Chapter 29
"Ah, there you are, Sophia, my dear sister!
You have a lot of explaining to do, and you won't have Owen to hide behind this time!
" Lucas said, as she very quickly cringed from him.
Afraid that he would on this occasion walk across the room to strike her.
Given the extent of his anger, and apparent lack of restraint.
Edward was however quick to act. Noticing how afraid Sophia was of this man who seemed to be her brother, presumably an older one judging by his face.
What on earth had she done to cause him to react in this way?
Whatever it might be he was not prepared to stand back and allow this to continue, and he quickly stood in front of her.
So that she would be out of reach of Lucas.
Sophia could feel everyone staring at them when Edward moved forward to protect her.
"You, Sir, will calm down. I will not tolerate such appalling behaviour," he said, firmly to Lucas.
"You have entered my home forcibly, made your own way into here after ignoring my butler's request for you to leave, and spoken to Sophia in a highly disrespectful manner.
Miss Barlow recently consented to become my wife, so we are betrothed.
Consequently it is I who you must take issue with, if that remains your intention. Most certainly, not her!"
Sophia couldn't believe that this was Ned.
Her Ned, putting Lucas firmly in his place.
He was magnificent! She hadn't seen this side of him before, and despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't believe how strong and powerful he was.
Her heart went out to him. However this turned out she knew that she would be indebted to him for the rest of her life.
"And you, Sir, I assume are the Duke of Carlfield," Lucas said, sneering at Edward.
"I don't know what pack of lies my sister has been telling you, but I am her legal guardian so she cannot possibly be betrothed to you.
I haven't given my consent to it. Also because I hasten to add, she was already promised to Lord Neil Dilley before she ran away from London.
Sophia was fully aware of these circumstances, although I admit a formal announcement wasn't made until shortly after she disappeared. "
Just then Sophia distinctly overheard Lucy telling her mother in a loud voice, which she had tried to pretend was a whisper by putting her hand in front of her face, that she knew all along there was something undesirable about Lady Cynthia's companion.
The Duchess who was standing next to Sophia behind Edward, trying to comfort her, also heard what was being said.
She patted Sophia's hand, and told her not to worry.
Edward would deal with her brother, before she marched across the floor to where the Earl was seated next to his wife and daughter.
Completely ignoring Lucas, she demanded that her unwanted visitors leave immediately.
They had not received an invitation from her to be here, and what they were now witnessing was a family matter.
Certainly not for public consumption. Howard was about to respond when he saw the set look on her face, and realised there would be little point in arguing.
He had no intention of going to Edward's assistance, since he wished Sophia to leave Carlfield house with Lucas.
Not remain, which is what would happen if the Duke had his way.
With Sophia gone Lucy would be able to comfort him, and definitely secure a proposal of marriage.
While Cynthia was in the process of escorting Lucy and her parents out of the breakfast room, Edward turned around to look at Sophia and asked her if she was already betrothed.
Tears were streaming down her face when she told him what had happened before she left London, and how she had tried to explain this to him in the rose garden earlier that morning.
Running away had been her only option, to avoid a loveless marriage with a despicable man who was twice her age.
It definitely wasn't a love match, and never would be.
She continued shyly, saying that it was the Duke she loved.
Surely he knew that! All the while hoping with all of her heart that he would believe her, and not hand her over to Lucas to be sent back to London to marry Lord Dilley.
Lucas laughed scornfully when he heard what she was saying, and interrupted her conversation with Ned.
"You are an even bigger fool than I took you for, Sophia, if you believe that love still exists in marriage.
It is simply an arrangement based on business deals, and the gentlemen making the right connections for the price of providing a home to a wife.
" While Edward's guard was down as he listened to this, Lucas moved quickly and grabbed his sister’s arm, reiterating that he would have no more of this nonsense from her. He was well within his rights as her legal guardian to remove her from Carlfield house, after she had disobeyed him and ran away. He had made the long journey here to take her back to London." Much to the surprise of both Edward and Sophia, he went on to reveal that if it hadn’t been for Howard’s quick thinking he would have never tracked her down.
Making Sophia realise why the Earl had made her feel so uneasy when he had been scrutinising her appearance.
Lucas added that the Earl of Duxbury had done business with him in the past. Just before he left London to travel back to Yorkshire Howard heard about Sophia's disappearance, and he had a description of her.
When he first laid eyes on Lady Cynthia's new companion at the garden party he was almost certain that it was her, and he sent word to Lucas that he believed he had found his lost sister.
What he didn't however tell Edward was that Howard had been happy to reveal her whereabouts for a fee.
Or that Lucas had reluctantly been obliged to pay this, believing it made good economic sense to do so.
Given that a much greater sum would be involved if the marriage to Lord Dilley went ahead, and the latter wouldn't expect him to return the bribe he had already received to arrange the marriage to his sister.
To improve his chance of finding her, Lucas had broadcast her disappearance far and wide across London, and the fact that he was determined to find her.
News of which had soon reached Howard's club.
Any initial doubts Edward might have had about whether Sophia ought to be sent back to her notorious brother were short lived, and easily dismissed from his mind.
Mr Lucas Barlow was clearly a brute of a man!
He imagined that his reprisals would be harsh to say the least, and he seriously feared for Sophia’s safety if she was returned to him.
All that aside, as the woman he loved, she was under his protection now.
Whilst the Duke of Carlfield certainly wasn't afraid of a man like Lucas, a dishonest, and dishonourable brute!
He had by this time recalled what he had heard about him, and his dubious reputation which bore witness to the fact.
The possibility of the Duke being accused of kidnapping Miss Barlow could be easily disproved, if Lucas should allege it.
Not only was he paying her a good wage, but she was happy and well.
Moreover he could imagine his mother’s reaction to her companion being removed from the family estate by Mr Barlow.
He could see her trying to take her old riding crop to him.
Not to mention the adverse reaction he would then receive from her friends, those ladies in Yorkshire who had met her, and whom he knew from Cynthia had been equally delighted to be in Sophia's company.
Lucas would be a brave man indeed to take on their vitriol and the influence they exerted on the gentlemen in their families, the influential husbands and sons, many of whom had business interests in London.
No! Irrespective of all this Sophia was his responsibility now, and it was his duty to keep her safe.
At the very least until she was legally twenty-one, and entitled to make her own decision regarding who she should marry.
His heart sank when he realised that had been his only mistake.
He had for some reason assumed, without asking her, that she had already reached this age.
Without intending any insult to her, by inferring that she looked older than she actually was.
Meanwhile whatever the future might now hold for a romance between them he would also personally help her, via Cynthia of course, to cut the ties with her brother.
Edward also couldn't stop his thoughts from racing through everything that had happened since he had first met Miss Sophia Barlow, which had led to him making a proposal.
Including his own part in the matter. She had tried to tell him something this morning before she accepted, and to his dismay, he recalled insisting that the past held no interest for him.
It was only the present moment which mattered.
Even though he could never have envisaged that she would be involved in something like this.
At no time however did he ever feel as if Sophia had deceived him.
Only that he might not know the whole truth about her.
The Duke of Carlfield couldn't believe that this had happened. When he had finally found the woman he truly loved and wished to marry, he might lose her, on the very same morning he had proposed.