You, of all people, know
what it is to be in the grip of a fierce temper."
"Damn it, Sophy, what the devil are you talking about?" Julian's voice was far
too quiet.
"I am trying to explain, my lord, that you did not assault me the other night.
You just, well, that is to say, you merely went to sleep." Sophy finally turned
slowly to confront him. He stood a short distance away, his booted feet braced
slightly apart, his riding crop held alongside his thigh. His emerald gaze was
colder than the outer reaches of Hades.
"I went to sleep?"
Sophy nodded and stared fixedly past his shoulder. "I put some herbs in your
tea. You remember I told you I had something more effective than port for
inducing sleep?"
"I remember," he said with terrible softness. "But you drank the tea also."
She shook her head. "I merely pretended to drink it. You were so busy
complaining about Miss Wollstonecraft's book that you did not notice what I was
doing."
He stalked one step closer. The riding crop flicked restlessly against his leg.
"The blood. It was all over the sheet."
"More herbs, my lord. After you fell asleep I added them to the tea to produce a
reddish stain on the sheets. Only I did not know how much liquid to use, you see
and I was nervous and I spilled some and thus the spot grew somewhat larger than
I had intended."
"You spilled some of the tea," he repeated slowly.
"Yes, my lord."
"Enough to make me think I had torn you most savagely."
"Yes, my lord."
"You are telling me that nothing happened that night? Nothing at all?"