“If you are not judged as Sophie’s love match, you must leave the house posthaste and leave Sophie’s life for good, is that also understood?”
Immense weight crushed against Redding’s heart. For a man who had always gotten everything he wanted in life, the prospect of losing the one thing he would cherish beyond everything else literally made him weak in the knees.
The Dragonwyck Ruby had judged him true once before. It would not fail him the second time around. For if it did, he would surely go mad. In a low voice, throaty with emotion, he answered, “I understand, sir.”
Chapter Three
Sophie wandered slowly back into the ballroom. Excited chatter swept through the room as the new Lord Huntingdon let out one hell of a scream.
She watched, fascinated, as he clasped his head between his hands, and rocked back and forth on his feet. Lady Huntingdon rushed to his side, apparently thinking he had taken ill, only to have him lunge at her and push her forcefully backward, earning shocked gasps from the attendees.
“Get the hell away from me you monstrous bastard!” he yelled, like he really was on his way to Bedlam.
Outraged cries rippled throughout the large room. The orchestra stopped playing, and couples went stock still on the dance floor. It looked like something straight out of a play.
Sophie raised her gloved hand to her mouth. She had to locate the twins, and Charlotte before he clapped eyes on them and did something dreadful. If he acted out against Alexandra, Amelia would turn him into a toad or something worse, and that would ultimately defeat the purpose of the spell that Redding had cast.
“Oh, this should be good,” Reggie exclaimed, rubbing his hands together deliciously. “I hope he goes over to Lady Montagu and accosts her. Her husband is terribly in love with his wife, and has been known to call men out to duels on more than one occasion.”
“Dueling is outlawed,” she said sighing.
“And you think that deters them?” he laughed. “Oh, my dear girl, men do many things that most women are not privy to.”
“It is outlandish,” she said gasping. “And what happens if someone accidentally kills the other duelist?”
“It has never happened to my knowledge, Sophie. As for it being outlandish since death claimed me, I know that your kind has never stopped the dueling practice, so you shouldn’t be so quick to judge our deeds.”
“We use magic, and never have to worry about fatally harming our opponent. Therein lies the difference. Death couldn’t possibly steal away the person we duel with for we are not that barbaric.”
“You talk as if you have been on the other side of a duel,” he mused, as they continued to watch the spectacle that Larry was creating in the ballroom.
“I have had to participate in a few, on occasion,” she confessed, stiffening as Redding and her father entered the ballroom.
Her pulse started to race, she couldn’t keep from heating up. Every single time he was in close vicinity this happened to her and it was beginning to rub her the wrong way.
As if he heard Reggie’s wish, Larry headed straight for Lady Montagu. Everyone else in the ballroom was captivated by Larry, it was as if they were waiting on baited breath to see what kind of a scandal he would create next.
The members of the press that were at the ball were going to have a heyday come the next day as the papers would be filled with juicy details of how ill-behaved Larry had been the night before.
“Oh, dear, this is going to get messy,” she muttered. “Maybe we shouldn’t have done this, well not in this public manner anyway,” she said, moving her way through the shocked throng of guests.
Some of the guests were already leaving and those that hadn’t left, looked as if they were entranced by the whole scandalous affair unraveling before their eyes. Charlotte came over to her.
“Is this your handiwork?” Charlotte asked softly, staring furtively around them.
Simone seemed blissfully aware of any magic being done for she stood with the rest of the attendees enraptured by the entire performance.
“No, this would be Lord Redding’s magical thumb at work. I think we are going to have quite a lot of things to talk about come the morning, and the tongues of the ton won’t stop wagging for days, maybe even weeks.”
“So, should we do anything to help Lady Montagu?” Charlotte asked softly.
“I think we should just let it all play out, Charlotte. Trust me, I don’t think Papa or Lord Redding will allow any physical harm to befall Lady Montagu. Nor do I believe that her husband will put up with anything that Lord Huntingdon wants to do. Look, he’s already making his way toward her. He seems fit to be tied as well. I have never seen a man so angry before!”
“This is going to end in fisticuffs, Sophie, or worse,” Charlotte hissed.
“Not if Papa or Lord Redding interferes first, besides, the villainous earl deserves to have his nose bloodied. Actually, he deserves much more than that, Charlotte. If you knew what he had done—why, you would want him to get his comeuppance as well.”
Charlotte narrowed her gaze at her. “What happened when you were gone? This is has something to do with a spirit, doesn’t it?” she asked, hushing up as Simone joined them.
“Simone, excuse me, but I think I need to go and check on the twins leaving them to their own devices while this sort of drama is unfolding isn’t exactly the best idea,” Sophie declared, earning an indignant huff from Simone.
She quickly left Charlotte’s side and sighed when she noticed that the ghostly Lord Huntingdon still followed. “Now I remember Simone. Such a shame she turned out so bitter and full of hate. You would think she would have been more like you, Charlotte and your other siblings. I guess parentage does make the difference in some cases, and since you only share one parent that has to be it. Besides, her mother was a lot like her daughter. She was a gold digger and used her womanly wiles to entrance men. She believed she had your father trapped, little did she know how his parents would react when they discovered what she had done.”
Her stomach did a nosedive, and she suddenly felt very weak. She had always suspected that Simone had been her father’s, but the confirmation made her feel so very ill.
Everything swam before her, and she would have fallen to the floor if a steady hand hadn’t reached out to grip her elbow. “Steady on there, Sophie, we shan’t have you fainting right when the show is just getting started.” It was Redding again. He was always there when she needed him.
“I apologize for my slip of the tongue, Sophie. I thought a witch of your talents would have already figured it all out. Especially, since you are the eldest daughter. I had hoped your father would have confided in you. I see I was mistaken. I am sorry.”
“Why would he ever want me to know such a thing? Now I know why he said he owed you a debt. You helped him when he got involved with Simone’s mother, didn’t you?”
“I think you should lower your voice a bit, Sophie, or the ton won’t just be talking about the Earl—you don’t want your family to have their name dragged through the mud,” Redding whispered.
Laurence’s voice echoed throughout the ballroom, as the spell took hold and completely unhinged him.
“You bastard! You won’t ruin my life by coming back from the dead to wreak hell in my life! I knew you were there ever since you died. I knew you haunted me you stupid son of a bitch! Your family has always been in my way. Beaufort was in my way, and I got rid of him by going to an old witch for a poison, only to have you come back and haunt me from the grave!
“Why couldn’t you have been like stupid Beaufort and just stay dead! When I found out you were leaving me with just the title and that crumbling old estate, I knew what I had to do!
“I wanted the money goddammit, and can you really blame me? I didn’t care much about the title, only Wilhelmina wanted that. I wanted the lifestyle you and your wife had. I wanted to be known as one of the richest lords in the land. After all what was the point of going to that bloody hag of a
witch if I couldn’t live the life Beaufort would have lived?”
Larry’s horrific confession made Reggie go stock still. Rage filled his eyes. The chandeliers above their heads started to shake. His supernatural rage would tear this ballroom apart, if she and Redding didn’t put a stop to it. She was staring at a murderer.
She had never seen a killer that was still alive before!
“Do you know what he just admitted to, Redding?” she said softly, terror dawning in her voice.
“He went to a practitioner of the dark arts. Yes, I do know what he just admitted to and his admission has damned him! Get your father over here. He and Charlotte are going to have to contain things until we can sort things out. I need to get back to HQ and get a few other agents on this case. I honestly can’t believe he could be so heartless. He killed his own cousin,” Redding sighed.
“If he used black magic against a mortal and our side didn’t stop him, then that means I might be able to set things right in more ways than poor Reggie had ever envisioned. But it is going to take time to fix things. Sophie, you must tell Reggie to calm down before he irreparably harms his chances of ever having his family get what they truly deserve.”
“Did you hear that Lord Huntingdon?” she asked, turning her attention to the ghostly lord.
“Yes,” Reggie whispered, his eyes still burning with a supernatural glow that actually got her heart hammering in her chest. “If your kind can make things right, if there is any way of bringing light and love back into my Althea’s life then I will control myself and behave just the way you want me to. But if Lord Redding doesn’t fix things, if he doesn’t find a way to heal my family, I shall take matters into my own capable hands.”
“I think we should go home now, Redding, and possibly take Lord Huntingdon with us. I am sure that Larry will have more than a wee bit of trouble attempting to explain his crazy ramblings to the authorities. They will most likely be by soon to lay criminal charges against him for what he has done,” Sophie murmured.
“Don’t be so certain about that, darling Sophie. I think we’ll have to make sure that justice is served. Everyone will most likely believe that Larry had a fit caused by imbibing on too much drink and other types of intoxicating drugs.
“People of our standing always exist on the fringe of the law, Sophie. That is why the organization I attempted to recruit you for exists. They make sure justice is served no matter what class you hail from. As soon as Larry uttered the word witch, most of the sensible thinking attendees would simply draw the conclusion that he was out of his mind. Thankfully, we don’t live in the age where they want to burn us anymore.
“They shall talk about it tomorrow and yes, it will hit the scandal sheets but I doubt he will have to worry about the law coming for him in regards to Beaufort’s murder, as I am going to send containment teams to all of the homes of the non-magical attendees. After that is done, I’m going to make sure that a specialized team goes back in time and fixes what should have never happened to Beaufort. Come the morning, everything as we know it concerning Lord Huntingdon’s family will be monumentally changed.
“I know that that tragedy involving Beaufort was ruled an accident, and the investigating agent from our organization needs to be reprimanded for shoddy work. He should have sensed that a dark arts poison had been used on poor Beaufort, making him completely unfit to be a rider in that day’s hunt.
“The horse didn’t throw him, he most likely fell off as the effects of the poison worked its way through his bloodstream. Sadly, he was probably dead before his body hit the ground. Since his death happened under such dark circumstances, I should be able to convince my bosses to send a time traveling team to undo what Larry wrought. Usually we don’t meddle with the time continuum but when our world collides with the human world, we sometimes have to make allowances.
“Sophie, you know the law prohibiting the use of magic when it comes to humans, especially when it’s used to their detriment. We are forbidden to help humans kill each other and that dark arts witch broke that law. For this reason, I should be able to rectify matters.”
She could feel the anger seeping off of Lord Huntingdon. He was out for blood, and yet he was holding himself back. She had to admire him for that kind of self-control. His nephew, on the other hand, lacked all semblance of self-control for he still ranted madly and lunged at Lady Montagu with his hands outstretched, as if he meant to throttle her!
Fortunately, her husband had arrived just in the nick of time, and the blow he gave Larry caused blood to go spurting out of his nose. Everyone in the ballroom let out shocked gasps, as blood trickled onto the floor, glistening like tiny rubies. The nearby lords and gentlemen rushed to intervene because Lord Montagu had murder in his eyes, and looked as if he was ready to beat Larry within an inch of his life.
“Touch my wife again, Lord Huntingdon and I swear I will bury you,” Lord Montagu snarled. He turned away from the bloodied earl and gave his attention to Lady Montagu whose nerves were completely frazzled and she looked as if she was about to go on a crying jag.
“We are leaving now.” She heard Lord Montagu say as they swept dramatically out of the ballroom.
The crowd had thinned considerably. Most of those not interested in juicy gossip had already left the soiree. She looked for her father who stood now with the twins. He was grim faced and yet she could tell he was content with the outcome of the scene they had orchestrated. They had done what Lord Huntingdon wished. It was over now.
Redding caught her gaze and held it.
“I have to take my leave now, sweet Sophie. I have a long night ahead of me trying to set things right for Reggie. Tell him I will do my best, and use all of my clout when it comes to seeing his family get a good shake by us.
“The magical community is the only one that can help him now, even though his family hasn’t an ounce of the gift in them.” He touched her hand lightly causing an electrical firestorm to shoot through her body. She inhaled deeply, savouring the lingering sensations vibrating throughout her.
“You looked beautiful tonight, Sophie. No one could compare to you in that lovely frock of yours. I liked it when it turned red, too.” He winked jovially at her and then without any further ado, he turned and walked toward one of the large pillars. When she made to follow him she discovered that he had already vanished.
“You were quite dashing as well, Lord Redding,” she said, but he couldn’t hear her…or so she thought. She was proven wrong when a bouquet of roses appeared at her feet. Bending to pick it up, she held it close to her heart.
“He loves you true, that lad does,” Reggie murmured, still close to her side. “I feel that he is a man of his word, so I shall trust him to do what is right, but while he is out setting things to right, I am going to be keeping a vigilant eye on my bastard of a nephew. To think he was the one who took our Beaufort from us. I am just happy to know that my dear Althea won’t have to shoulder that kind of grief. It would eat her up inside, if she ever discovered that Beaufort had been a victim of foul play.”
“If everything goes the way I think Redding wants it to go, Lord Huntingdon, your wife will wake up a very happy woman tomorrow morning. She should wake up here in this very townhouse, as long as that is where your son would have had her staying if he had lived.”
“If my son had lived, my wife’s fortune would have gone to her guardianship upon my death, and I feel quite confident she would have allocated the proper amount to our son so he could keep the Estates going the way my father always wanted it to continue thriving. I know that everyone’s memory will be altered come tomorrow should Redding be successful in his quest, but will yours, dear Sophie? I would hate to think that you will forget me. I suppose I shall just have to haunt you anew,” he said, with a cheeky glint in his blue eyes.
She thought about it for a moment. Redding desperately wanted her to join his life as a Magical Intelligence Agent so she felt reasonably certain that her memory would remain intact come the col
d light of day.
The question was, would her father and sisters remain the same or would they have the new timeline shimmering in their minds?
She could only wait and see to find out the answer to that burning question. Things would get complicated if her family’s memories were altered. It could cost her a lot.
“You may count on one thing, Lady Sophie. Should everything be as right as rain in the morning, I shall seek you out and thank you before my soul departs this plane of existence. Whether you remember me or not, you shall still get a visit from me.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Lord Huntingdon. I just have one question for you, and it concerns Simone…” her words were interrupted by the presence of her father and sisters.
Had he been able to hear her? She wondered at the breadth of her father’s powers. She knew he had to have great skill as a warlock, and yet she had never witnessed a grand showing of his talent before. Still that wasn’t to say that he wasn’t capable of the stuff that Lord Redding could do. It would only make sense considering her father, like she, was a descendant of Princess Sophie.
“Come, Sophie, we must depart. I want you to travel with me and Charlotte in my carriage. Simone, you can ride with the twins.”
“Uncle, I do believe that Sophie should ride with the twins. She has such a good rapport with the dear girls.”
Simone’s face was pinched up. She looked ready to pitch a hissy fit but her father had that stern, don’t mess with me look on his face, and the fact that Simone was so wrapped up in herself and hadn’t yet noticed it was telling to how self-absorbed the little twit actually was.
“Simone, you will ride with the twins, or I will hire a coach for you and that is final, do you understand?”
Simone’s mouth went slack. Her eyes were almost falling out of her head. Never before had their father so publicly reprimanded her. “Well, I never,” she said, flouncing away from them.
The twins smiled broadly, and Sophie heard Amelia murmur to Alexandra as they walked away, “Shall I turn her into a pug for the ride home then? She won’t take up as much room that way, although she will shed all over our lovely gowns. Ah, well, it is a price we shall simply have to pay, what say you, Alexandra?”
The Haunting of Lady Sophie Page 6