Her mother’s personal maid had an even looser tongue than Mrs. Langtry possessed, and since she fancied Simone as her favorite amongst the FitzCharles girls, she probably believed that Simone would hire her as her personal maid once she married Rupert.
Sophie seethed with pent up anger. Bunching her hands into fists, she closed her eyes and counted to ten. She had to go through this ritual many times a day because of Simone’s place in her life.
Brooks probably hoped that Simone would marry Redding and Simone would take her to live in Redding’s grand townhouse. The Percy-Lennoxes had more money than the FitzCharleses could ever dream of.
“Lady Sophie, are you feeling ill?” Pamela asked worriedly.
“No, I am quite fine. You are quite right. Once Simone gets married, she won’t be able to bother me anymore.”
“I do know her ways try you, but I don’t think she can help herself.”
“I doubt she can,” Sophie murmured, walking to her bedchamber door, she opened it and peered curiously out into the hallway. No one stood waiting for her, so Simone had dropped her news off and returned to the breakfast room. No doubt to assume her seat next to her father.
She should challenge Simone’s arrogance, but she didn’t feel like making a fuss most days. However, since Rupert had breezed into her life, she was getting the urge to do things she’d never entertained before.
Mustering her courage to carry through with the naughty thoughts that were in her head, she walked briskly down the steps and to the Breakfast Room, halting short in the doorway at the sight that met her.
“There you are! You do take your sweet time coming down for breakfast, don’t you? And yet, you don’t look as if you’ve done much too improve your appearance from last night,” Rupert mused.
Her father spluttered on his sip of coffee while her mother gasped, and Simone smiled broadly. His cutting remark didn’t quite come across as the insult that everyone else thought it had been for no malice was present in his voice, and he eyed her the way he would a rasher of bacon.
Apparently, he had been lying in wait for her by the door to the Breakfast Room so as to catch her off guard.
“What are you doing here?” she asked haltingly, her breath hitching in her throat. Her heart started to race, and she felt quite heady for some inexplicable reason. “I wasn’t expecting guests, Simone never told me…” She went quiet. Of course Simone hadn’t told her that she would have to face Rupert this early in the morning.
Simone wanted him all to herself. She had set her up to fail miserably, believing that Sophie cared how she came across to Redding.
“Sophie,” her mother’s voice was soft and calm. “Why don’t you and Rupert go into the Morning Room so you can have some privacy?”
“Aunt Constance, they should have a chaperone. I would be more than happy to oblige.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. The fact of the matter was, Simone needed a chaperone just as much as she needed one. She let out a very soft yet indelicate snort that didn’t seem to catch anyone’s attention.
“Thank you, Simone, but Sophie’s father and I are quite trusting of Lord Redding, and we are in agreement on this subject. We do not think they require a chaperone.”
Sophie’s cheeks flamed. She bit her lip. Her mother wasn’t worried about them having a chaperone because she already thought of Rupert as Sophie’s husband. That damn Ruby had a way of twisting the minds of people, and it had done one hell of a good job with her mother and father.
Her father sat at the head of the table with his head buried behind his newspaper, only lowering it briefly to gaze at her. “You look lovely this morning, Sophie,” he murmured. “That colour is quite resplendent on you.”
He was probably happy to see she wasn’t wearing black today. She had chosen to wear a beautifully embellished white blouse with a high collar enhanced by the finest lace and the puffed sleeves that were so fashionable. While the corset she wore gave her what they called a wasp waist. The gored skirt she had decided to don was a lovely shade of amethyst, and flared down over her hips in the trumpet bell style.
Her dark tresses had been swept up in a very soft hair style, and she knew she looked much like the Gibson Girls from the American fashion magazines. She loved that look and wanted to emulate it as closely as possible.
“Thank you, Papa.” She smiled at him, her smile vanishing as soon as Rupert stepped forward to offer her his arm in a most brazen manner.
Her mind went back to their kiss and her cheeks flamed red, as she realized that she was already courting a ruined reputation. Should Rupert officially offer for her hand, she had to accept or become a pariah of society.
She had to admit, he did look dashing this morning, and by the fresh face he bore, he hadn’t lost one ounce of sleep over what he had done. Turning away from him, she rebuffed his arm, and charged to the Morning Room.
Once inside, she made for a chair so he could not sit beside her. He sat instead on the sofa opposite her. The fire crackling in the hearth gave the room a very cozy feeling, as the last few days had been unusually cool and damp for this time of the year. They sat regarding each other for a few minutes. The only sound in the room was the fire and the clock as it ticked out the hour.
“We have a problem to discuss,” his voice was low and crept over her skin like the lightest touch.
She fought back the urge to shiver deliciously. How could she fight it? He affected her deeply, there was no doubt about it. The blasted gem had woven a spell over her and she only hoped he was suffering just as much as she.
“Indeed we do,” she answered, keeping her voice as calm as possible, given the fact that she wanted to rant and rave at him for the situation he had placed her in by first attempting to the steal the Ruby, and secondly, kissing her.
“I want you to take this back,” he said, placing his finger to just under his right eye.
She looked at him incredulously, tempted to laugh at him. “I fail to understand what you mean by that, sir. I haven’t given you anything.”
“Yes, you did, blast it! You gave you me your talent to see the dead! I thought your aunt and uncle were an isolated case last night, brought upon me because I was holding the Ruby in my grubby little paws, but no, it seems quite permanent!”
A soft smile curved her lips. Hilarity threatened to bubble out of her. She used every morsel of her willpower to stop herself from laughing right in his face! Since Sylvie’s death, she had wished for someone she could share her burden with and now that she had that someone, she wanted to rue her words.
Fate mocked her and instead of crying like she felt want to do, she had to laugh to keep herself from going straight to Bedlam!
“I am sorry, my lord, but that is one thing I could never take away from you. Trust me, it has been the absolute bane of my existence for many years. I am quite afraid that you are cursed. Keep your stiff upper lip, Redding, at least you now know who still resides in your grand houses.”
“You cheeky little miss! How dare you make fun of this! I should put you over my knee and give you a good spanking.”
Sobriety flowed through her at his galling remark. “Try it, sir, and I will show you my many other considerable talents.” Her threat was said in a deadly serious tone and by the way his facial expression transformed, she knew it had hit home.
“I do apologize, Sophie. I wouldn’t think of doing such a thing until we are married.”
Stiffening her spine, she sat forward on her chair. “That will be a very cold day in hell, sir.”
“I wonder if your parents are aware of your extensive vocabulary of vulgarity. According to the many publications concerning the proper behavior of a respectable young lady, you are not proper at all. In fact, you have the mouth of a common strumpet.”
“How dare you say such a horrible thing? You have struck a nerve with that comparison. As for your threat to tell my parents, you needn’t throw that at me like some kind of emotional grapeshot. My mother tells me I talk l
ike a chimney sweep when I am in a foul temper.
“She also tells me she has no idea where I hear such language. Little does she know that Uncle Lloyd is a superb teacher! He can be a pain sometimes, and yet, he knows how to comfort me when it feels like I have no friends but those that have left their living shells.”
“How do you ignore them?” he asked, irritation bleeding through his voice.
“You can try, but it rarely works,” she said shrugging her shoulders. “There is no way to get rid of the good spirits. You can try to talk them into going into the light but they are not good at listening. In short, there is no magical formula for clearing your vision of them. They have been with me as far back as I can remember.
“Sylvie used to help me cope with it…as she could tap into my power through our twin bond—but…these last three years have been hard. Seraphina claims she watched over every one of us while we were in the nursery.”
He stared at her blankly. “Do you mean to tell me that there is no way to block them from interfering with your life?”
“Not one I know of,” she admitted. “People think I am touched because of the havoc they wreak on my life whenever I try to have a semblance of one. For that reason, I tend to keep to myself.”
“I am so sorry, Sophie. That is a burden you shouldn’t have to bear alone. I only wish that I had…” he trailed off, catching himself before he let something important slip.
“Finish your sentence, Redding. By all means, my delicate feminine emotions can take it. I won’t fall like a house of cards and require smelling salts to bring me to, if that is what you fear. Nor shall I throw myself at you like a brazen hussy in order to get you to shut up. I know full well what the ton thinks of me. In fact, I was quite resigned to being a confirmed spinster, until you came charging in and blew that all to hell.”
He winced, and pulled at his stiff collar. “I do think you have gotten the wrong end of the stick, Sophie, I never meant to hurt your feelings or make it seem as if you don’t deserve happiness.”
“No, I am crystal clear on what happened. You were chasing my prim and proper cousin, Simone, and most likely got quite the shock to your system last night when the gem steered you away from her lovely normalcy right straight toward me. A literal inferno of chaos! Of course, I can assuage my feelings by knowing that you were quite surprised by the getup Simone wears to bed. I wonder what you would do if you rolled over and saw that face first thing in the morning,” she chuckled. “No, I shall take the way my life is over Simone’s any day of the week. I like my infernos even if they do get me shunned from most of the social events I should be attending.”
*****
Rupert couldn’t believe his ears. How could she believe that he had eyes for Simone? Was she completely forgetting their kiss from the previous night, and forgetting how he had pursued her at Lord Huntingdon’s Ball?
Blast and damn that memory spell…it just wouldn’t stop working its cursed magic!
Had he mucked it up more by fixing what the dark arts witch had done to Beau? Were the two spells clashing with each other—the one that he had initially cast to rewrite her memories of him, and the one that he cast to bring Beau back from the dead?
If so, would they continue to steal her memories until she no longer remembered him at all? He had to do something to fix it all…he just didn’t know what he could do!
Fear stabbed his heart. He only wanted to make her jealous by using Simone. He didn’t actually want her thinking that he was serious about her!
“I am not serious about Simone, dearest. I only wanted to see if I could make you jealous. Hoping that it would sway her off your current course and throw you into my arms. I see that I made a right proper mess of it all, and for that I am genuinely sorry.”
*****
“I don’t know if I should believe you, Redding. I want to and yet very few want me over Simone. Besides, I am starting to believe that Beau would be a better match for me. Our reckless personalities would get in the way of our love and Beau is normal—something that I dreadfully need at times.”
“He wouldn’t be able to put up with your spirits. You can mark my words on that one, dear Sophie. Besides, you can’t break the bond the Ruby has forged between us.”
“The spirits sometimes get in my way, but other times, I couldn’t imagine my life without them. They gave me immense comfort following the death of Sylvie. I don’t know what I would have done without Lloyd and Seraphina’s wise counsel.”
Redness flushed her cheeks. She could feel a strange heat radiating through her body. She had confessed too much, she had to get her wagging tongue under control, before she continued to spit out her innermost emotions.
It was true, while the spirits did get on her nerves, she sometimes found their presence in her lives enriching rather than being detrimental. She had learned more from Seraphina and Lloyd than she could have in a thousand books.
“I am used to infernos, and how astute of you to know that I would not allow my wife to have a separate bedroom and bed from me. I would have her in my bed every night rather than just when we must do our duty.” He gave her a cheekily playful grin, and made her want to smile back at him. “As for Lord Huntingdon, you will never end up with him. I will fight for you, Sophie. I want to make that very clear to you. No matter how you might delude yourself into thinking that I want Simone, I don’t care a toss about her.
“She is self-centered, and annoying. I would want to constantly throttle her. Besides, you might want normal, but you know that is out of the question. We are called to serve the people, and whether you want to embrace it or not, you know your life isn’t meant to be made up of tea parties, and dull conversation with ladies who have their heads constantly in the clouds!”
His emotional intensity affected her profoundly. Her heart skipped a beat, and warmth rushed through her, carrying all the way to her face. Her damn face, it gave her away on all accounts. She could never hide how she actually felt from others. She only prayed he would think she was cross rather than how she really felt right now, quite giddy and lighthearted.
“I would like you to return with me to Redding House, and attempt to get the ghosts in order,” he said calmly.
“What do you mean in order? I can’t very well get them together and expect them to march like good little soldiers.”
“They need to know their bounds!” he said, exasperation flooding his voice.
Smiling, she leaned forward. “Did you find one of them sitting on the end of your bed this morning?”
He stared at her long and hard, seemingly trying to decide how to answer her. “One of them was around when I was…” His eyes went stormy, and suddenly she felt as if she had asked too much of him…and now with the hungry look in his eyes, he probably imagined how she would look without her clothes on.
“I take it one of your female guests saw a bit too much to be considered proper?”
“Bloody little tart is what she was,” he said, his tongue loosening.
They should not discuss such scandalous things! If her mother overheard what they were talking about she would be mortified, despite the fact that she already considered them as good as married. “She made reference to my…” he stopped, red-faced.
“Just spit it out, lad. She made reference to your naughty bits, and most likely gave you the shock of your bloody lifetime.”
They both jumped in their seats at the sound of Uncle Lloyd’s gravelly voice booming out from the fireplace. He swept out of it, and appeared among them.
“This isn’t something I need to hear about,” she said, standing up and hastily attempting to reach the door.
Redding moved fleet of foot, and was between her and the door, before she could blink. He had used his magic, and that was downright playing dirty.
“The two of you will be married shortly. I see no reason for you not be concerned about another woman lusting after him, even if she can’t do much about her carnal desires. They say you stop
having those feelings once you’re dead, but I can truthfully tell you it does not leave your mind.
“The poor woman probably believed she had found Heaven on Earth when she saw you naked, and when you reacted, I would warrant that she was a wee bit scared as well.”
“No,” Rupert grumbled. “She wasn’t scared, she was overly excited.”
“It sounds as if you will simply have to reason with her,” Sophie muttered, avoiding his gaze.
“I tried. She told me I had no power over what she did. Men had told her what to do when she was alive, and she didn’t care to be treated like that in death.”
“Sounds familiar,” she muttered. “Maybe dear old Uncle Lloyd can help you out. He has a way of controlling the ghosts around here.”
“Everyone but good old me! I outrank him, he is my nephew, and he was a rather cute baby,” Seraphina said, popping her head through door, she rested it on Sophie’s shoulder, causing Redding to do a double take, and back up hastily.
She closed her eyes praying for self-control. “As you can see, Redding, I don’t exactly have a firm hand on the spirits around this place, so I do not think that your lady friend would be at all affected by me.”
“She would, if you were his wife,” Seraphina suggested helpfully. “I don’t think even she would look at you in the nude if Sophie claimed you were her man.”
“He is not my man. He won’t ever be mine to have and to hold.”
“Don’t place any bets on that,” Lloyd advised. “Already your father and mother are concocting ways to marry you to this upstart as soon as possible.”
“They wouldn’t dare do anything without my consent. They don’t treat their children in that matter.”
Or did they?
Her heart jumped in her chest, while her head continued to swim with anxiety. Her mother would never do that to her. She hated it when parents decided their children’s fates. She even expressed that to Sophie on several occasions.
The Haunting of Lady Sophie Page 13