Julia London 4 Book Bundle (83 page)

“However, I shall quite definitely be in residence when you grace us with your presence Wednesday next.”

Claudia could not help herself; the man revolted her, and she awkwardly stepped back, bumping into the door. Stanwood chuckled. “Go on, then,” he said patronizingly. “Go find our Sophie.” Claudia did not wait—she was suddenly desperate to be away from him. How in God’s name had Sophie ever found him desirable?

She heard him laugh, speak low to the footman as she hurried out of the vestibule, and her stomach twisted again.

Fortunately, the other footman found her in a narrow corridor. “Beggin’ your pardon, milady. Lady Stanwood is in her sitting room just now. If you will follow me.” Claudia nodded, and followed the footman through a small maze of doors and hallways and staircases. On the second floor, he paused in front of a green door and rapped. From the other side, Claudia heard Sophie’s muffled reply.

As the door swung open, she spied Sophie sitting with her back to the door, slightly hunched over. Thanking the footman, Claudia anxiously stepped inside and shut the door behind her. “Sophie! Are you well?”

With a thin smile, Sophie turned slightly; Claudia’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of her sister-in-law. It had been only a week since Claudia had last seen her, but the change was remarkable. She was still in her dressing gown, although it was nearly three o’clock. The girl was gaunt, as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Dark skin ringed her bloodshot eyes, and the natural luster was gone from her hair. “Sophie! What has happened to you?” Claudia exclaimed, feeling a rise of panic.

“Happened?” Sophie choked on a laugh. “Nothing has happened! I’ve been a bit under the weather, that’s all.”

It was a lie. “Have you sent for a physician? You should be—”

“No, of course not,” she said. “I am quite all right. Now come and please sit down—I’m so glad you’ve come! Shall I ring for tea?”

Claudia tossed her cloak to a chair and sat nervously on the edge of an ottoman near Sophie. “Now I see why Eugenie and Ann were so concerned yesterday—Ann says she never has the opportunity to speak with you alone—”

“What is their concern?” Sophie asked, a little impatiently. “I can take care of myself!”

“Of course you can,” Claudia hastily reassured her, and leaned forward, settling her hand on Sophie’s knee. “It’s just that you don’t
look
very well. Has Sir William said anything at all? Surely he has noticed—”

Sophie surprised her with a bitter laugh. “He’s hardly here enough to notice much of anything,” she said, glancing at her hands. “Really, Claudia, I am quite fine. I’ve had an ague, I suppose, but I am well down the road to recovery.”

But she wasn’t fine. “Why isn’t he here?” Claudia asked bluntly. The cretin ought to be fetching a physician, if nothing else!

Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know, precisely. But in truth … in truth,”—her voice fell to a whisper—“I am
glad
for it.”

Claudia blinked, surprised. This was hardly the same woman who had made such emotional declarations of undying love for him. “Oh, Sophie, darling … what is wrong?” she asked, wincing when a single tear slipped from Sophie’s eye.

“He’s … he’s not at all the man I thought,” she said, and suddenly looked frantically over her shoulder—rather odd, seeing as how they were alone in the room, and giving Claudia the very distinct impression that she was afraid. “Promise me you won’t tell a soul what I’ve said!” she whispered anxiously as she jerked her gaze back to Claudia.

“Sophie—”

“
Promise
me, Claudia! If Julian knew … if
any
of them knew, they would be so very angry with me!”

She
was
panic-stricken, and Claudia grasped her
hands, holding them firmly between her own. “No one will be angry with you.”

“They
will!
They will because there is nothing they can do! I
married
him for God’s sake, and now I am his for all eternity!”

Claudia could not dispute that—the moment Sophie said her vows and signed the betrothal papers, there was nothing short of an act of God or Parliament that would set her free. Much to Claudia’s chagrin, her eyes began to water, brought on by the never-ending sense of guilt. She looked at Sophie through a haze of tears—stooped over as she was with her hair falling limply about her—looking as if she carried the weight of the world on her thin shoulder. “Oh, Sophie, what can I do?” she blurted. “Tell me how I can help you!”

Shaking her head, Sophie pulled her hands from Claudia’s grasp and unsteadily wiped her own tears away. “Nothing. There is nothing you can do, Claudia.” She glanced up and attempted a weak smile. “I suppose we all pay the consequences of our actions, don’t we?”

Ah, God
.

Ashamed, Claudia stared at the carpet, unable to conjure anything comforting to say to Sophie, other than she was so very, very sorry. Lord help her, she was forever sorry these days, but it was never enough. If she could, she would trade herself for Sophie, put her own life in this predicament so that Sophie would be free.

“I’ll ring for tea,” Sophie muttered, and pushed herself from the chair. As she moved sluggishly toward the bell pull, Claudia lifted her head.

What she saw froze the blood in her veins.

A myriad of images suddenly deluged her mind’s eye: images of Phillip holding her, Phillip crushing her to the wall, crushing her breast, crushing her lips, crushing her throat with his hand. Drunk out of his mind, he had attacked her the last night she had seen him alive, his hands everywhere, hurting her. Terrified, she had struggled, finally stopping the assault with a slap that reverberated up her arm. Never in her life would she forget the
fear and revulsion and the feeling of utter helplessness the moment she realized she could not possibly stop him from raping her.

All of that came rushing back to her, pounding dangerously at her temple as she stared at the multi-colored bruise on Sophie’s shoulder where her dressing gown had slipped away. It frightened her, made her belly roil with nausea and her heart hammer hard against her chest. Without thinking, she surged to her feet and rushed toward Sophie, startling her badly.

“
Claudia!
What are you doing!” she shrieked as Claudia reached for her dressing gown.

“He did that to you, didn’t he?” she demanded, her voice shrill with fear.

Sophie’s face went ghostly white; she clutched at the thin dressing gown and wrapped it tightly around her.

A silent scream of terror and remorse lifted from her heart to God, and Claudia lashed out at Sophie’s hands, pulling them off the dressing gown. Shrieking, Sophie tried to fight her, but Claudia was too determined—she had to know, had to see it with her own eyes, know the full extent of Stanwood’s depravity. When at last she freed Sophie’s hands and yanked the dressing gown open, she stepped back in horror, covering her mouth with a badly trembling hand.

There were bruises everywhere—up and down her ribs, in varying shades of purple and yellow and green. On the underside of her breast, across her abdomen. The clear mark of fingers on the inside of her thighs. Sophie stood rigidly, her head bowed meekly as Claudia gaped at her with tears spilling from her eyes. “Oh, God. Oh, God.
Sophie
 …”

Sophie carefully pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, then slowly wrapped the ends of the dressing gown around her before calmly tying the sash. “He is very careful to hit me where no one can see,” she murmured. “Except for my maid Stella, that is, but he has threatened her life should anyone find out.”

Sophie had to leave. At once, without delay. All the
bloody consequences in the world be damned, Sophie had to leave this house at once. “You must leave here,” Claudia said quietly.

“No!” Sophie responded sharply. “I
cannot
leave! What respectability my family has left will be destroyed if I—”

“You cannot stay here!” Claudia cried, gesturing wildly at her body. “The next time he may very well
kill
you, Sophie!”

Sophie laughed, a strange, high-pitched laugh that pierced Claudia’s heart. “He won’t kill me! He
needs
me! Without me, he hasn’t any income!” she shouted hysterically, and whirled toward the wall, banging her fists against the paneling. “Christ
God
, what a fool I am!”

Frightened, Claudia lurched forward, wrapping her arms around Sophie and pressing her cheek to her hair. “You
must
leave him! You have grounds for divorce, don’t you see? Extreme cruelty—”

“And who will file on my behalf? Julian? No, he won’t do it. Firstly, because I will
kill
you if you ever tell him! And … and secondly, he won’t risk all that he has to the scandal! Even if he did, Claudia, there’s no guarantee that I would be granted a divorce! William could fight it … he could stop it from happening! Julian knows that!”

Claudia didn’t know if that was true or not, and she was too frantic to care. “I don’t know what he’ll do, but I do know that this … this
violence
will not improve with time. I fear for your life, Sophie! You must go from here!”

Choking on a desolate sob, Sophie slapped at Claudia’s hands until she let go and twisted out of her embrace. “Even if the family could withstand the scandal, just where do you think I would go, Claudia? If I go to Julian, William will call him out, and I cannot
bear
that! Tell me, where in God’s name would I
go
?” she cried helplessly, and covered her face with her hands.

“I know a place,” Claudia breathlessly answered. “I know a place where you will be safe, a place he will never find you. Never!”

Sophie lowered her hands. “
What
place? What place could you possibly know besides your father’s house or Kettering Hall?”

“It is a place,” she frantically continued, “where women can be safe. A place for women just like you, Sophie. No one knows of it, and it is nowhere near here. He can’t find you there, I swear it! Come on, then, gather your things. We can go today!”

Sophie gaped at her. A whirlwind of emotions clouded her eyes—despair, disbelief, hope—after a moment, she shook her head and looked furtively at the door. “No, not today. He’ll return soon, and he’ll know it was you who helped me.”

In great frustration, Claudia threw her hands up. “Can you not
see
the bruises on your body? Are you not the least afraid of what he is capable of doing?”

“I know
exactly
what he is capable of doing, believe me,” Sophie answered low, and a chill coursed Claudia’s spine. “Tomorrow. He is attending the market fair in Huntley and will be gone overnight.”

“A market fair?” Claudia asked, confused.

Sophie frowned, flicking her wrist in a show of disgust. “Racing. He has lost quite a lot of Julian’s money recently, and he thinks to make it up with a few wagers.”

“All right. Tomorrow, then. Julian will help us—”

“
No!
” Sophie shrieked. “You can’t tell him! You must
swear
you will not tell him!”

“He must know where you are, Sophie! I cannot keep this from him!”

“If you tell him, I will not go! I would die before I let him see my shame, Claudia! I would take my own life first!” she cried hysterically.

Claudia frantically thought what to do. She could not keep something like this from her husband—Sophie’s own brother! But then, she could sense Sophie’s deep shame, unfounded though it was. “All right, all right!” she conceded, “I won’t tell him now. But he will be frantic with worry when he discovers you are gone!”

“He won’t come until Saturday. He won’t know for
two days,” Sophie said, her eyes beseeching Claudia. She told herself to calm down, told herself that the most important thing was to remove Sophie from harm. As for Julian—
God, she couldn’t keep this from him!
But she couldn’t
think
now, and for the moment, Sophie had her word.

When she was certain Sophie was safe, then she would figure out how to tell Julian.

O
NE
O
F
T
HE
most difficult things Claudia had ever done—ranking right up there with facing Julian after Sophie’s elopement—was to keep the latest news of Sophie from him. Throughout supper and well into the late evening hours her mind warred with it. Every time she looked at him, she felt the crush of guilt and uncertainty. In the drawing room, she sat staring blindly at the pages of a book in her lap, preoccupied to such a degree that Julian actually asked if something was wrong. That startled her; she turned her head to look at him, unsure if he had actually inquired after her.

“I beg your pardon?” she asked.

Miracle of miracles, a faint smile turned the corners of his mouth up. “I asked if you were quite all right. This is usually the point in the evening when you try and impress upon me how very pleased you are to have made my acquaintance. As you have not offered any evidence of it tonight, I cannot help but wonder if you are perhaps unwell.”

Good God, he was
jesting
with her! Stunned, Claudia shook her head. “I beg your pardon, sir. I never meant to imply I was
that
pleased to have made your acquaintance.”

Julian chuckled softly at her quip. His eyes quickly flicked the length of her before he returned his attention to the manuscript he was reviewing. A faint yearning swept her as she shifted her gaze to the book again, but
she pushed it aside, spending the next several moments anxiously reviewing the escape plan she and Sophie had devised. Stanwood planned to leave midday on the morrow. Claudia would meet Sophie and her maid, Stella, at the corner of Park Lane and Oxford Street, where they could easily slip into an unmarked hack, unnoticed.

“All right, what are you thinking? You look positively frightening with your face all scrunched up like that.”

Startled again, Claudia’s gaze flew to Julian. “Scrunched up?”

He smiled. “You seem lost in thought.”

“Ah,” she said, confused by his companionable demeanor. “Well, yes. Yes, I was thinking. About Sophie. I called on her today.” The pleasant atmosphere between them suddenly dissipated, and Claudia regretted her words at once.