Page 30 of To Redeem an Earl

“Yes, but moving forward … perhaps you could inform me of such things. I would very much like to be your helpmate in this marriage. My own parents were … quite broken. Father always kept secrets about his gambling, and his drinking made him difficult to communicate with. And Mother wallowed in self-pity. Lord and Lady Moreland are much closer, and they work together. I would like our marriage to be more like that. A partnership and meeting of the minds.”

Richard chuckled. “Quite the revolutionary I married.”

“If it is revolutionary to know my mind and to speak my truth, then yes.”

“I agree. We will try it your way. You may require patience because I do not come from a close-knit family and I have not had a feminine influence in my life to soften me since I was a very small lad. I will learn.”

Sophia stuck out a hand. Richard stared down at it for a moment in surprise.

“Is it not what close friends do?”

“I suppose it is.” He shook her hand.

“It is an agreement, then. No more secrets.”

* * *

When Richardand Sophia entered the large room of Lord Lawson’s musicale, there was a momentary lull in the background chatter. Faces across the crowded room swung to stare at the two of them before talking resumed. Clearly conversation was shifting to the subject of the Earl of Saunton’s unexpected nuptials with that Hayward girl.

His bride held her head up high, her arm woven through his own, and they walked in together to greet Richard’s acquaintances. They soon found the Morelands and her cousin Lily near a marble column, and they arranged to sit together. Richard bid them to go ahead so he could collect refreshments for Sophia and himself.

The musicale was very crowded. Having located a server amongst the thronging guests, he held two glasses of orgeat, which he loathed but was all to be had, when he was jostled. Stumbling forward, he managed to hold the drinks steady and quickly returned to Sophia.

Taking a seat at her side, with the Abbott family lined up in chairs to her right, he handed her the drink. She pulled a face. Leaning over to him, she whispered, “When we hold our dinner parties and salons, there will not be any orgeat in sight. Must it always be sweet and watered-down?”

“You have not tried it yet,” he pointed out.

“You know I am right.”

He lifted his glass to take a sip, grimacing. “Indeed, it tastes like watered-down almonds with an excess of sugar.”

She grinned in response.

At that moment, Lord Lawson called for the audience’s attention. He was a swarthy man with graying hair at his temples, dressed in a black tailcoat, silver waistcoat, and snowy white linen. He introduced his young daughter, Lady Jane, who hurried forward to take her seat at the pianoforte with a daunted expression. Richard could not blame her. This event was very well attended, with more than a hundred guests in the room.

The debutante played the opening bars of an Irish aria which Richard did not recognize, but when she began to sing in a clear, high voice, he breathed a sigh of relief. Sophia had not overstated the Lawsons’ musical talent. He settled back in his hard-backed chair, easing into a position that was more comfortable. The seat was not designed for a man of his stature, and he was compelled to drop down to stretch his legs out under the row in front of him.

The music proved excellent, and he enjoyed observing the rapt expression on his bride’s face as she leaned forward to listen, tapping her foot in time beneath her skirts while her cousin swayed her head until she received a cutting glance from her mother. Sophia looked beautiful with her red-blonde hair braided into a coronet and soft curls falling to frame her face, which was glowing with excitement.

Richard scanned the crowded room, stiffening when his eyes met those of a wicked widow from his past who was staring openly at him. Lady Partridge had invited him into her boudoir for a single tryst two years earlier. Her prurient tastes had been too rich for his blood and not worth revisiting, so he had avoided her since, but the blonde deviant was currently smiling lasciviously at him in invitation.

He quickly averted his gaze in tacit refusal only to find another former paramour, Lady Wood, sitting next to her weighty, brutish husband. The lady had been a pleasant interlude, but he had sensed great unhappiness below the surface during their time together the previous year. Tonight, her wan pallor and unhappy countenance reinforced the impression and tugged at his sympathies. Lord Wood was not a pleasant man, and he suspected the lady suffered for it.

Clearing his thoughts, Richard looked away before anyone noticed him staring, only to realize that a guest in the row behind was glaring at the back of his head, causing his nerve endings to itch. He flicked a glance from the corner of his eye but did not recognize the dark-haired man. It could well be a husband he had cuckolded.

Richard turned his gaze back to the songbird, Miss Lawson. With his storied past, it was not safe to let his eyes drift around the room. It was deuced uncomfortable to discover the musicale was littered with his indiscretions, and he would happily have stayed at home with his bride rather than be confronted by his mistakes.

Contemplating time with Sophia, his thoughts wandered to later in the evening, when they would leave and head for home. If they did not make love soon, it might become a habit he did not wish to encourage. Sophia and he had enjoyed a pleasant day once the startling arrival of his son had been dealt with. He had shown her around Balfour Terrace, including the gallery where he told her the highlights of his family history. They had met with Ethan and played chess in the library. The boy was still learning the finer points, but Richard was impressed with his grasp of the game and enjoyed showing him moves after their initial match. Throughout the day and during dinner, Sophia and he had successfully rebuilt their rapport and returned to the relaxed state of companionship from the day of their wedding.

Now that the drama had receded, Richard anticipated that this would be the night that they would consummate their wedding vows. He imagined, with relish, undressing Sophia later in the evening when he would discover what she looked like beneath all those clothes and school her in the art of lovemaking. Her eager responses thus far were promising an exceptional compatibility to be revealed in their marriage bed. Mayhap he would suggest they leave at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps he should slip out to request that their carriage be first in line. Realizing how his wayward thoughts would provide evidence of arousal, he diverted his attention back to the music. It had been too long since he had lain with a woman, and he looked forward with heated fervor to bedding his wife as he recalled the feel of her rounded buttocks pressing into his lap earlier that morning.

* * *

Sophia noticedthat Richard had left her side, but the popular music was riveting so she did not pay much mind. Which was why she was so startled when he dropped back into the seat beside her.

Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear, “Tell your family you are fatigued, so we will be leaving now.” His breath tickled her ear and reawakened the desire initiated that morning in his study.

“But I am quite alert and I am enjoying the music,” she protested under her breath.

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