"Hello," she said, then turned to Jeremy, holding open her arms. He limped to her and hugged her, saying as fast as he could talk, "It's wonderful, Sophie! Oh goodness, I've missed you. Look, Sinjun, just look at the stables, certainly big enough for George and—"
"Who's George?"
"My pony, he's a barb and all black with two white socks and fast as the wind, Sophie."
"As in the second George or the crazy third George?"
Douglas laughed. "Actually, this George is a tradesman in Hadleigh who bears a remarkable resemblance to Jeremy's pony."
Alex said, "You've done marvels. We were so shocked to hear about what that wretched Dubust had done."
"The furniture will be back in the next few days. Alas, I have only three chairs and one table downstairs."
"Perfectly adequate," the earl said, then frowned as he looked around. "Where's Ryder?"
"He's with some of the tenant farmers."
Douglas stared at her. "Tenant farmers." he repeated blankly. "What is he doing?"
"I think they're talking about crop rotation. Evidently Mr. Dubust was more than just a criminal. He wouldn't allow the farmers new implements and discouraged letting fields lie fallow as they must, you know."
"Yes," Douglas said slowly, "yes, I know. And Ryder is dealing with this?"
"Not only is he dealing with it, he quite likes it."
Sinjun said to her brother, "Can Jeremy and I go find Ryder? It is late, Douglas, and he should be finished with all his rotations soon now. Please?"
"Go along, brat."
"Walk north," Sophie called after them. "See the trail just by the stables?"
An hour later, Ryder, Jeremy, and Sinjun strolled into the drawing room that held only three chairs. Ryder walked over to his wife and kissed her. "Look who found me. And I wasn't even wearing my hobnails or my smock."
Sophie felt a deep surge of pleasure at the sight of him and could only nod.
Ryder grinned at her, and lightly caressed his knuckles over her cheek. "No, Douglas, don't say anything, if you please. Things change, all right? To show me proper respect, call me Master Ryder or Farmer Ryder. I begin to think that I must design a new plow, one with style, one that will be made by an artisan as famous as Hoby or Weston. What do you think?"
"I think you're mad, Ryder, utterly mad and very happy."
"And what do you think of our home?"
"That it is a home and you've made it thus in a very short time."
"I must give Sophie credit for accomplishing a bit, a very little bit, but I don't wish to make her feel useless."
Sophie squawked and flew at him. Ryder, laughing, his blue eyes as light as the afternoon sky, gathered her against him and held her and then swung her about.
The earl looked at his wife, who was smiling at them.
The Earl and Countess of Northcliffe didn't mind at all sleeping on piles of blankets in a guest room. Indeed, if Ryder were any expert on the matter, and he most assuredly was, he knew that his brother and sister-in-law quite enjoyed themselves. His brother was a man of a creative nature.
The earl and countess remained for only a day and a half, for they were on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Portsmouth. As for Sinjun and Jeremy, they were to stay for a long visit. Sinjun's goal, she said, giggling, was to see Ryder in his farmer's smock.
Not an hour after the earl and countess had left, Sinjun found her brother in a rather ardent embrace with his wife. She cleared her throat. Ryder looked up and frowned at her. "Go away, Sinjun. You're only fifteen and you shouldn't be witnessing all this excess of affection."
"Ha," Sinjun said. "You should see Douglas and Alex when they think no one's looking. You wouldn't believe what I've seen him doing, and Alex always throws her head back and makes these funny little noises and—"
"Be quiet, brat. Now, this had better be urgent or I'll tan your backside."
"I've got to speak to you, Ryder. Alone."
This was a very serious Sinjun, and Sophie, having regained her equilibrium, merely nodded, and took herself off.
Ryder crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the mantel.
"I'm too late."
"Too late for what?"
Sinjun, to her brother's absolute astonishment, turned red and wrung her hands. "They're nearly here. I rode as fast as I could back here to warn you. Oh, Ryder, I'm sorry, but there was nothing I could do. I know how you feel about Douglas or any of the rest of the family knowing how wonderful you are, but—"
Ryder had a peculiar feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What are you talking about?"
"The children should be here in no more than two minutes from now."
"You have two minutes, then, to explain all this to me."
"I took Jeremy over to Hadleigh to meet Jane and the children. All right, you can tan my bottom later for that, but Ryder, he fit right in and much enjoyed himself. He and Oliver are the best of friends. Oh dear, there's only one minute left. Jane came down with the measles. She immediately sent me a message saying the children had to leave so they wouldn't become ill; then Laura, one of her helpers, sent me a message at Northcliffe and she didn't know what to do. So I told her and Jane to send all the children here. What else should I have done, Ryder? Told Douglas?"
Ryder looked off into the distance. "Well, that solves one problem, doesn't it? Is that the sound of carriage wheels I hear? Probably. Who paid for all this, Sinjun?"
"I did. It took nearly all my savings, but I managed. I didn't want the children to travel by stage, so I hired four carriages, three for them and one for all the luggage, and I managed to secure four rooms at the Golden Calf Inn in Reading."
Ryder grinned at his sister. He patted her cheek. "You did well. Let's go meet all my brood. Good God, I hope none of them have come down with the measles. It can be quite nasty."
"What about Sophie?"
"Sophie isn't a fool," he said, but to Sinjun's fond and alert ears, his voice sounded very odd.
When he and Sinjun arrived on the front steps of Chadwyck House, there were Sophie and Jeremy assisting child after child from the carriages. Only Laura Bracken had come with them because the other two helpers had come down with the measles along with Jane. Laura, bless her heart, was exhausted. The children, luckily, were all well.
It was Jaime who first spotted Ryder. He let out a yell and rushed at him. Ryder swung the boy up in his arms and tossed him into the air, then hugged him tightly against his chest. The other children were on him in the next moment, and there was pandemonium for the next five minutes.
Sophie saw the little girl standing off to one side, her thumb in her mouth. She didn't understand any of this but, oddly enough, she was content to wait and see. It wasn't perhaps so strange with the children hanging on to his arms, legs, and neck that he wouldn't look at her.
Sinjun grabbed her arm. "I swear this isn't what you think, Sophie."
Sophie said easily, "No, I doubt it is. That boy over there must be all of eleven or twelve years old. Surely Ryder couldn't have fathered him. No, I'm learning that with Ryder nothing is as it appears to be."
"They are his children, his Beloved Ones," Sinjun said, desperate now, "but not really, all except for Jenny. Ryder saved each of them at different times, you know. He loves children and hates cruelty toward them, and—"
Ryder, dragging four children and holding two others, came down the steps, grinning hugely, but not at Sophie. He looked over her left shoulder as he said simply, "These are my children." He introduced all of them to his wife. Sophie smiled and spoke to each of them. A moment later, she realized with a shock that Ryder was embarrassed.
Then he got a huge smile on his face as he looked over at the little girl who was standing alone, watching silently.
"Now, all you wild savages, I want you to go with Jeremy and Sinjun to the kitchen. We don't have any furniture yet, but you can sit on the kitchen floor and Mrs. Chivers and Cook will make sure you have scones
and biscuits and lemonade. Go now, and later I'll tell you all about my adventures and why the house doesn't have any beds for you."
"And I'll tell you more stories about the Virgin Bride," Sinjun said. "Who knows, maybe she's followed Ryder and Sophie here."
Amy shrieked with excited terror.
Ryder simply took Sophie's hand and led her over to the little girl. Sophie stood still, watching her husband go down on his knees. He opened his arms and the little girl came to him. He held her close, kissing her hair, stroking her back, and she heard him saying over and over, "Ah, Jenny, I've missed you, little love. Now, would you like to meet Sophie? She's not as pretty as you, but she is nice and she makes me smile. Just maybe she'll make you smile as well."
He looked up at his wife and she knew that this was his child, and that the little girl wasn't like the other children. There was a look of near desperation on his face and she realized that he was worried that she would snub the little girl.
"You should have some faith in me," she said as she came down to her knees beside her husband and held out her hand, making no move toward the little girl, who was huddled against her father's chest. "Hello, Jenny. That's a lovely dress you're wearing, much nicer than mine. I'm very glad to meet you and I'm very glad you're here. Your father has missed you very much. How old are you?"
Ryder raised her right hand, folded down her thumb and said very slowly, "One."
Jenny said, "One."
Ryder folded down the next finger and said, "Two."
When he reached her little finger, he only bent it in half and said, "There now, I'm four and a half years old."
"Yes, Papa."
There was such pride and love on his face. Another Ryder, no, another side to him. She said now, "Such a big girl you are and just look at that lovely locket. May I see it?"
Jenny very slowly stretched out her hand, and her fingertips lightly, tentatively touched Sophie's palm. She held out the locket and Sophie opened it. "Ah, what lovely paintings. You and your mama? Yes, I can see that you're as pretty as she is. You have your father's beautiful eyes though."
"Papa," Jenny said, and threw her arms around Ryder's neck again and buried her face in his neck.
"It's her new word," Ryder said, immensely pleased.
"Now, little love, my old bones are creaking. Let me heave you up—you're such a great big girl, Sophie's right about that—and let's go into the house. You'd like some lemonade, wouldn't you?"
Pandemonium reigned in the kitchen. Mrs. Chivers looked as if she'd just been dumped willy-nilly into Bedlam, but she was smiling, thank the good Lord. Cook, a Mrs. Bedlock, was running to and fro from the pantry. It was Sinjun, though, who was in charge of the brood. Each child was finally seated on the floor with a plate filled with goodies.
"There won't be anything left to eat," Mrs. Chivers said, staring from one child to the other. "I have three grandchildren and they all eat like it's their last meal."
"Then we'd best send Mrs. Bedlock to Lower Slaughter to buy out the town," Sophie said. Ryder looked at his wife, still didn't meet her eyes, and she would have sworn that he blushed.
He neatly managed to avoid her for the next several hours. It wasn't difficult because each of the children wanted his attention. He showed them the east wing, told them about Mr. Dubust, making the man a villain fit to rule the world, but his aunt, dear Mildred, had shrieked him down and now he would pay for his crimes.
Sophie merely bided her time and made decisions as to where the children would sleep.
At last she managed to corner him as he tried to slip past her out of the house. "Oh no you don't, Ryder. I want to talk to you and it's now or I will make you very sorry."
That ruffled his manly feathers and he said sharply, "Oh, and just how do you plan to do that? Tie me down and have your way with my body?"
She grinned at him. "Come along. We're going for a walk."
Sophie walked beside her husband in the apple orchard just behind the house. It was private, with not a single child hiding behind a tree. Sinjun was with the children, playing mediator, mother, and nursemaid. Ryder was silent. Sophie started humming.
Suddenly she laughed. "You're embarrassed! I couldn't believe it, you were actually embarrassed. You couldn't meet my eyes. Is it because I never, even for one instant, believed all those children to be yours! Ah, if that is it, why then, what a blow to your manhood."
"Go to the devil, Sophie."
"No, that isn't it at all. I had hoped to enrage you out of your damned silence. No, you were and are embarrassed because you don't want anyone to know that you're not a care-for-nothing rakehell. You enjoy being the homme terrible and this, my dear, truly ruins that devil-may-care image."
"Maybe it doesn't. What the hell do you know? Did that wretched Sinjun speak to you?"
"Yes, at first she was desperate because she was afraid I'd get a gun and shoot you. Then later I pinned her against the wall and forced her to spill out the truth—you know, during all those hours when you assiduously avoided me. She told me she'd hoped you would have spoken to me before this, but that you were very reticent about your Beloved Ones, that you didn't consider the children to be anyone's business, even your family's. That it was your damned money and you could do whatever you wanted to do with it. Sinjun also said that Uncle Brandon probably was whirling about in his grave at your philanthropy, but that maybe he wouldn't spend so much time in hell because of the good cause you were putting his money to."
"She appears to have spilled her innards. I'll wager she even sang out about the quarterly bastard meetings, didn't she, curse her eyes?" Sophie looked perfectly blank. "Then forget it. God, the chit finally kept her mouth shut about something that is none of her business." "Not on your benighted life will I forget it. Bastard meetings? What's that? Tell me this instant."
Ryder cursed and Sophie just laughed. "That won't get you out of it. Now, what's a bastard meeting?"
"Oh hell. Douglas and I had a meeting every quarter to count up bastards, so as not to lose any by accident, you know. He believed all the children were my bastards."
"I do wonder what he will say when he finds out the truth."
"He won't," Ryder said, his voice sharp. "It's not any of his damned business."
She arched an eyebrow at him. "You are so good, so kind, so wondrously chivalrous, why, I think I will cry."
"You could better consider keeping your mouth closed. It's not as if I don't much enjoy women," he said now, clearly irritated with her calm acceptance. "Dammit, Sophie, I have given five—five!—women their conge! I even made up a list of possible husbands for each of them. I will provide dowries for the three who wish to wed, and the other two are going to London and I am providing for them too. I am a lover in demand, and they are all saddened unto profound depression that I will no longer pleasure them."
She laughed. "Ah, Ryder, you are amazing, you know that? Truly amazing. You brag about your women and keep mum about your children. You know, I would never expect a man of your character to not take care when you climbed into a woman's bed. I'm very surprised that your brother knows you so little."
He sobered. "Don't blame Douglas. He only came home from the army less than a year ago. He believed what I told him, and as I told you, I am known for my prowess with women, far and wide, so my promised fidelity to you shakes him profoundly. He believes in true love because of it. Before, he merely accepted that lust ruled my head. As for him, he has a little girl nearly Jenny's age."
"Well, he is sure to suspect something is amiss with his opinions of you when he and Alex return to find a houseful of children."
Ryder cursed. "Damn Jane and her cursed measles!"
"It is fortunate that Chadwyck House is so very large. I fancy the east wing will accommodate all of them quite nicely. Indeed, I've already seen to their rooms—while you were ignoring me. Now, tell me about Jane. Do you think she would like to live here?"
"I don't know. Jane much enjoys her
independence."
"Well, it's early yet. We will see. Doubtless she and I can work out something."
His face grew tight. A frown gathered on his brow. His lips thinned. Sophia looked on, fascinated. He kicked a pebble from his path. "You know, damn your so agreeable little hide, you could show a bit of jealousy. As my wife it would be thoroughly appropriate. I dislike your cursed understanding, your damned unctuous acceptance. It is fine, in its place, but its place isn't here, it isn't now. Damn you, Sophie, stop being so bloody tolerant."
"I've already attacked you with a broom. I am unable to jerk up one of the apple trees and cosh you with the trunk. However, if you insist on punishment, upon vituperation from a jealous wife, well then, you will have it."
She threw herself at him, hooking her foot behind his calf, and he went down, Sophie sprawled on top of him. She grabbed his hair to hold him still, then kissed him, every bit of his face, from his hairline to his earlobes.
"You sweetheart," she said, and kept kissing him. She pressed her belly against his and he moaned. She raised her head, looked at an apple tree just to her left and said, "Goodness, do you think we have enough bedding for all the children?"
"I am going to beat you, Sophie Sherbrooke."
"I hope you didn't give so much money to all your former mistresses that we won't have enough to buy food for all those little mouths. Goodness, did you go into debt with all the gowns Mrs. Plack made for me? Three riding habits, Ryder, three! How it is possible for there to be a more generous, a more giving, a more magnanimous man in the whole world? Or at least in the whole Cotswolds?"
He grabbed his arms around her back and rolled over on top of her. "Now you listen to me, you damned thorn in my flesh. I refuse to accept your sweet kisses just because you've decided I'm not the scoundrel you believed me to be. Ha! Half of what you say is sarcasm and you don't cloak it well. You don't even try. You rub my nose in it. Now you think I'm this benevolent philanthropist, this saintly creature, and even said so in that mocking voice of yours. The whole idea makes me want to puke. Damn you, I'm barely a nice man; I am barely to be tolerated. Don't you dare continue your kisses and your good humor just because now you think I'm different and bloody worthy."
The Hellion Bride Page 31