The Reluctant Bride (Regency Undone)

by Firth, Claire

  ‘Mama!’ Sophia had jumped up from her seat in agitation but her mother had quickly forestalled the interruption.

  ‘Now Sophia, do not take a pet, I beg of you. I am sorry but there is no other answer. Lord Avalon has agreed that in return for your hand, not only will he happily forego any dowry - as if we could afford one now anyway - but he has also undertaken to pay off all your father’s debts and provide us with an income for life. It really is too generous my love ... far better than the offer put forward by Lord Iverho who wanted to take up residence here with you and displace your father and I to some remote country house on one of his estates in Wales! I do declare I am so vexed with your Papa ... but how fortunate that Lord Avalon should be so heavily taken with you ...’

  ‘But he has never met me apart from a few occasions when we were children. Mama, I cannot believe you have done this without even consulting me. It would appear you have been conducting my proposed marriage like some cattle auction, selling me to the highest bidder! And what about Edward? You know he and I have an unspoken agreement that one day …’

  ‘A mere childish tryst that carries no weight,’ her mother had dismissed firmly. ‘His fortune is nothing compared to the Earl of Avalon’s and Edward would never have proposed to you once the details of your father’s indiscretions became public knowledge. No ... far better for us all that you become the future Lady Avalon. That way, your father and I can stay in this house and once we have passed on, it will revert to you and your husband and add to the impressive estate you will already own. It is really the most fortunate of solutions my dear - far better than we could ever have hoped for in the circumstances.’

  ‘But you always promised you would not force me into a marriage I did not desire. And you know how unhappy Isabelle is in exactly those circumstances. How can you wish the same for me?’

  ‘Now Sophia, you cannot in any way compare The Earl of Avalon to that dissolute wretch of a man – thirty years her senior – that your poor friend Isi was married off to. His Lordship is not of the same ilk, I am persuaded. And just think of the advantages my love. As well as Avalon Hall you will be mistress of two other houses, one in London and the other in Bath. Oh you will have such fun. I really am quite envious. We could not have wanted a better match for you.’

  ‘Mama ... you know the Earl’s reputation as well as I. He is a ... a profligate and a womaniser ... who has been content to leave the running of his estate to that dreadful rogue Browning while he runs around London having a gay time. I will not be married to such a man. And you can’t force me!’

  Her mother’s face had taken on an unusually steely expression. ‘I sincerely hope that we wouldn’t need to force you to see where your duty lies Sophia. You know my life with your father has not been easy. Would you now add poverty and ruin to my lot by denying us this solution to our problems? If you do not marry the Earl we will be undone. Make no mistake about that. So it is all agreed. You will marry Lord Avalon this Spring ...’

  Sophia was brought back to the present abruptly as the morning-room door was flung unceremoniously open and her husband strode in.

  ‘I am sorry, my Lady ...’ Harrington rushed in in his wake. ‘Lord Avalon would not wait to be announced.’

  Both Sophia and her mother had jumped to their feet at the intrusion.

  ‘That is quite alright Harrington ... thank you.’

  The butler withdrew and for a moment there was silence in the room as each took stock of the other. Sophia tried to study her husband dispassionately but found it impossible to do so. He was dressed like any other country gentleman but as always there was a careless elegance to his buckskins and the fine cut of his coat that set him apart from other men and accentuated the hard, muscular physique beneath - a physique that she remembered only too well from that morning.

  His countenance, lean and almost swarthy was now dark with barely controlled anger as his eyes blazed burningly into hers.

  ‘Well, Madam ... and what is the meaning of this little escapade?’

  She tilted her chin defiantly. ‘I have decided on a visit to my parents Sir. You can surely have no objection to that?’

  As if remembering his manners, her husband drew himself up sharply and turned to her mother offering a short little bow of acknowledgement.

  ‘Lady Challoner ... I apologise that you should have been dragged into this little ... domestic episode,’ he said stiffly. ‘I believe your daughter and I have some unfinished business to attend to and I regret I must remove her from this house forthwith.’

  ‘I will not go.’ Sophia almost stamped her foot in defiance. ‘And you cannot force me.’

  ‘I have no intention of forcing you,’ Ralph replied coolly. ‘I feel sure I can rely on your mother to persuade you where your duty lies in this matter. You are my wife and you will come home with me.’

  ‘Mama?’

  Her mother looked embarrassed. ‘I cannot interfere between a man and his wife, Sophia. And you know if we send for your father what he will say. You are best to go with Ralph. You ... you can visit another time.’

  She would not look her daughter in the eye and Sophia’s defeated gaze switched back to her husband. Hostility blazed from every line of her haughty young body as ignoring his outstretched arm she swept angrily past him and stalked to the door.

  Ralph bestowed a charming smile upon her mother.

  ‘My thanks for your understanding Lady Challoner. Perhaps you would be so kind as to arrange for Sophia’s bags to be returned to us in due course?’

  ‘Of course ...’ Lady Challoner’s hands fluttered nervously by her side as he bowed and took his leave of her.

  ‘Goodbye my love,’ she called awkwardly after Sophia. ‘Come and see me soon...’

  CHAPTER THREE

  The atmosphere in the carriage as they undertook the journey home was oppressive and for a long while not a word was offered by either side as they sat opposite each other in stony silence.

  Ralph cast a quick look at his wife’s set features and not for the first time since their marriage, felt at a complete loss as to how to handle her. She was unlike any other woman he’d known and it irked him that she had not fallen - as he’d believed she would in view of her chastened circumstances – readily in with his plans.

  Find someone soft and biddable, Guy had said so carelessly - someone who will be grateful for the position you are bestowing upon her.

  He’d made it all sound so easy, and Ralph had believed he’d made the perfect choice in Sophia Challoner. She was a beauty, there was no doubt about that, and even his mother had been delighted. An only child with no male heirs in the family, it meant that on her parents’ demise Sophia would inherit the estate which bordered that of Avalon Hall - which would significantly add to their already considerable land. As far as he was concerned, in light of her father’s straightened financial circumstances, Sophia should have been exceedingly grateful to him for his offer and everything should have settled down famously. Yet now look where he was. Too late he’d realised that soft and biddable were traits that definitely did not feature in Sophia’s character. In fact, she had been nothing but trouble since the day he’d met her.

  He thought back to that first meeting. It had been an unmitigated disaster; for far from leaping at his offer with the willingness he had been lead to believe she would by her father, she had heard him out, coolly thanked him for his kind offer and declined; explaining that her affections were engaged elsewhere.

  Her refusal had confounded him and he had awaited no further explanations before bowing stiffly and taking himself off. He felt surprisingly put out. His first impressions of Sophia, apart from her obvious disdain of him, had been pleasing. She was both beautiful and elegant and he could imagine that as his wife she would be a great asset to him. He wasn’t used to having his plans thwarted.

  Consequently when a missive subsequently arrived from her father later that day apologising for his daughter's behaviour and assuring Ralph that
she had now had a chance to reconsider his proposal, Ralph was persuaded to give her a second chance.

  Lord Challoner had arrived at eleven o’clock the next morning with a very stormy-looking Sophia in tow and had wasted no time, after courtesies had been exchanged, in informing Ralph that Sophia had something she wished to say to him.

  ‘Sophia?’ he ordered sharply when she seemed disinclined to speak.

  Sophia glared at her father for a long rebellious moment before finally turning venomous eyes in Ralph’s direction.

  ‘I thank you for your kind offer for my hand in marriage,’ she said stiffly. ‘I am given no choice but to accept.’

  Her father turned puce in the face and stepped forward as if to remonstrate with her, but Ralph had hastened to diffuse the situation.

  ‘I am very glad you have changed your mind Sophia,’ he said coolly. ‘I will do my best to be a good husband to you.’

  And had he not done his best, he thought now, staring at his wife’s rebellious profile as she stared doggedly out of the window? Ye Gods, how many men in his position would have agreed not to consummate their marriage on their wedding night - agreed in fact to wait until she was ready before they did so? Did she not realise how hard that was for a man? And what incensed him more was that his original intention – so blithely suggested by his cousin Guy - of continuing to take his pleasures elsewhere down in London, had come to nought either. For it seemed that now he had acquired a beautiful wife who was totally indifferent to him, it had piqued his interest – completely destroyed his desire for other women in fact.

  He had now been celibate for over three months - a situation that was enough to drive a monk to sin. He had a beautiful, desirable wife and he was living in torture; watching her, wanting her, but unable to bridge the rift that seemed to be widening between them on a daily basis. It was more than any man could endure.

  He should have been warned by that first meeting, he thought grimly. Yet hardly was the thought out than it was dismissed. Despite his desire for an easy life he found he was intrigued by his young wife; sensing an inner insecurity in her that went deeper than any emotions she displayed. And for some unfathomable reason he could identify with that.

  For the first time in years he’d found himself wanting to get to know a woman on more than a superficial level; to understand what governed her. Yet even that knowledge irked him. What the deuce did he want to do that for? Hadn’t he found life much simpler keeping his relationships with women superficial? Slotting them in when it suited him without the added burden of being responsible for their emotional welfare?

  He looked again at his wife to find her eyes on him. Their gazes locked and he made up his mind.

  ‘When we arrive,’ he said calmly. ‘You will go up to your bedroom and prepare yourself for me to come to you. We struck a bargain ... your hand in marriage in return for my settling your father’s gambling debts and providing him with an adequate income for life. So far I have honoured my side of that bargain but I have had very little from you by way of return. I feel that the sooner we start living properly together as man and wife, the better it will be for the both of us.’

  Sophia’s cheeks paled in her face. ‘But you said you would not force me...’

  Ralph’s look was impassive. ‘That was when I thought you would allow a relationship to develop between us naturally. But you have resisted me at every opportunity and you show no inclination whatsoever to attempt to rectify the unreasonable hostility you feel towards me. It seems to me that if I am to be pilloried as a monster regardless of what I do then I may as well live up to your expectations and get on with the business of providing me with my heirs.’

  ‘Pah! You are just like all men,’ Sophia flung at him scornfully. ‘All you think about are your heirs! What if I do not provide you with any? What if like my father, you have only daughters? Will you make them feel as I do - unworthy? A disappointment to you?’

  Ralph’s expression softened and it had the effect of making Sophia’s back stiffen. She did not want his pity.

  ‘If your father made you feel unworthy then he is more of a fool than I already believe him to be,’ he said calmly. ‘If I had such a beautiful, spirited daughter as you I would be proud of her.’

  ‘Oh...’ Sophia seemed momentarily disconcerted but she soon rallied. ‘Yet you married me only to give you the son you need to carry on your family name ...’

  His eyes fixed on her intently ... a slow perusal of her body that he could not prevent as he pictured the slender calves beneath the fullness of her skirts, the perfectly rounded breasts that seemed to be crying out for his touch.

  ‘An heir would be good,’ he conceded, ‘but that was not the only reason I married you Sophia. I won’t pretend this is a love match – we have both made our feelings abundantly plain on that score – but there were benefits to us both from this marriage …’

  ‘For you and my parents maybe. I fail to see any benefit whatsoever for me.’

  ‘Your family name and reputation have been saved from shame and your home has been secured. I would have thought those were quite considerable benefits - and perhaps you should reflect on where you might be if that had not happened. Do you really think your calf-love would have offered for you had you lost those two things?

  ‘Edward loves me…’

  ‘You are young and you would soon have discovered that love is a transient notion that is surprisingly fickle when challenged by reality. His parents would not have allowed him to offer for you and as a younger son he is in no position to defy them. It’s about time you acknowledged the reality of your situation and moved on. I have been patient, realising that you are inexperienced and needed time to adapt to your new circumstances, but a man has needs. Our wedding night as I hardly need remind you was a fiasco – and your rejection of me this morning has made me realise you will never come to me willingly without a little ... encouragement.’

  ‘I will never come to you willingly under any circumstances,’ Sophia declared hotly.

  ‘Which convinces me all the more of the need to take things into hand now.’

  His loins stirred as he remembered the picture she’d presented the previous night. He’d partaken of more alcohol than normal and had been unable to resist the urge to enter her bedroom and look at her while she slept - but the sight of her beautiful hair strewn over the pillow, her soft voluptuous breasts rising and falling with each breath she took, had almost been too much for him. He had wanted her with a fierceness that had consumed him. If only she knew what it had cost him to settle instead for slipping in beside her while she slept so that she would wake in the morning to find his arms around her.

  And then this morning when she had indeed awoken ... his expression smouldered at the shock and yes, fear he had seen reflected in her eyes. What had he ever done that she should be afraid of him? Had he not spent countless hours of an evening talking with her, getting to know her, in order that she may become more familiar and comfortable with him?

  It was more than any man should be expected to endure. Anger and a sense of rejection so strong it had overwhelmed him, urged him to take command and persuade her into submission with his kisses. But she’d only shied away the more, her slender body rigid at the unleashed passion he’d displayed. Disgusted with himself he had dragged himself off her before things had gone completely beyond his control; but he’d returned to his own room shaking and more aroused than he could ever remember. And he had resolved there and then that this situation could continue no longer.

  Now as the coach and four rattled on, his eyes settled again on the gentle swell of her breasts beneath the tight bodice of her dress. His breeches strained at the thought of freeing them, caressing them with his hands.

  ‘Come here ...’ he said softly, patting the seat beside him.

  She stared at him, the atmosphere in the carriage suddenly charged.

  ‘Wh ... what do you mean?’

  ‘Come here and sit next to me. I w
ish to learn you.’

  He patted the seat again, his eyes never wavering as he watched the different emotions cross her face. For a long moment he thought she was going to defy him and he couldn’t help wondering what he was supposed to do if she did. But then, as if coming to a decision, she tilted her chin haughtily and rose unsteadily to her feet in the swinging carriage.

  ‘Oh!’

  This as a particularly bad dip in the road plunged her straight onto his lap.

  His arms grasped her, pulling her more firmly onto his knee before she could do anything about it. Their faces were but a few inches apart.

  She struggled forcefully. ‘Let me go!’

  But his hold only tightened further.

  ‘You will need to get used to the feel of my arms around you little one ...’ he murmured in her ear, ‘... once you are truly mine.’

  He raised his hand to slowly trace a line from her cheek down to her mouth, his eyes watchful on her face as he did so.

  Sophia froze, but then confusingly found her body relaxing at the gentleness of his touch; her lips beginning to tingle where his fingers played idly along their outline, as if he enjoyed touching them. She held her breath as they continued on down her neck – whisper-light traces that sent an unexpected tremor shooting through her.

  Her response did not go unnoticed. ‘I will enjoy awakening you ...’ he whispered. His burning gaze moved to her bodice. Then to her disbelief his hand drifted over her breasts, first one then the other, his thumb rubbing purposefully through the soft material of her gown.

  ‘Oh! What are you ...?’

  A gasp exploded from her as he tweaked her nipple.

  ‘That is what I like to hear,’ he rumbled, burrowing his head in her bosom. ‘Soon there will be no more thoughts of your young cub, Edward Rawden ... my body will ride yours and your gasps will be for me alone.’