by HELEN HARDT
“You may call me Brian,” he said. “And I’m sorry, my dear, but I can’t unbind you. This is how I want you. You will come to enjoy it. I promise you.”
Now what? “If that is what you wish…B-Brian.” Stop stammering, Sophie. “However, I fear I’m just not ready to be intimate yet. Can we not get to know each other?”
“I know all I need to know about you, my darling Sophie.”
“Perhaps you do, if you have been watching me for so long. But I do not know anything about you. Tell me a bit about yourself. Let me get to know you.”
He shook his head again. “I don’t think so. You cannot put off the inevitable forever, my dear. I will have you. And I will have you now.”
Sophie braced herself. No matter what happened, she had to stay alive.
“Could I at least see your face? Don’t you think I have the right to see the face of the man who is claiming my body?”
He nodded. “I suppose I can give you that much. After all, you will know soon enough who I am.”
He removed his mask, and Sophie gasped.
* * *
The maid came bustling back to Zach.
“Where is she?” Zach demanded.
“I’m afraid I don’t know, sir. Mr. Graves has taken ill and has taken to his chamber. That is all I could find out so far. I have alerted the master, and he is on his way to speak to you.”
The Earl of Brighton entered the foyer a few seconds later. “Newland,” he said, “you say you’re looking for Sophie? I’m sorry, but I’ve forbidden her to go to rehearsal until we find out who’s been sending her those notes.”
Zach stiffened. “She got another note?”
“Yes. Two, actually. Haven’t the constables informed you? They think whoever made an attempt on your life might be the same person who’s been writing notes to Sophie.”
Zach shook his head. “No one has told me anything like that. I thought Mr. Bertram had been incarcerated.”
“He was. Still is. But we’re no longer sure he is the perpetrator. Seems he might be innocent as he claims.”
Zach’s mind whirled, his head beginning to ache. “No one told me any of this.”
“Blake probably didn’t want you worrying while you were trying to recover,” Brighton said.
“Yes, maybe.” Zach rubbed his temples. “If you please, my lord, I must speak to Sophie.”
“Of course. I’ll have her maid wake her. I hope you don’t mind waiting.”
“Not at all.” Zach sat down on the settee in the foyer.
“Don’t be absurd, Newland. Go wait in the parlor.”
Zach nodded, strode into the parlor, and took a seat on the divan. Little elves hammered inside his brain. Sophie. Everything would be fine when he saw Sophie. A quarter of an hour passed before Brighton entered the parlor, the lines on his forehead creased.
“Newland,” he said, gulping, “Sophie is…missing.”
“What?” Zach shot up from the divan, perspiration beading on his forehead. “Where the devil is she?”
“Her maid says she’s not in her chamber, and her bed hasn’t been slept in.” Brighton raked his fingers through his ample silver hair. “Iris is beside herself.”
All those shadows Zach had imagined…all those eyes watching him… His veins turned icy. “We’ve got to find her.”
The earl nodded. “I will find her. I must, for Iris.”
“I’m going with you.”
“Newland, you’re recovering from a head injury. It’s not wise—”
“For God’s sake, Brighton, I’m in love with that woman.” Zach started to sway on his feet a bit. He needed to keep a level head. “I will go with you.”
“Lord,” the earl said. “All this time, Bertram has maintained his innocence, and then those two notes surfaced in the last day or two. It’s truly possible we have the wrong man incarcerated.”
“We have to figure out who has her and where she is,” Zach said, his nerves jumping. “We must find her. I cannot live without her. I need her.”
“Yes, yes, of course. I’ve been told Mr. Graves is ill, but I will go his chamber and talk to him. He’s the one who knows all the comings and goings around here, and he will able to point us in the right direction.”
“If you don’t mind, I will go with you.”
“I don’t mind at all, Newland. You’ve proved your devotion to Sophie. Let’s go see what we can find out.”
Zach followed Brighton to the servants’ wing, where they knocked on the door to Graves’s chamber. No answer.
Brighton knocked harder. Still no answer. “Graves, I know you’re not feeling well, but we need to speak with you right away.”
Still no response.
The earl turned the doorknob and opened the door. Graves was not in his room.
“Where has he gone?” Zach asked, his heart stampeding.
Brighton shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t know, but I do not like the look of this one bit.”
Zach’s stomach dropped, and nausea overtook him. “It was Graves, wasn’t it, who implicated Bertram?”
The earl nodded. “Graves has been in my employ for over thirty years. He has always been a gentleman. I can’t believe he would do something so despicable.”
“I suppose we don’t know for sure,” Zach said, “but we’ve got to find Sophie, Brighton. I cannot allow anything to happen to her.”
“Nor can I. Her mother would die if something happened to one of her daughters. We went through enough last year, when Sophie was kidnapped and Ally was beaten. And now with Ally nearly losing her life in childbirth…” Brighton shook his head. “Plus, I love these girls as if they were my own flesh and blood. We must find her.”
“But where do we start?” Zach’s head ached. He had to figure this out. Had to…
“Graves had a brother who was a tenant on the Brighton land years ago. We’ll start with that information. Let’s go to my office.”
Brighton found the requisite information, and he and Zach saddled some horses to ride out to the parcel of land that Graves’s brother had once let. They each had pistols. Horses could go faster, and they were less apt to be seen. Zach had wanted to ask Evan to join them, but the Earl refused. Evan and Ally had been through so much already.
Zach fought back rising bile the whole way. He could not lose Sophie. She had become so important to him in so little time, and he was not going to give her up without a hell of a fight.
They finally arrived on the parcel of land a half hour later. A small dwelling stood in the distance, and a couple of horses were tethered to a fence post.
“Are there new tenants on this land?” Zach asked.
The earl shook his head. “No. There should not be anyone here. This is an older piece of land and a dwelling that we haven’t renovated.”
Zach’s heart leaped into his throat. Sophie was here. He could feel it in the thick air. And she needed him.
“Be quiet,” Brighton urged him. “We don’t know how many men he has.”
Zach nodded, his hand resting on the pistol in his waistband.
The earl went first, opening the door.
Like a flash of lightning, a man knocked the earl on the head with a candlestick, and he went down.
“I got the other one, Jake,” another man said, grabbing Zach, taking his pistol, and throwing it onto a dirty sofa.
“Where is she?” Zach demanded. “Where is Lady Sophie?”
“So you’re here for the lady. I was wondering when someone would come for her. She’s in the bedroom…tied up at the moment.”
Zach seethed. No one would hurt Sophie while he lived. He tried to get away, but the man who had him was bigger and stronger than he was.
“Take him into the bedroom, Harry, and see what the boss wants to do with them,” Jake said. “I’ll take care of this one.” He pointed to Brighton on the floor.
Zach looked quickly at the earl. He was breathing, and no blood was coming from his head, thank God. He
was simply unconscious. Zach could do nothing for him now. His focus was Sophie, and unfortunately, Brighton would be no help.
The other man forced Zach into the bedroom.
And he gasped, terror flooding through him.
There lay Sophie, naked, each limb tied to a bedpost. A man dressed in black hovered over her at the foot of the bed. He was tall with a shock of grey-white hair.
Sophie turned her head at the commotion.
The man holding Zach placed his hand over Zach’s mouth before he could yell to Sophie.
The grey-haired man turned.
Graves.
“Newland. How in the hell did you find me?”
The man called Harry unclamped his hand from Zach’s mouth, still holding him while Zach struggled.
“Sophie, love, are you all right?”
“Don’t speak to him!” Graves warned.
Poor Sophie. His love. Bound naked. Zach would see that damned butler dead for this.
“What in the hell are you doing, Graves? You’ve been a loyal servant to Brighton for how many years now? And you abduct his stepdaughter? What the hell were you thinking? You need to let her go. Now!”
“I don’t need to do anything you say, Newland.”
“Did you think really think we wouldn’t find you? You sick bastard. And then implicating that innocent man, Bertram. He’s been rotting in a cell for six weeks, constantly proclaiming his innocence.”
“He’s a stupid kid. A pawn in my game.”
“Your game is over. We have people coming right behind us.”
Graves laughed. “No, you don’t, or they would be here by now.”
Zach swallowed. Caught in a lie. “What do you want with Sophie, Graves?”
“Plain and simple. I want her. She is the woman of my dreams. I have been worshiping her since I first laid eyes on her, waiting for the right time to claim her.”
Feral anger rose within Zach. No one would take his woman. “She will never be yours. She’s mine.”
“She’s not yours, Newland. But you took her anyway, didn’t you? Forced yourself upon her virgin flesh!” Graves’s eyes glowed with evil. “Since you’re here, I’ll prove to you who she belongs to. Harry, hold him. He will watch.”
Sophie screamed. “Help me, Zach! Please!”
“You will not make another sound, my dear,” he said to Sophie, “or I shall have to punish you.”
Zach fought against Harry’s strong hold. “If you so much as touch one hair on her head—”
“You’ll do what?” Graves’s eyes glittered with malice. “You’re in no situation to make any threats, Newland. The woman is mine. And you shall be witness to my claiming.”
“No!”
Harry clamped a hand over Zach’s mouth again.
“Such a big sensation. Zachary Newland, the toast of the theatre. Seducer of women everywhere. You take whatever you want. You took my woman, and you soiled her. She is not yours. She was never yours. How does it feel to you, Newland, to stand there and watch me have her?”
Zach strained, trying to yell, but to no avail with Harry’s hammy hand locked over his mouth. He had to get to Sophie. Had to.
She lay on the bed, her eyes pleading with him. “It’s all right, Zach. I’ll be all right,” she said.
Graves marched toward her head and smacked her hard across the cheek. “I told you not to speak.”
Graves might as well have hit Zach. He felt every bit of the sting. That bastard!
Sophie, he said in his mind, I love you. I love you so much. I am here. Don’t give up. Fight this. We will somehow get out of here.
Yet he couldn’t believe the words. To watch another man have his woman was killing him. Rage boiled beneath his skin.
Graves lowered his trousers, his cock springing free like a menace.
“You will be mine now, Sophie, while Newland watches. He will know without a doubt to whom you belong.”
Sophie opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Graves slapped her again.
He claims to love her and treats her thus? Zach strained against the arms holding him, the hand against his mouth.
Graves removed his boots, stockings, and trousers. Naked from the waist down, he climbed upon the bed and hovered over Sophie.
“And now, dear Sophie, you will be mine.”
Sophie let out a blood-curdling scream.
And Zach sprang into action. He summoned every bit of strength in his body, mind, and soul and elbowed Harry in the ribs, releasing himself. Quick as a jackrabbit, he grabbed the pistol out of Harry’s waistband, ran to Graves, and pistol-whipped him on the head. The butler fell limp on top of Sophie.
Thinking fast, Zach turned to Harry and held him at gunpoint. “You make one move, and I will shoot your fucking head off.”
Harry nodded.
“Help me get him off her,” Zach said.
Harry and Zach rolled a delirious Graves off of Sophie.
“I’m sorry, Liam,” Graves whispered before his eyes shut and he lost consciousness.
Zach then pistol-whipped Harry, and the big man fell to the floor.
Sophie. His Sophie. His heart nearly broke seeing her bound and mistreated. “My God, darling, are you all right?”
Tears streamed down Sophie’s cheeks. “Oh, Zach, I was so afraid…”
“No need to be afraid, my love. I will always come for you. I will never let any harm come to you.”
He untied the ropes, and once Sophie was unbound, he wrapped her in the old quilt that covered the rickety bed. He kissed her forehead.
“We have much to talk about, Sophie, but first let’s take care of this filth so they can never harm you again.”
Sophie nodded, tears still streaming down her face. “Bind him. He enjoyed having me bound so much. Perhaps he should see what it’s like.”
Zach nodded and bound an unconscious Graves’s hands and feet, ironically with the rope he had used on Sophie. He tied Harry as well.
“We need to see about your stepfather. One of the thugs hit him in the head with a candlestick.”
Sophie gasped. “Will he be all right?”
Zach nodded. “I think so. He seemed to be breathing fine, and there was no blood.”
“But the others…”
Zach grabbed the gun. “Wait here…”
“Zach, no!”
Zach put his finger to his lips. “I have this pistol. I will be all right.” Zach opened the door to the bedroom and walked out quietly. The earl still lay on the floor, breathing normally. Zach checked the room. No sign of Jake. The coward had run.
He knelt down to Brighton. “My Lord? Are you all right? Can you hear me?”
His eyes fluttered open. “Newland?”
“Yes. I’m here. You were hit on the head. But I found Sophie. You were right. It was Graves. Just lie here. We’re going to get some help.”
He went back to Sophie, still cuddling in the comforter. He sat on the bed and took her in his arms.
“I’m so sorry, my love. I should’ve been there to protect you.” Tears fell down his cheeks.
“But you did. You came, and you protected me.”
“No harm will ever come to you again as long as I live, my love. I will protect you with my life if need be. I can’t lose you. You’re a part me now.”
Sophie’s lips trembled. She opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her.
“Please don’t leave me.”
She looked up at him, cupping his cheek, her striking hazel eyes wet and bloodshot. “Never.” A small smile curved her parched lips. “How could I? You’ve uncovered places in my soul where I was afraid to venture. I was alive before I met you, but I wasn’t living.”
Zach warmed against her, holding her tightly. “I love you, Sophie. What we have isn’t always pretty, but it’s real and solid, and I’d die without it. Please say you’ll still be my wife.”
Sophie, tears still streaming down her cheeks, nodded. “I love you too, Zach Newland. I w
ould be pleased and honored to be your wife.”
Finale
Bertram had been released, and he returned to the Brighton estate as the new butler. The earl felt so horrible about what happened that he offered Bertram hefty compensation and a chamber on the second level, away from the servants’ quarters. Bertram seemed happy at his new post.
Graves, along with his brother Harry, had been transferred to Newgate in London. He had begged everyone’s forgiveness before he left, and he hanged himself several days later.
Sophie and Zach, after several days off to recover, finished their performances. Healing from their ordeal would take time, but together, Sophie knew they would thrive. After closing night, they were married via special license in a small ceremony at the estate. After a five-course midnight repast, they headed to Zach’s townhome—their townhome.
Sophie sat in her new bedchamber, dressed in a pink negligee, waiting for her husband to come to her on their wedding night.
The door opened slowly, and Zach stood, clad in a forest-green silk robe.
“My love, you are beautiful,” he said.
Sophie gazed at him in appreciation. Her new husband was as magnificent as anything on earth. “As are you, my husband.”
“We’ve been through a lot to be together,” Zach said, “but I would go through it all again a hundred times to be with you. To have you as my leading lady for life.”
“As would I.” No truer words had ever left Sophie’s lips.
Zach was her destiny and she his. They understood each other. They needed each other.
Zach dropped his robe, exposing his naked body. She gulped. He was as handsome as ever, his sinewy muscles apparent in his calves, thighs, abdomen, chest, and arms. Her body warmed all over.
He came closer. His auburn night beard had begun to appear on his jawline. She touched his face, relishing the stubble.
“Ah,” he said. “Your touch… Nothing’s ever felt so perfect.”
Sophie let out a giggle. “Nothing?” She gave him a kiss on one of his copper coin nipples.
Then she stood and dropped her negligee.