Till Dawn with the Devil (21 page)

Sophia’s hand idly caressed her right nipple, as she recalled how it had felt to have Reign’s mouth suckling at her breasts. Her toes curled beneath the sheets.

Her husband was an exceedingly skilled lover.

Sophia glanced down at her bare breasts, irritated that she had been so exhausted by Reign’s lovemaking that she had forgotten to put on her nightgown. He claimed that he preferred her naked, but he was not the one who had to face the servants in the morning.

She slid her hand over the bedding until her fingers brushed against her wrinkled nightgown.

“Damn it, I want to see her!”

Sophia frowned and swiftly pulled the nightgown over her head. Was that Stephan? She had no idea what the hour was, except that it was before dawn. Sophia started to head for the door, and then realized that the male voices that she heard were not coming from downstairs in the front hall. The argument was outside the house.

Wary, Sophia moved slowly toward the open window. She was certain that the window had been shut when she had fallen asleep.

Had Reign opened the window?

Sophia pulled the curtain aside and peered, concentrating on the lamp that seemed to float just above the ground. It was too dark to see much, and her eyesight was barely adequate in daylight.

“Go home, Ravenshaw,” Reign said, sounding bored and unsympathetic. “You can pay your respects to my wife when you have sobered up.”

Sophia’s eyes narrowed at the way Reign emphasized the words
my wife
. Mr. Enright’s comment that she was Reign’s possession intruded on her thoughts.

“Smug bastard,” Stephan jeered. “How did you learn of Mackney’s offer so quickly?”

“You were not as discreet as you thought,” Reign taunted.

“Neither were you with that business in the Bramsburys’ lower gardens,” Stephan yelled back.

Sophia heard a shuffling noise and a grunt.

Oh, this was frustrating! Sophia wished that she could see Reign and her brother. Were they fighting or just circling around each other like moths around the lamp?

Stephan was breathing heavily. “Perhaps you had been plotting to steal Sophia away. Who helped you? Did you bribe my bloody servants?”

“How Sophia came to be in my custody is irrelevant, Ravenshaw.”

Sophia could hear the pleasure resonating in her husband’s voice. He was savoring his victory.

“What should concern you is that Sophia is now a Rainecourt. She is no longer in a position to help you, and after you locked her up and tried to hand her over to Mackney, there is a good chance that she no longer cares about your fate.”

“Liar,” Stephan spat. “Sophia loves me and Henry. She would never put a Rainecourt above her real family.”

Sophia squinted as she heard more scuffling sounds and Stephan cursed.

“My wife understands where her loyalties lie, Ravenshaw,” Reign said calmly. “If you are short of funds, I would suggest that you spend your days and evening searching for an heiress to wed instead of drinking yourself blind each night, and gambling away what’s left of your fortune.”

“I do not need any lectures from a murderous Rainecourt!” Stephan roared. “I just want to see my sister, you bastard.”

“Why?” Reign sounded genuinely curious. “She cannot save you.”

“Maybe I’ve come to save her from you,” Stephan shouted at Reign, his voice full of importance and belligerence. “Sophia and her stubborn ways can drive a saint to commit violence. Lord knows, I have wanted to throttle her a dozen times. With one wife moldering in the ground, and the tainted blood of your sire flowing in your veins, I suspect that it will be only a matter of time before our sweet, gentle Sophia meets a similar fate.”

Sophia inhaled sharply at the sickening thumps of fists striking flesh.

“Sophia!”

She instinctively took a step away from the window. She had not realized that she had revealed herself to her brother and Reign.

“No, no—wait!” Stephan shouted up at her. “Sophia, I never meant to hurt you. Forget my interest in your dowry; Mackney would have been a good husband to you. I just went about it wrong that night because I was drunk—”

“You
are
drunk, Ravenshaw,” Reign drawled. “What’s next? Groveling?”

“I am not groveling, damn it!” Stephan lashed out at Reign. “This is between me and my sister.” He moved toward the window. “Sophia, come home. The marriage was probably not even valid.”

Her husband chuckled. “Oh, the marriage was very real. As was the wedding night.”

Sophia brought her hand up to her face and
despaired. Reign was not helping the situation by provoking her brother into a mindless rage.

“Damn you, Sophia!” His next words were almost inaudible. “You did not have to whore yourself to this murderous devil. Mackney was honorable . . . I swear it!”

Stephan believed she had betrayed her family’s honor. Did Henry feel the same way?

With her brother’s words ringing in her ears, Sophia staggered away from the window, returning to the bed. She crawled to the center, and then pulled the bedding up until she was fully covered.

Minutes later, Reign entered the room.

Sophia stared blankly at the wall, waiting for her husband to get into bed. Reign remained near the door.

“Do you regret marrying me?”

His question surprised Sophia. “No,” she said huskily. Stephan did not consider her marriage to Reign as valid. It stung to know that if she had been foolish enough to go with her brother, Stephan would have ignored her protests and tried to marry her off to Mackney.

“Good.” He did not venture closer. “Tomorrow we will leave for Addison Park.”

Sophia tossed aside the bedding she had used to cocoon herself and sat up. She did not need Reign to explain that he thought she would be safer if they put some distance between her and Stephan. “Do you truly believe this is necessary? I know that Stephan is very angry at both of us. However, my brother would never hurt me.”

“Sophia,” Reign said wearily. “Look in the mirror. Your brother has already hurt you.”

Her nose suddenly burned with the tears she had been fighting. Reign was telling the truth. Sophia nodded. Stephan had betrayed her, and she had not quite recovered from it.

“You always seem to be protecting me.”

Reign gave her a long unreadable look. “In this instance, I am protecting your brother.”

Sophia blinked. “How so?”

“Leaving for Addison Park will stop me from putting a bullet into the damn man.” He ignored Sophia’s startled expression, and elaborated, “Your brother is feeling desperate, and desperate men are unpredictable. If Ravenshaw was foolish enough to kidnap you, I would be obliged to hurt him.” Reign gave her a lopsided grin. “And that would have made you unhappy. Do not look so surprised. Just because your brother has been behaving like a horse’s arse does not mean you have stopped loving him.”

Sophia brought her hand up to her forehead. She had been prepared to despise Stephan, but her feelings for both of her brothers were more complicated than that.

“So we are journeying to your country estate so you will not have to shoot my brother?”

“Exactly.”

Sophia groaned and slid down into the bedding.

Reign walked over and pulled the blankets over her. He kissed her on the temple. “Get some sleep, Sophia. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

She listened to her husband’s footfalls as he walked through the doorway and softly shut the door.

Addison Park.

Sophia had been so distracted by her problems with Stephan that she had not considered that Reign would expect her to reside there. Addison Park was part of her past. It was the source of her nightmares. The last time she had been there, she had almost died. It was where his father had murdered her parents.

And Reign was taking her back there.

Sophia rolled onto her back and waited for the dawn.

“Does this week’s menu meet your approval?”

Sophia lowered the piece of paper in her hand, and gave the housekeeper a gentle smile. Two weeks had passed since Reign had whisked her off to Addison Park, and she still felt more like a guest than its mistress. “As usual, you have outdone yourself on the menu, Mrs. Ivey. I would not change a single dish.” Sophia handed the paper to the servant.

Mrs. Ivey accepted the paper with a curt nod. “Very good, milady. I will tell the cook immediately that we have your approval.” The housekeeper curtsied and hurried toward the door. She paused at the threshold. “Before I go about my other duties, would you care for some tea? It will put a spot of color on your face, if you do not mind me saying so.”

“It is kind of you to offer, Mrs. Ivey. Perhaps I will ring for some tea after I have taken a stroll in the gardens.”

The housekeeper’s forehead furrowed at her
mistress’s announcement. Reign had departed at dawn to attend to some business with several of his tenants. He must have ordered Mrs. Ivey to look after his new countess. The housekeeper’s hesitation was slight but noticeable. She clearly was not pleased that Sophia was planning to leave the house. “Very well, milady. Shall I fetch one of the lads to walk with you?”

“That will not be necessary,” Sophia said, retrieving her bonnet and gloves from the table. “I shall not be straying far from the house.”

In the five minutes that it took Sophia to escape the house, the butler, two footmen, and a maid had delayed her with their offers of assistance.

By the time Sophia had reached the white gravel path that outlined the elegant gardens at the back of the house, she had worked herself into a fine temper. She stabbed the sharp end of her walking stick into the ground with brisk enthusiasm as she increased her distance from the house.

The staff was treating her as if she were a sickly child who fainted at her own shadow. The situation was intolerable!

And she only had herself to blame, she thought uncharitably, recalling her initial reaction as she entered the front hall of Addison Park. While Sophia glanced up at the impressive staircase, silently admiring the opulent interior, she had been overwhelmed suddenly by lightheadedness. As the walls began to spin, she saw buried glimpses
of the past: Her childish hands gripping the balustrades, shadows of violence from within the drawing room, and an unexpected explosion of white blinding pain.

Sophia absently touched the back of her head where she had received what should have been a killing blow. If Reign had not caught her, Sophia might have disgraced herself in front of the entire staff by fainting dead away at their feet. Shouting orders, Reign had carried her to the nearest chair. He had blamed himself for not feeding her properly in his haste to leave London. Sophia did not bother correcting her husband’s erroneous assumption. It was kinder than telling him that his ancestral estate was riddled with ghosts.

Sophia abandoned the gravel path and its herbaceous border that outlined the garden, and headed toward the heart of the garden. At its center, the trimmed hedge walls soared above her head, and provided a small haven from prying eyes. Hidden within the green alcove, a painted wooden garden seat was raised on a rectangular stone step to keep the dampness at bay.

She halted when she heard a soft shuffling noise.

“Is anyone there?”

There was no reply to her inquiry. Sophia chuckled at her own foolishness. It was probably a few birds searching for twigs and leaves for a nest.

Grateful to be alone, Sophia climbed the three shallow steps to the garden seat and sat down.
Feeling very much like a queen sitting on her throne, she inhaled deeply and allowed the mingled scents and beauty of the garden to calm her.

It came as a surprise, but Sophia longed to return to London. The discord between her and her brothers felt like an iron chain around her heart. She also missed Fanny. Oh, if only she had her dear friend’s kind ear this afternoon. Reign would think her daft if Sophia confessed that there was something about the house that unsettled her. Nor could she quite shake the odd sensation that she was being watched, even though she knew in those moments that she was alone.

Several pebbles scattered as Reign crossed the gravel path in search of Sophia. When he had inquired after his wife’s whereabouts, Winkler had directed him to the back gardens. Sophia seemed to prefer the outdoors when he was obliged to leave her alone. Not that he blamed her. It had taken him years before he could enter the drawing room without dwelling on the murders. Reign had intended to give Sophia more time to accept that Addison Park was now her home, but Ravenshaw’s midnight visit to the town house had forced Reign to change his plans.

Until her brothers accepted her marriage to Reign, Sophia was safer in the country. He just had to convince his wife of that fact.

Reign found her in the center alcove of the garden. He stepped over several low hedges to reach his countess. “Good afternoon, lady wife.”

“Reign!”

Her welcoming smile warmed his heart.

Sophia abandoned the garden seat and met him at the bottom of the three steps. Reign opened his arms in silent invitation. His wife did not hesitate. She walked up to him and slipped her arms around his neck.