LITMIR.BIZ

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point in crying over what might have been. ‘We may have to postpone the wedding trip. Your father is here now. It seems churlish to leave. Can you work up your courage again to brave the sea? I promise to hold your hand all the way.’

      ‘You have a very sweet nature, Lady Bingfield.’ He raised her hand to his lips. ‘Very sweet indeed. My father was a foul-tempered brute today, but he is my father. He can be very charming when he makes the effort. It will mean a lot to him if we stay.’

      ‘We can go later in the year. It will be all the more pleasant.’ Silently Sophie resolved to win Lord Hallington over. She would prove to him that she was a worthy daughter-in-law, rather than the sort of woman he thought her to be.

      ‘You are sitting far, far too far away from me, Lady Bingfield.’

      Sophie sat up straighter and concentrated on her nosegay. If she allowed it, he would change the subject and she might never learn anything more about him. It was important that she know. The true extent of her ignorance frightened her and the knot of misery seemed to be growing larger.

      ‘Was it true what your father said about you marrying someone else?’ she asked around the hard lump in her throat.

      ‘I hardly intend to spend my wedding day discussing other people, but I made my vow never to be the knowing instrument of Putney after I learnt of Mary’s tragic death in an accident.’ He made a cutting motion with his hand. ‘I was young and had been just sent down. Mary’s family decided not to wait and married her off before I had a chance to return. Mary had been resisting the match before. He was a friend of Putney’s. Mary decided to escape the marriage and died in a canal-boat accident. Her sister said that she was on her way to me. How much of that was true I didn’t know. I resolved never again to knowingly let that happen.’

      ‘I’m sorry.’ Sophie closed her eyes. His insistence that his first proposal was a real one now made sense.

      ‘Whether or not I’d have married her is pure speculation. It didn’t happen. I can truly say that of all the women I have met, you are the only one who has tempted me to put my head in the parson’s noose.’

      ‘My friend Henri lost her first husband shortly after they married. For years she refused to even look at another man.’

      ‘The state of my heart had nothing to do with my reasons for not marrying.’ Richard’s features appeared carved out of stone. ‘I have seen the problems firsthand when your heart rules your head. I had not met anyone I wanted to marry until I met you. All of the women I became involved with did not tempt me, Sophie. Several of them tried.’

      Sophie looked at her nosegay where the tiny pink roses stared up at her in mute rebuke. He had not claimed any finer feeling. She had simply assumed. She had wanted to marry a friend for love and she’d married a stranger for desire. And the stranger was highly experienced, whereas she had no experience in these matters.

      ‘Your father didn’t approve of me. It is why he came up.’ Sophie tightened her grip on the nosegay and hoped he’d understand and give her some measure of reassurance. ‘Your father seemed so angry at the wedding. I have never seen anyone go red like that before.’

      ‘Once he gets to know you properly, he will approve wholeheartedly. Trust me on this. I know my father and what he wants for me. You are precisely what I require in a wife and that is what is important.’ He leant over and kissed her forehead.

      Sophie tried to hang on to his words and use them to quieten the hard knot in her stomach. What he required in a wife. They were not precisely words of love, but it would have to do. For now. But he seemed to be holding something back, something vital, and it niggled at her insides. ‘I will attempt to remember that.’

      ‘Now, are we going to enjoy the day, our wedding day, or are we going to spend the time discussing people and events that have no bearing on our future?’

      ‘That went better than I had hoped,’ Sophie said as they left the wedding breakfast in Richard’s carriage. She had changed from her wedding dress into a smart bottle-green dress with a matching tailored jacket. Her tiny pillbox hat with its dyed green feather and the beaded gloves completed the outfit. She thought it set off her blonde hair admirably. The warmth she had seen in Richard’s eyes when she came down the stairs with her crinoline imported directly from Paris slightly swinging to reveal her ankles encased in half-boots made the time she’d spent getting ready worth it.

      The tiny hard knot in the pit of her stomach faded.

      Contrary to her earlier fears, Lord Hallington had proved remarkably charming at the wedding breakfast and had gone out of his way to be kind to her stepmother, even going so far as to compliment her on using wax flowers rather than the real thing. Apparently Lord Hallington had recently developed a passion for collecting china pugs, but her stepmother had a number which he had not seen before.

      ‘Did my father say how long he was staying in Newcastle? He merely told me that he was staying as long as necessary. I want to start the wedding trip as soon as possible. I have promised you the Alps and you shall have them.’

      Sophie laughed at Richard’s expression. It had been obvious to her at the wedding breakfast that Lord Hallington adored his only child. He had simply been upset at the suddenness of the marriage and hungry. Once he had eaten a bit, she could see where Richard had acquired his charm from.

      ‘He has taken rooms at the Neville Hotel on my stepmother’s advice. He said nothing to me, but from what I understood from my stepmother when I changed into my going-away dress, it will be a week or two, possibly three.’

      ‘As long as that?’

      ‘He plans to visit his mother’s grave. My stepmother has undertaken to be his guide as he is now family.’ Sophie tapped her finger to her chin. She should have remembered what Lady Parthenope had said on the first night about visiting her mother’s grave. It provided the perfect explanation as to why Lord Hallington was uncomfortable in Newcastle. ‘That must be the reason he never visits here. The memory is far too painful for him.’

      ‘I am thankful that he had enough sense to realise that he would not be a welcome addition to our rooms.’ Richard wrapped his arms about her and pulled her close. ‘I am postponing the wedding trip on his account. I’m not postponing anything else.’

      ‘You shall have to take me to your grandmother’s grave so I can pay my respects.’

      He loosened his arms and a surprised expression crossed his face. ‘I will find out from my father where it is.’

      ‘Don’t you know?’ Sophie asked in dismay.

      ‘Until my aunt said something the other day, I had forgotten—if I had ever known. My grandmother died before I was born. I know its general location.’

      ‘It would be a good thing for me to visit it.’ Sophie forced a smile. ‘Something to discuss with your aunt when I next meet her.’

      ‘I do refuse to discuss the dead, departed and most particularly my aunts on my wedding day, Sophie.’

      The tiny hard knot returned with a vengeance. Her husband was a stranger. She had thought she’d known, but could she count on him in a crisis?

      She reached up and brushed her lips against his. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘That’s better.’ He gathered her to him again and returned the kiss, nibbling her bottom lip. ‘I have wanted to do this all day.’

      ‘Do you think it is too early? The sun hasn’t set. What will the servants think?’

      He put his hands on either side of her face. ‘Promise me never to be shy with me, Sophie. You are beautiful and I want to unwrap all the layers of your clothes and feast on your magnificent body.’

      ‘My stepmother sent Jane on ahead, so that she’d be there with my things, waiting to help me get ready. We have everything planned.’

      ‘Your stepmother and your maid have no place in our marriage bed.’ He put his forehead

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