Page 55 of Pride of Honor
“Well, there is the last three weeks you’ve made yourself unavailable whenever I called. I assumed…”
“Darling, never assume anything about me.” When she made a move as if to duck past his arm braced against the door frame, he pushed her firmly back outside.
“Why don’t we say good-night and remain friends? Good-night, Frannie.” With that he shut the door and pulled a chair from the corner to wedge beneath the knob. He stood for a moment listening to her hurried footsteps fade down the hallway. After a deep sigh, he climbed back into bed, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the elaborate ceiling medallions. Never had a man so longed for his hammock and a silent, rocking sea beneath the deck.
He slipped into a deep sleep full of dreams. In one, he was at sea, and his men were fishing off the stern. When they pulled in their net, instead of fish, there was a pale body encased in a sea-soaked, wine-colored wrap. They rolled over the body on the deck, and it was a mermaid, complete with a scaled tail and Sophie’s face. He woke immediately and sat straight up in bed. Someone was jiggering with the door knob, trying to disengage it from the wedged chair.
He slipped out of bed, his heart pumping and his mind racing to battle-alert level. He grabbed his pistol and pulled the chair free.
Lieutenant Bourne stumbled through, shoulder first. “Christ, Captain. You sleep like the dead. I thought something had happened to you. It’s time for your watch.”
Arnaud was already pulling on trousers and reaching for his shirt on the back of the chair. “Anything suspicious out there?”
“Maybe—nothing I actually saw, but there was something. Something made my sixth sense itch.”
“Like what?” Arnaud jammed an extra pistol into the back of his belt.
“Don’t know exactly, but I’m certain someone or something was out near the north garden when I walked the perimeter.”
“What did you see?”
“No one showed their face, but it was more of a feeling I had, like someone was watching, taking my measure.”
They raced down the side steps into the kitchen on the lower level.
“Save us!” A maid stirring a boiling pot over a fire gave a startled yelp as they flew past.
Once outside, Arnaud was grateful the earlier, nearly full moon had set. He didn’t want the intruder to see them coming. They pounded up the path toward the north garden, and just as they neared the pillared entrance, Cullen and George joined them. Arnaud swept his hands at the surrounding forest without a word, and the two split up to circle through the trees.
Damn whoever was trying to hurt Sophie. Finally, he would make them pay.
Sophie and Lydia lay side by side in their huge feather bed and giggled.
Lydia threw aside the counterpane and walked to the door, lowering her ear to the keyhole. “Listen to all those footsteps. Wouldn’t you love to know who is going to whose chamber?”
“No. Please do get back into bed. The less we know about this ‘midsummer’s night,’ the better off we’ll be.” She waved Lydia away from the door. “What if someone catches you eavesdropping?”
“Our door is locked.” Lydia pointed to the large, ornate key stuck inside the keyhole. “And besides, you and I are too boring. Who would want to know what we’re up to?” She jumped at a sudden insistent tapping.
“Who goes there?” Sophie demanded from the bed. After a series of incoherent whispers from outside the door, she abandoned her perch and retrieved her parasol from a corner where it had leaned abandoned since the day before. Lady Howick had been too ill to remind her about hiding her complexion from the sun. With great stealth, she joined Lydia in her vigil by the door. “Tell us who you are or go away.” She repeated her earlier order.
After more incoherent, low pleading, Lydia recognized the voice. “Teddy. What are you doing? Papa sent you away. If he finds you here, I don’t know what he might do. Go away.” She stood back and clapped her hand over her forehead. “What could he possibly want that would make him risk Papa’s wrath?”
“Shall we send for your father?”
“Oh, heavens no. I’m sure some of the frenzied scufflings we heard tonight belonged to him or Mrs. Withers. The poor man deserves a night of pleasure.”
Sophie giggled again. “But what should we do about Teddy?”
“Maybe we should tell Captain Bellingham?”
“The last thing I want to do is disturb the honorable, upright captain, but you’re right. Something must be terribly off for Teddy to show up here when he’s supposed to be toiling away as a bookkeeper in Wales.” Sophie let out a huge sigh. “I suppose I should let Arnaud know.”
After waiting for the sound of Teddy shuffling away to fade, Sophie slipped out into the hallway, respectably garbed in a morning dress. She stopped mid-stride and suffered a bout of shame. Here she was at her first house party, invited by one gentleman, but sneaking off in the middle of the night to see another. At this rate, not only would she never receive an offer from a “gentleman,” but no one else in thetonwould ever suffer her to cross their doorstep, either.
At first she and Lydia had determined they should go together, but then realized if someone, like Lady Howick, decided to look in on them, they would both be in huge trouble. Better for one of them to remain to provide explanations.
After a long, careful walk, she ended up diagonally across both wings of Clifford Park from the room she and Lydia shared. She hoped her cursory look at the room layout with names and floral insignia was sufficient. Otherwise, who knew who would answer her cautious tapping? When the door swung open with a vicious clatter, Arnaud stood there fully dressed and glaring.