"You are free to depart if you choose, Sophie." He gestured to Miss Isabelle who was now nestled amongst the wallflowers, watching over her charge. "The Gray Lady will escort you home. That is why I engaged her services. Just in case." It pained Lewis to admit that he was not as certain about Sophia's affections any longer than he had once been, but he would do whatever it took to convince Sophia that he loved her. "Or you can listen to what I have to say. After all, my father did relent."
Sophia was quiet for a long moment. "You fought for me this morning. I did not think you would. There is that."
Away from the crowd, Lewis turned and took her hands in his. "Sophie, there is so much I wish to say, so much I need to tell you." He glanced around. "But not here. Come with me and I will explain everything." Then he grinned wickedly. "Create a scandal with me, Sophia. A real one this time. I promise that you will not be sorry."
Sophia's head was spinning as it had that morning. This was all too much, too fast. Moreover, this was not the Lewis she knew. He did not create scandal. He was too upright for that. That was the man she loved, not this new man who had seemingly taken his place.
Yet, deep inside of her heart, she knew that this was still Lewis. She had trusted him once. Or more than once, actually. It was time to trust him again.
"Very well," she acquiesced. "I agree that there is much to discuss and I have a great many questions as well. But how do you suggest we manage to depart without creating too much of a scandal?" She did not wish to give her brother heart palpitations, after all. Or create a scandal that none of them would ever recover from.
"Though those doors. And be quick about it. I shall make certain Lady Metford knows you have taken ill with a megrim again." Adam had appeared from a nearby alcove so quickly that Sophia hadn't even heard him approach.
"Are you certain about this?" Sophia bit her lip and looked at her brother questioningly. This was not at all like him. Though she had to admit that her heart still soared at the idea that she might be able to have a future with Lewis after all.
"The better question is, are you?" Adam grasped her hand tightly. "We have done our part, Sophia. Candlewood and I, that is. Now the rest? It is up to you. Do you want this or not? Do you want him?" He nodded in Lewis' general direction.
Sophia glanced back at Lewis. "I do. Or, at least I would like to listen."
"Very well." Adam ground his teeth, clearly not at all comfortable with what he was about to do, but determined to do it anyway. "I am not completely convinced that this is the best way to handle the situation, but Candlewood made a persuasive case otherwise." He twitched a bit, still obviously not comfortable. "He also reminded me that I behaved little better not all that long ago."
"I will be careful," Sophia promised. "Lewis will not hurt me. I know that and so do you."
"Very well." Then Adam glared at Lewis darkly. "I expect her home and in her bed shortly. The coach ride shall be to Reynolds House and nowhere else. Is that clear? She is still my sister and the two of you are still not yet wed." He cleared his throat. "Though if all goes as you anticipate this evening, there will be a special license waiting for you on the 'morrow. I'll not stand for this becoming any more scandalous that it already is."
Sophia smiled for there was the brother she had come to know and love, the one who was strict and proper and more than a bit uptight at times. He might not punish her for allowing Lewis to bed her, but he would be damned if he sanctioned such actions a second time. Unfortunately for him, it was a bit too late for that. Not that Adam needed to know such a thing, of course. She also doubted that she and Lewis would be going directly to the family town home either. Lewis' town home perhaps, but not hers.
"I will be fine," she whispered as she reached up to place a quick kiss on her brother's cheek. "And don't wait up."
Then she allowed Lewis to lead her through the unlocked terrace doors, through the garden and quickly out to the mews where Lewis' carriage awaited them. As she hurried after the man who held her heart, Sophia could swear that she heard her brother's last, grumbling words of caution follow them out of the ballroom as they ran.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The mirth and camaraderie Sophia and Lewis had enjoyed only moments before as they dashed through the damp gardens seemed to evaporate as soon as they settled into the carriage, however. Instead of two lovers, it was as if they were two strangers staring at each other. For a long moment, Sophia was reminded of another carriage ride several months ago, but she quickly pushed that night from her mind. Lewis was not Alex. This was entirely different.
Since most of the evening's balls and other entertainments were well underway at this hour of the night, Lewis' carriage moved quickly through the streets and in no time, they pulled up in front of his town home.
"If you wish to return to your brother, now is your chance," Lewis said quietly as he stared up at his darkened home, only a small light flickering in the vicinity of his bedchamber. "Once you are inside, I would see this settled, whatever the outcome." He was serious now and Sophia could see his determination plainly.
"I agree." She would not back away from this either. "I wish this settled as well." She hoped that it would be in her favor but she did not know that for certain. There were still too many unanswered questions.
With a nod, Lewis rapped on the carriage's roof and immediately, the stairs were lowered and footmen appeared to help them out. Crawford met them both at the door. If he was surprised to see Sophia by Lewis' side, he said nothing. Instead he handed his employer a branch of candles and said that the fire had been laid as requested.
Sophia followed Lewis through silent halls, remembering the first night she had been here and how very different it had seemed. Finally, when they reached his chambers, Lewis opened the door for her and Sophia swept inside. On the carriage ride over, she had decided that, unlike with Lord Dunleighton, she would attack first this time, ask the first question. So she waited but a moment to hear the click of the door lock before spinning around, hands on her hips.
"So you planned this entire night?"
Lewis slowly removed his gloves. "I have already admitted that I did." He shook his head. "Sophia, I know you. You are angry with me and rightly so. I could think of no good way to apologize. I still cannot. Yet I was afraid that if I simply approached you, even in the middle of the ballroom, you would turn away from me. This is too important to both of us to allow that to happen."
"What is too important?" She crossed her arms over her chest, finally aware of how much of her creamy flesh the scandalous gown truly revealed.
Lowering himself into a chair, Lewis gestured for her to sit as well. "As I told you at the ball, we have won the war. My father has relented on the marriage issue. I am still the earl, but I will no longer be forced to wed Miss Watts. The notion of 'family first' only goes so far when faced with two angry dukes and an unhappy prince regent." He stretched out his leg in front of him. "Ah. That is better."
Against her better judgment, Sophia approached Lewis rather stiffly before she knelt down beside him and began to massage his leg as she had seen him do for himself on occasion when the appendage was paining him. No matter what, she could not bear to see him hurting. Even if she hadn't quite forgiven him for hurting her.
"What did you trade for release from the marriage contract?" she asked as she continued to dig her fingers hard into his flesh. "For I know you, Lewis, and I know my brother and Candlewood as well. There was some exchange, I am certain. It is simply the way gentleman handle these sorts of things."
"Freedom from the contract in exchange for both silence regarding Silas and a lifetime companion for him, paid for by Candlewood." He winced a bit as Sophia's hand dug in hard. "Ah, yes! Just there! Lord, you have the magic touch, do you not?"
Stunned, Sophia sat back on her haunches and blinked, her hands ceasing their movements. "The Bloody Duke is paying for a companion for Silas?"
"Well all of us are, really." Lewis flexed his leg a bi
t, carefully judging Sophia's reactions to his statements. He had wounded her badly and he would not be surprised if she never forgave him. Therefore, he had decided that his best defense, the only move he could make really, was to simply lay his cards on the table and allow Sophia to make her own decision. If she walked away, he would not stop her. However he was damnably certain that she would have all of the facts before she made her choice. "Adam, Nicholas and I. I would have made the offer on my own with my own funds, but the other two insisted. Something about a united front and my father being indebted to The Bloody Duke. They treated the entire situation as if it was some sort of game, really."
Sophia snorted in disgust. "I imagine that they did. Nothing much bothers them, that much I do know. At least not things that would bother other men." She paused. "So it was as easy as that? Truly? For when I left, your father seemed rather adamant."
"I believe you softened him up a bit on the topic." Actually, Lewis wasn't certain about that at all, but it sounded good.
"I rather believe that he was terrified of Nicholas. Most people are." Lewis took that to mean that Sophia didn't believe his lie either. Then she sat back and looked at him. "So it truly was that easy?"
Shaking his head, Lewis eased down beside Sophia onto the floor. "No, actually it was the most difficult thing in the world to defy my father. But I was prepared to do so." He pressed a finger to her lips when she would have otherwise interrupted. "When I entered his home this morning and saw you in his study pleading for him to end the contract, something happened to me." He moved his hand to his heart. "I knew how terrifying that had to be for you and how strong you had to be to confront my father. It made me feel like a coward."
"That was never my intention." Sophia looked truly contrite and Lewis believed her.
He took a risk and stroked back a lock of hair from her eyes. "I know. But I also knew that, in many ways, I was a coward. Because I wasn't willing to fight for you. But this morning? I was. Just like you, I fought hard and overcame my fears. After all you had done for me, it was the least that I could do for you." He reached down and pulled off her glove so that he could kiss the back of her hand. "I told my father that I would walk away from everything, including protecting Silas, if he did not rescind his demands. I think that at first, he didn't quite believe me. After all, I had never defied him before and I was raised to do exactly as he ordered. Without question."
"So why did you?" Sophia whispered. "Why did you tell him that you would walk away?"
Lewis drew in a deep breath. Sophia had been brave so therefore, so could he. "Because last evening after the Knightly affair, I realized that you, Sophie, were more important to me than anything else in this world. More important than my brother or my father or the Blackmore name. I was willing to walk away from everything and never see them again because a future without you was far more painful to contemplate. I only prayed that you would be willing to take me back if I did so. And of that, I was not certain at all. Yet it was a risk that I was willing to take."
Sophia reached out and cupped Lewis' face in her hands. She stroked his scar with the pad of her thumb, making it tingle. No one, man or woman, had touched him there save for the surgeons who had stitched him up. It was something of a revelation.
"Why?" Sophia finally asked quietly. "Why would you do such a thing?"
Lewis swallowed hard. "Because I love you, Sophia. I love you more than my very life and it took watching you walk away from me last night, even after you had confessed your own love, to make me realize that I would do anything to keep you by my side. Even if I don't deserve you."
"Oh, Lewis," Sophia sighed as she brought her forehead to rest against his. "You deserve so much more than me, a woman who is damaged and flighty, brash and overbearing at times, while fearful and timid at others. I am oh so many things that a lady should not be, especially not one fit to be your wife."
"I have noticed that you did not say that you have stopped loving me," Lewis teased, remembering Sophia's own words from the moment they had made the decision to become lovers.
Slowly, Sophia slid her mouth down to his for a kiss. "I do love you, Lewis. I likely always will. But that does not mean that you must marry me. You do not even have to say that you love me. Not if you don't truly mean it."
Now it was Lewis who drew Sophia in for a kiss, this time a far deeper one with his tongue seeking hers so that she might part her lips for him, which she did with a sigh of pleasure. When he finally pulled away, he allowed one hand to caress the side of her neck. "Ah, Sophia. I know you doubt my words, and with good reason. But I am not saying them simply because I am no longer tied to Miss Watts. I love you. I have for so very long now, but I refused to allow myself to believe that you were the woman for me. Until I almost lost you. Then that is when I knew, when my brain finally understood what my heart had known all along. I love you, Sophia. Please. Do me the honor of becoming my wife."
"Only if you are certain," she breathed as she kissed him again. It seemed that once she started kissing Lewis, Sophia could not stop herself. "For I do still love you, Lewis. I never stopped, not even after that awful morning. I am not certain that I ever could."
Slowly, he eased Sophia to her feet before almost dancing her across the room to his bed. "I love you, my darling, dearest Sophie," Lewis said again. "So let us make this marriage official."
"I don't see a preacher," she sighed as he moved her backwards towards his bed. "Or a special license."
"Tomorrow," he promised as he spun her around and began loosening the corset laces at the back of her gown. "All of that tomorrow. For tonight, I simply need to know that you are mine and will always be mine. That you love me and that you forgive me."
Sophia sighed with pleasures as his fingers undid the tight bows that Susie had tired earlier, grumbling about how much of a lightskirt her mistress was becoming. "I never stopped loving you, Lewis," she promised. "And I never will. And as for forgiveness? There is nothing really to forgive."
"I hurt you." He kissed her bare back as the dress finally loosened and slid down to reveal more of her creamy skin. "I sent you away."
"You were doing your duty to you family," she corrected. "I might have hated it, perhaps even hated you for a time, but, in the end, I did understand why you did what you felt was right. Even if I did not agree." Then she drew in a deep breath as he trailed his tongue down the length of her spine. "Oh, that is delightful."
"It is merely a sample of what I would like to do to you, my darling Sophia. Of the vast and varied ways that I would like to taste your flesh and show you all of the different ways there are to find pleasure." Gently, he turned her in his arms so that she faced him once again before turning serious. "Thank you for fighting for me, Sophia. Thank you for showing me that there is more to courage and duty than following orders."
With deft fingers Sophia undid Lewis' cravat before starting on the buttons of his waistcoat. "No, it is I who should be thanking you, Lewis Blackmore. Had you not come after me that night on the Great North Road, had you not swept in like a knight in shining armor and rescued me, then I would not have learned how to fight. Or what it meant to fight for what you truly believed in, rather than what you thought you desired." Then she continued on, her talented fingers quickly shedding his clothes far faster than he had anticipated.
"You might have rescued me," he conceded as he undid the rest of her corset laces and stripped the scarlet silk from her skin to reveal her lush, bare body beneath. "But you rescued me as well." Then he bent down, bad leg and all, and scooped Sophia up to deposit her onto the bed.
"Let us agree that we rescued each other," she teased as she lay back on the counterpane, bare before him and not in the least bit ashamed. "Now, I believe that you were saying something about making this marriage official?"
Reaching down to remove his trousers, Lewis paused, allowing Sophia a good, long look at his bare chest. It was freeing to know that he could be himself with her and she would not hold his sc
arred, broken body against him. "Well, making the marriage bed portion official at any rate."
"I thought we already did that." Even now, Sophia could feel her body begin to tighten in anticipation, her breasts start to ache and the area between her legs begin to tingle with wetness. Once, she would have feared these sensations and in truth, a part of her still did, though she hoped that in time, that fear would fade. She had the impression that as long as she was with Lewis, she would only continue to improve and heal. That one day, hopefully soon, there would no longer be even the slightest trace of fear.
His own body now bare to her gaze, Lewis laid down beside Sophia, eager for the touch of her delicate hands on his scarred flesh. "We did," he agreed softly, "but there is nothing that says we cannot anticipate our vows just a bit more."
"No," she agreed as she felt him settle between her legs, his hard length brushing up against her core, "there is not." She reached down and teased his hard length with her fingers. "I love you, Lewis. More than you know."
"And I love you, Sophie," he responded, questing a finger between her legs and finding her already wet and aching for him.
When he brought his lips to her aching nipple, Sophia could not help herself. She cried out her release and bucked wildly in Lewis' arms. Yet he did not let go of her and allowed her to ride out the last of her pleasure, all the while whispering words of love and caring.
Those words gave Sophia the final push she needed and when Lewis shifted on the bed and released her, she quickly slithered down his body and took his hot cock in her mouth. She had little skill, but he didn't seem to care overly much. All that seemed to concern him was that she was giving him pleasure without fear. And when he reached down to tease her hidden pearl of pleasure, she tightened again, the need for another release quickly building inside of her.
For long moments, and Sophia really had no idea how long, she allowed Lewis to pleasure her with his hands and his mouth. In turn, she gave him as much pleasure as she knew how, allowing him to teach her and guide her in her actions so that she brought them both as much pleasure as possible.
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