Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
“There is a native delicacy in women which guards them against many dangers.”
Dr. John Gregory, A Father’s Legacy to His Daughters
Peregrine Balfour strolled into Richard’s study, his demeanor as nonchalant as ever, while Richard sat with his head in his hands, weighed down by the burdens of his past. Richard raised his head, his expression darkening as he caught sight of his younger brother pouring a glass of French brandy at the sideboard.
“Where have you been, little brother?” Richard growled, his tone edged with frustration.
“A vivacious widow held me hostage,” Perry replied with a mischievous grin.
“For more than a week?” Richard’s eyebrows rose in disbelief.
“She kept me thoroughly occupied,” Perry quipped. “It took all my cunning to escape her clutches.
Richard groaned, dropping his head back into his hands.
“What is eating you? It’s too early in the day to be soused, surely?”
“I have not been drinking. You have missed a great deal in the past week,” Richard complained. “I needed you, but I had to make do. Fortunately, Halmesbury was available.”
“The duke? Whatever plagues you must be serious if you braved his front door with your Annabel in residence. He did not throw you out?”
Richard ignored Perry’s attempts at humor. “She is not my Annabel—she is all his. I am making changes. I made a list of women I have wronged, and I am setting matters to right.”
Peregrine turned to stare at him, his mouth agape. “You cannot be serious, old chap?”
“Deadly serious. Halmesbury assisted me in your absence with ideas of how to make reparations.”
His brother looked him over with mild disgust. “What brought this on? Have you fallen in love or something just as daft?”
“I do not know about love, but I did find a young lady I wish to wed. That I will wed. On Monday morning. She gave me cause to rethink my life, but mostly she forced me to confront that I was becoming … our father.”
Perry’s eyes flared in shock before he walked over to slump into an ivory armchair.
His face was haunted as he stared into the distance.
His sibling could have been his twin, they looked so much alike.
Unfortunately for his younger brother, Richard knew his father had been particularly cruel toward Perry, although he was hazy about the details because he had been attending Oxford while Perry remained at home with tutors.
His brother never discussed what it had been like to live in proximity to the mad earl in his final years.
Their father had refused to send him to Eton, as was tradition, preferring to keep his spare within his household to torture in some manner that Richard could only guess at.
Even a mere mention of the old man made Perry morose and bitter.
“I … see.” Perry shook his head as if to clear his thoughts before he looked over at Richard. “If making amends to the women of your past is proving so painful, why are you doing it?”
“It is not painful. It has been a wonderful experience, very uplifting. I am reclaiming my life … stitching my soul back together one apology at a time. Until today … I just received dreadful news. It must be faced, but I do not know how it will affect my wedding. I want to marry Sophia, but I do not know if she will reject me when she learns that … that … that I have … a son.”
Perry shot up to sit on the edge of his chair. “What? I thought you took precautions?”
“Apparently precautions do not always work out the way one might hope. I will be fortunate if this turns out to be my only child.”
“What are you doing about it?”
“He is being collected and brought to London. What the deuce do I do about Sophia?”
“Does she know? About your past and the possibility of a child?”
“She does … but she knows nothing of … Ethan.” Richard felt a flutter in his chest as he spoke the name of his son for the first time.
I am a father!
It could not be comprehended. How could he be a father?
What if he was as terrible a parent as his own father?
Richard dismissed that concern. No one could be as terrible a parent as the earl.
The correct question was, could he do better at it than the aunt’s family who had taken in Kitty and Ethan?
“Well,” Perry said with a lazy smirk, “I, for one, cannot fathom why anyone would willingly get leg-shackled. But if she is truly prepared to tie herself to your sorry hide … I say tell her about the boy after the wedding.”
“Perry! This is not how I wish to begin my new life.”
His brother shrugged. “Then tell her and take your consequences.”
Richard groaned and dropped his head back into his hands. “Please do not talk of consequences. I am dealing with consequences from every direction. What was I thinking, indulging in such reckless behavior? Why could I not have followed Halmesbury's example and shown some restraint?"
Perry pulled a face. “Halmesbury had the good fortune of not growing up under the influence of our father. It is a marvel you have any restraint at all. I seem to recall … no, never mind. Dwelling on Father’s excesses is enough to turn my stomach.”
“Truly? You think I have shown restraint?”
“Oh, brother, I know you have shown restraint. Now, are you going to show me this list and tell me what you have done thus far? It sounds like quite the lark.”
Sophia brushed out Lily’s hair in front of her cousin’s dressing-table mirror. She had convinced her cousin the day of Richard’s visit that, because she would depart the Abbott household soon, she should sleep with Lily in her gigantic bed so they might spend as much time together as possible.
She hated lying to her best friend. Perhaps she would tell Lily the truth once the wedding was done and the entire matter was a fait accompli.
Until then, she did not wish to burden her cousin with the knowledge that Sophia was terrified of her desperate brother assisting Leech to steal her from her bed on the eve of her wedding.
She was sure she was being excessively cautious, but it was so refreshing to sleep without fear the past few nights and she enjoyed the extra time with Lily.
The Abbotts were good people, and they deserved to be free of the worry that her situation with her depraved brother would cause them.
She had taken care of the problem, and she could not deny a thrill of excitement that she would marry the earl in the morning.
Once she had decided on her new course, she had become quite taken with her future, married to the handsome lord and, perhaps, assisting him in his project to restore his honor.
It sounded far more entertaining than being society’s oldest debutante or a ward in another family’s home.
Lily giggled. “You are tickling me!”
“You are too ticklish. What will you do when you receive your first kiss? Twist about and lose your breath?”
Lily’s enormous eyes widened in trepidation. “You think? That would be a disaster!”
Sophia chuckled at her younger cousin. “You are such an innocent! Please never change. And, no, you will figure it out with the right beau.” She leaned down and gave the girl a swift hug. “I love you, Lily. I will miss you.”
“That is good, for if Mama does not relent on pushing me into the path of every well-connected man in London, I may have to come knocking on your door.”
Sophia smiled at her in the mirror. “Just promise me you will not settle for someone unsuitable? I want you to be happy, cousin.”
Lily shrugged. “It will all work out.”
She smiled at the girl’s optimistic outlook. Lily always found the silver lining. It was one of her most endearing qualities and helped balance Sophia’s more jaded point of view. It was why they were such good friends.
She plaited Lily’s hair. They had dismissed their lady’s maid hours earlier and were up late, talking the night away. It was the last time they could spend this sort of time together. Tomorrow Sophia would be a married woman, and their relationship would shift to something new.
In the distance, she heard the tall case clock down the hall toll twice.
“Two in the morning! We need to get some sleep, or I shall marry with dark circles under my eyes!”
She tied Lily’s plait in a ribbon and hustled her cousin to the bed.
Sophia made her way around the room to extinguish the lamps while Lily used the steps to crawl into the bed.
Sophia had no need of the steps, being several inches taller than her petite cousin.
She strode over and pulled the sheets back.
“WHAT’S THE MEANING OF THIS?” The shouting, along with scuffling sounds, was coming from the hall.
She glanced at Lily in confusion, who stared back at her in consternation.
“That sounded like Papa.”
Sophia nodded in response as dread crept over her.
She had thought she was being overly cautious when she bribed the footman, Thomas, to sleep in her room with coin and the promise of a position in the Saunton household if his current became forfeit because of his cooperation.
Now, with the commotion out in the hall, she was alarmed that her caution had been warranted.
She ran over to the door and opened it a bit, noticing Lily join her while she peered into the dark corridor.
“Where is Sophia?” Lord Moreland cried out.
Sophia swung the door wide and stepped out into the hall, where she found Thomas holding on to a squirming Lord Leech whose eye was swelling shut.
Uncle Hugh appeared fearful but exclaimed when he caught sight of her, clutching his chest as he inhaled in relief.
“Oh, thank the Lord! Niece, where have you been?” He was dressed in his nightclothes and barefoot, evidently running out of his bedchamber after the initial scuffle between Leech and the footman.
“I was sleeping in Lily’s room.”
“What? Why? And what was Thomas doing in your room?”
“I asked him to sleep there … in case.”
Uncle Hugh scowled. “In case of what, exactly? Were you aware that this … this scoundrel intended to intrude upon your room?”