Wroxham fell gasping and coughing to the floor, his ashen countenance now suffused with color as he fought for his breath. With fists clenched, Vale stood threateningly over him, his green eyes ablaze with fury. “So, it was not your intention to marry her but to debauch her with empty promises of weddings?”
Wroxham raised his arm to ward off the blow that must surely come and in a cracked voice he scarce recognized as his own cried, “No! No! Believe me, that was not my intention. Sophie is too dear to me. I would not treat her so, but it is plain that she does not return my affection and to continue with the marriage would be disastrous. It was ever you, Vale. It is plain she has no thought for anyone else.”
“Get up,” commanded Vale, the effort of controlling his anger plain upon his dark countenance. “You do not know how nearly your actions cost you your life, but I will not be branded a murderer for such as you. You repulse me. I would not soil my hands with your death.”
As Lord Wroxham continued to cower on the floor, Vale took him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him roughly to his feet.
Bringing his face closely up to Wroxham’s he seethed in a harsh whisper, “She is mine, do you hear me, and if you value your life, you will not forget it. Our past friendship will not guarantee your protection.”
Unable to discern Vales words, but understanding that the moment of danger had passed and he did not intend to take any mortal action against Lord Wroxham, Sophie quietly crept out the door and ran up to her room. Hastily throwing off her gown, she changed quickly into her breeches before fleeing her chamber. She had never seen Vale in such a violent mood and it terrified her lest he should turn his anger against her.
Unaware of her leaving, Vale continued to battle against the almost overwhelming desire to throttle his former friend before finally flinging him from him as if he touched something distasteful.
“I will give you but ten minutes to quit this place,” he stated harshly. “Be but grateful that for my little one’s sake, I spare you. No scandal must attach itself to her. You know me well enough to know that I speak the truth when I tell you I shall have no compunction whatsoever in finishing what I started today should you so much as look in her direction. Am I understood? Do you comprehend my meaning?”
With what dignity he could muster, Lord Wroxham drew himself up and attempted to straighten his crumpled clothing. “She was always yours, Vale,” he croaked, still finding it difficult to speak. “No matter what my actions, there was only ever you. You don’t realize the influence you have over her. You are more fool than I thought if you don’t secure her.”
“That is exactly my intention,” replied Vale, flinging from the room. Seeing the landlord hovering uncertainly in the corridor, he instantly demanded directions to Sophie’s bedchamber and, taking the narrow stairs two at a time, immediately went in search of her.
The room was empty. He saw the gown she had been wearing cast across the bed and the cloak bag on the floor, but other than that there was no sign that the apartment had ever been occupied. Raising his fists to the heavens he swore, “Obstinate brat! God preserve me from the machinations of the female mind. If such is to be my future, I must needs have my wits forever about me.”
Leaving the inn, he set out on foot, reasoning that in the time that had elapsed she could not have gone far. It did not help his mood that it had started to rain heavily.
*****
Feeling the rain strike keenly through her light jacket, Sophie looked around her for some form of shelter, but none presented itself. Instead she was obliged to trudge further down the lane, hedgerows standing high on either side. She knew not in which direction she went, instead she followed the lane until it narrowed to a mere track and only then did she pause to look about her. She cared not that she was soaked right through or that her shoes squelched uncomfortably. Afraid of Vale’s anger and not knowing what reprisal he would take, she wanted to be assured that she was out of his reach. The fury on his face when he had entered the inn was still fresh in her mind and, realizing how foolish had been her actions in attempting to make her escape with Lord Wroxham, she dared not face him.
Perceiving a ramshackle barn in the distance, she forsook the lane and ran across the adjoining field in its direction, hoping to at least find shelter from the rain, pausing only as she gained the door. The farmhouse, to which the barn belonged, seemed at a distance and having only half a roof, appeared uninhabited. However, the barn itself proved to be quite dry despite its broken down appearance. The smell of old hay assailed her nostrils as with some difficulty she prized open the door and slipped inside, closing it securely behind her. The interior was very poorly lit by way of three openings in the walls through which the rain blew and it took a few moments for her eyes to become accustomed to the defused light. There still remained a rickety ladder leading to the loft and, after testing the first two rungs, Sophie climbed into the darkness above, finding the loft to be full of old hay. Stripping off her jacket she laid it out in the hope that it would dry, but retained her shirt and breeches lest she should be obliged to make good her escape. She could hear the scurrying of the mice in the shadows but, her mind being elsewhere, it worried her not, and after a short while, confirmed in her escape, the tension left her body and she lay back on the hay. Her eyelids became heavy, the effects of her sleepless night taking its toll, and involuntarily she drifted into an uneasy sleep.
Some while later, her slumber was rudely interrupted by the sound of the large, heavy door being dragged open to reveal Vale standing silhouetted by the driving rain, peering into the dim interior. Reaching forward, Sophie hastily snatched up the loft ladder. It was this movement that attracted his attention, and he came abruptly inside, closing the door behind him.
“Is that you, chit?” he demanded, coming to stand beneath the loft and attempting to see her in the dimness.
She dared not answer, but lay back away from the edge hoping to remain undiscovered.
“Answer me, forswear I have had enough of this foolishness,” he roared, his reason completely forsaking him and his temper flaring. “If you are fearful for Wroxham, he lives and by now is half-way back to London. If he is what you truly want, then you shall have him, only firstly you must listen to me. I will have my say. Now come down, I am soaked and completely out of patience with you, you silly girl.”
Sophie edged towards the rim and peeped over at the sodden figure beneath, his upturned countenance appearing even darker in the poor light, and still she did not answer. However Vale caught sight of her white shirt and golden curls and a slow relieved smile spread over his visage now that he was confirmed of her presence.
“Very well, Jack, have it your own way,” he said more calmly, turning his back and heading for the door. “If you have no desire to talk to me, I will return to the inn. There is no point in my remaining here, not when I can have the warmth and comforts of The Greyhound. I will await you there should you choose to join me. If not, I return to London on the morrow.” He paused before opening the door, but as he heard no movement from above, he pushed it wide and went once more into the rain.
Sophie waited a moment before struggling into her now almost dry coat and carefully letting down the ladder. Swinging her legs over the rim she cautiously descended the rickety structure but as soon as she achieved the ground she ran to the door, swinging it wide. However, peering through the downpour she could see no sign of his lordship and in panic she called, “Dominic.”
Immediately Vale appeared from where he had been standing around the side of the building, his grinning countenance infuriating her as he pushed her none too gently back inside.
“Well?” he said, holding her shoulders so that she was forced to meet his gaze. “What now? Am I to retrieve Wroxham for you or are you prepared to listen to me?”
“You are hateful,” she cried, stamping her foot and attempting to wriggle free of his hold. “Let me go. You will not coerce me. I want nothing to do with you. Whatever you have to s
ay is of no interest whatsoever to me.”
“Then why did you call me back?” he asked, only the slight twitching of his lips betraying his amusement.
“I don’t know,” she lied, at last breaking free of his hold. “I...I am lost and do not know how to return to the inn.”
“I see,” he said with mock solemnity. “I am to act merely as your guide, am I? Should we not remain here until the rain abates and then we can return? I may still be in time to waylay Wroxham.”
“I have no desire whatsoever for Wroxham.”
“Then tell me, why the wish to elope with him?”
She gave no answer to his question; instead, she asked quietly, “Could we not go back, Dominic? I am cold and hungry.”
“Aye, and so am I, Jack.” he replied. He was somewhat perplexed at her reluctance to discuss the matter but realized he must approach the issue with some caution lest he should put her to flight again.
“Come, we will return,” he said. “We can talk later when we are dry and warm. I will be lacking in my duty as tutor if I allowed you to take a chill.”
As he would have turned from her to open the door Sophie forestalled his action by taking hold of his sleeve. “Dominic, there is something I must ask you,” she said quietly, as he turned enquiringly to face her. “I must know—is it your Bird of Paradise?”
“Is what my Bird of Paradise?” he asked, thoroughly perplexed, not understanding her meaning.
“Whom you have taken to mistress,” she replied in a small voice, not daring to hear his answer.
“What mistress? I have no mistress.” Then as enlightenment came, “Is that what Wroxham said? That I...”
“John told me that you had left London with your mistress. No one knew where you had gone, you disappeared, and he said that you had taken her away. Without any word from you, what other option had I but to believe him?”
“Is that how he persuaded you to go with him, to enter into this damned elopement?”
Dropping her hold on his sleeve she would have turned away but he took her into his arms, forcing her to face him. “My poor little one, you thought I had deserted you. I have no mistress. I went to Kennington for a prizefight and stayed on thinking that you favored Wroxham. It was a foolish thing to do. I did not think my absence would have such dire results.”
“I thought you did not want me,” she said with a catch in her voice. “And if you did not want me, I could not impose on your family as they would soon tire of me. I went with John because I could not face the thought of being alone again.”
He held her fiercely to him, quelling the anger that would rise against Wroxham and with a gentleness his actions belied said, “I must put an end to these misunderstandings. They go too far. Marry me, urchin that you are, I love you to distraction. I tried to tell you that day at Richmond, but I put it badly. Marry me Sophie.”
“But you have no desire to be married,” she cried, attempting to break free of his embrace, bracing her hands against his chest in her agitation. “I heard you say so at Stovely. There is no need...”
“There is every need, my love; I knew not what I was saying. Even then I recognized that I could not let you go, that I must retrieve you. Now for heaven’s sake, be still. How else am I to prove my regard for you?”
Sophie quietened her struggle and allowed him to hold her even closer to him. Cupping her chin he raised her face to his and tenderly kissed her.
“I never dared hope that you could love me,” she breathed as he raised his head to look lovingly into her face. “I was convinced you thought only of me as Jack. Even that day at the ruins, I did not understand. You were so impassioned when you kissed me, not gentle as now. It was no lovers’ kiss and you made me fearful.”
“I did it badly, my love, but your reluctance to listen to my explanation drove me beyond endurance. My behavior was boorish and it has filled me with regret. It is something I have desired to put to rights this while or more, but to my detriment, I have behaved no better than a fool.” Smiling softly he brushed her curls from her cheek. “Now I fear I must beg your forgiveness yet again, sweetheart, for though you may not like it, I am afraid that I must kiss you again.”
“Oh, but I do like it Dominic, I like it very much” she whispered, as his lips once more possessed hers, showing a tenderness and longing she never knew he owned.
*****
When they eventually drew apart, Vale kept her within the circle of his arm and led her to sit beside him on a wooden bench that lay against the wall. “You must forget this absurd fallacy about the Bird of Paradise,” he said, drawing her to his side. “What you witnessed at Vauxhalls was all there was to the affair. I kissed her only in an attempt to remove you from my brain.”
“And did it work?” asked Sophie, mischievously peeping up at him.
“No, imp, it did not, and well you know it,” he replied, playfully flicking her chin. “It served only to increase my love for you. I loved you when we were at Stovely though I did not recognize it; how could I when I treated you as a boy, indeed, you acted as a boy? Now you can never be Jack again.”
She smiled roguishly up at him. “That will be a great pity. How else am I to amuse you and keep your interest?”
“I am sure some other method will present itself,” he replied, grinning, and taking her hand to his lips he pressed a caress into the palm. “But we digress; you have still given me no answer. Will you have me? Do you love me?”
“Of course I do, need you ask?” she replied feigning superiority. “Though I will not puff you up and tell you how high my regard is for you, indeed has been since that first night in your rooms when you so ungallantly kissed me and I wounded you. I suppose I must marry you if only to ease my conscience on that score.”
“I will know better than to present you with a weapon should I incur your wrath in the future,” he replied, grinning. “You have a tendency for reprisal that is unnerving. I must take care to keep pistols and swords locked well away. It is not seemly that you should slay your husband—most unwifely. Life with you, my love, will be anything but dull and I will certainly need have my wits about me! You are an incorrigible imp. Now I think it wise that we should return to The Greyhound before the light starts to fail. It would not do that we should be forced to spend the night here, and besides, we have need for dry clothes. You must be chilled to the bone as am I.”
*****
The rain had stopped and the clouds were attempting to clear as they arrived in The Greyhound’s yard and Vale stopped abruptly, swearing softly beneath his breath. “Unless I am very much mistaken that is my father’s chaise,” he said taking hold of Sophie’s arm and pulling her to one side. “It looks as if he has been here for quite some time as the horses are already stabled. Though how in the devil’s name he knew where...”
Sophie took her hand guiltily to her mouth and whispered, “I left a note.”
“You elope and leave a note? I cannot believe it!” he said incredulously, unable to keep the amusement from his voice. “I would have thought it a matter for concealment. It must be some peculiar female trait; some feminine reasoning that totally eludes me. Now with Father here there will be hell to pay. My love, you do not make life easy.”
“Shall I slip into the inn by a side entrance and he need not see me?” she asked in some trepidation.
“Certainly not,” he said, tucking her hand into his arm. “We shall face him together. He may as well know our intentions at the outset, as I will not be diverted from my purpose. Come, we present a united front.”
Suddenly he stopped and started to laugh. “If you informed him that you were eloping with Wroxham he will be confirmed that I have murdered him and we have hidden the body. Perhaps the meeting will be more entertaining than I thought!”
*****
When the two entered the parlor it was to find the duke and duchess seated at the supper table
“So, at last, you decide to grace us with your presence,” snapped the duke, p
utting aside his knife and fork. Pushing his chair away from the table, he turned to the duchess, “I told you it was the boy’s curricle I saw in the yard. Would recognize it anywhere.” Then returning his attention to his son, “What the deuce are you doing here, Dominic? I was of the impression we were chasing Wroxham?”
“And so you were, Father,” replied Vale, “but you see, I arrived here before you and he is now well on his way back to town, and none the better for our encounter.”
“You made known your disapproval of his actions?”
“Of course, would you doubt it?”
“And he still lives,” stated the duke incredulously. “You must certainly have learned to temper your anger. Previously it has always been ‘have at you’ regardless of the consequences. I take this to be your influence, my dear,” he said, turning to Sophie where she had been standing half hidden by his lordship’s imposing frame. “You appear to have succeeded where we have failed.”
The duchess, who, fascinated by the turn of events, had remained silent throughout, came quickly to her feet. “They are soaked Marcel. You must allow them to change and then they can explain all. I don’t understand what has been happening here but I am prodigiously glad to see both of you safe and sound.” She rounded the table and slipping her arm about Sophie’s waist and said, “Come, child, you must get out of those damp clothes. I think it better that you should wear your skirts and whilst we are away you can tell me about this silly escapade with Wroxham.”
Sophie meekly allowed the duchess to lead her from the room and up to her apartment whilst Vale remained in his father’s company.
“Had you not better remove yourself to change?” asked the duke, pouring himself a glass of claret.
“Unlike you, father, I had not the time to pack a valise. When I left Kennington, time was of the essence; therefore I have not a change of clothes. I must stand in what I have.”
Dominic (Books We Love historical romance) Page 14