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“ W hen will I see you again?” Patrick heard Amelia ask Sophie as both women battled tears.

“Soon, I promise, and we will write,” his wife said.

His wife.

When he’d seen Sophie enter that church, his chest had felt tight and emotion nearly choked him.

Patrick wasn’t sure what this feeling inside him meant, but he knew that Sophie was important to him, so keeping her safe would be his priority.

Patrick didn’t give her a chance to back out of the marriage, and now she was his. He watched a tear trail down her cheek as her eyes followed her friend being escorted to a waiting carriage to take her home.

“We will be back in London soon, Sophie,” Patrick said, placing a hand on her spine.

“I-I know. It’s just that I’ve never had a lot of friends, and Amelia is important to me. Plus, she’s not happy,” Sophie whispered.

“Because her mother is a nasty shrew?”

Sophie nodded.

“Now, you are not to worry,” Lady Carstairs said, arriving next. “Timmy, Doddy, and I will be leaving for your estate tomorrow and have plenty of people watching over us until then.”

“Stephen will be accompanying you,” Patrick said. “Plus two of my men.”

“There. You see, dear?” the older woman said, hugging Sophie. “All will be well.”

“I-I will see you soon, Timmy. You be good for Letty,” Sophie said, bending to kiss her little brother.

“Can’t I come with you?”

Seeing his wife was about to yield, Patrick bent at the waist to talk to Timmy.

“I need time to get things ready for you, Timmy. I know you told me you want to learn to ride, and I know of a pony that would be perfect for you.”

“Yes!” The boy threw his arms around Patrick’s neck. “I want a pony!”

“Well, when you arrive, I will have news for you about that pony, I promise.”

Timmy was happy to leave then, and after wrapping his arms around his sister’s legs, he walked away with Letty.

“You will see them in a few days,” Patrick said.

“I know.” But she didn’t sound convinced.

“Come, we will leave too.”

Patrick put Sophie in the carriage and handed her a pillow to rest her injured arm on.

“It is much better.”

“You had a bullet go through your arm two weeks ago. Even I do not heal that fast,” he said.

“That is a very arrogant statement,” she said, attempting to glare at him, but Patrick saw the fatigue on her lovely face and in the dark smudges beneath her eyes. Sophie was exhausted, worried, and many other emotions.

He was worried, too, because Jack Spode had not been found. His girlfriend, however, had been identified and was likely the woman who had called out to Sophie that day in the park.

Patrick had gone back to the Black Swan and bribed anyone who would talk to him.

It was when he was leaving that a young lad called Liam who worked in the kitchens had approached him.

He’d told him that his sister Louise was Jack Spode’s girl, and he was frightened for her because Jack was a mean bastard.

Patrick left his address with the boy for if he came by any more information.

He’d turned up two days later at the servants’ door of Patrick’s town house in tears. His sister had been found dead in the Thames. The lad was now working in his stables, as his safety could not be assured if he returned to the Black Swan.

“Be vigilant,” Patrick said to his drivers, who were both heavily armed, and to the two men he’d hired to ride alongside the carriage.

He and Stephen believed Jack Spode’s hunting ground was London, but he would take no risks with Sophie or her family.

Climbing into the carriage, he took the seat across from her, but other than a glance his way, neither of them spoke.

He left her alone with her thoughts for a while, but Patrick kept his eyes on her. He marveled again at her birth. How had a woman born to a life of poverty and servitude become the lady she was today? His wife , Patrick thought with a deep satisfaction that he felt all the way to his toes.

“Patrick?” she said twenty minutes later.

“Yes, Sophie?”

“I was not born to this life, as you know, but?—”

“Sophie—”

“I need to say these things to you. Please let me speak,” she said. He nodded silently, watching as she thought about what needed to be said.

“I did not expect to become anyone’s wife and most especially not an earl’s….” Her words fell away.

Patrick felt a smile tug at his lips as she frowned.

“Well, not a live earl. That is, ah, I mean…. Oh dear, that made me sound heartless. But I know you understand what I am attempting and failing to say, Patrick.” She glared at him now.

“There is no need for this, Sophie,” he said, moving to the seat beside her.

“I will try not to embarrass you and run your house…. Oh Lord, Patrick, how will I run your house when I have not learned how to do so? Letty does everything, and while I am learning, there is still a long way to go.”

“I have a competent staff that have run my estates and town house for many years unaided, Sophie. Yes, they will talk with you but will not expect anything from you until you are ready,” he said. “Plus, I may appear overbearing, but I assure you I am not.”

“That’s not what society thinks of you,” she said, wriggling to get comfortable.

“Is that so?” He lifted her up and lowered her onto his lap.

“What are you doing?”

“Making you comfortable,” he said, turning so she rested along him. Her arm was now on his chest.

“I don’t think we should be doing this,” she said, holding herself stiff in his arms.

“We’re married, so we can do as we wish,” he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head. “Now shut up. I’m tired.”

She didn’t fight him; instead, she slowly relaxed against him. He knew when she’d fallen asleep because her body became boneless.

Patrick thought he could get used to holding her like this and decided not to analyze the heat blooming in his chest.

Looking down at his wife, he studied the gentle sweep of her lashes where they lay on her cheeks.

Smoothing the dark smudges beneath with a finger, he felt a small tug of guilt that he had in some part been responsible for them.

Sophie sighed softly, her warm breath brushing his hand as she snuggled closer.

Pulling a blanket from beneath the seat, he covered them both.

Closing his eyes, he leaned back and let darkness take him under.