tonight’s events as a reason why his poison should not be believed. Our engagement is finished. I can leave on my own if you wish to stay.’
She waited for his agreement. His frown increased.
‘Your actions do mean we are tied to each other for a while longer.’ A tiny smile played on his lips. ‘Becoming engaged to your dream man meant you forgot your sensibilities. Your words, not mine. Consider what will happen if you jilt me tomorrow. Consider what the press will say then. Will you be known as a flighty heiress?’
Sophie gulped. She could see the headline now. ‘They were a figure of speech, an added flourish.’
‘Added little flourishes can have grave consequences, Miss Ravel. Perhaps you should think before you act.’
She bowed her head, acknowledging the truth in his words. ‘I can hardly jilt you tonight or any time soon. I shall have to wait until the furore dies down.’
‘It may take weeks or even months.’ His eyes glittered amber. ‘The episode has ensured that the engagement will be on everyone’s lips tomorrow morning. Various members of the gutter press were in the crowd. Our engagement will be the lead item in the gossip columns throughout the land. “The Redoubtable captures the Rake” has a certain resonance. Prior to your intervention, I had thought “Lord exposes caddish behaviour” or, better still, “blackmailer”.’
Sophie winced. He had exposed a fatal flaw in her actions and had stated very clearly that he could not wait to be rid of her. Only now they were shackled together. Her doing, not his. All of his actions had been designed to take revenge on Putney and he had nearly succeeded in provoking a duel. Now, she had inadvertently prolonged the time they had to spend together.
‘It was the killing blow. I could not be certain your scheme would work,’ she argued.
‘You failed to think. Emotion carried you.’ He looked down at her. ‘It carries you still. Luckily, I still possess my faculties. We will have to spend more time in each other’s company, pretending that our engagement is one of the great love stories, or we shall be exposed as cheats.’
Sophie put her hand on her stomach and tried to stop her insides roiling. She would have to dance with him again. She would have to pretend to be besotted. And there would be no expectation of marriage if she gave in to his charm. ‘I would like to return home now. Will you please find my stepmother and make the necessary arrangements? We can discuss how long our engagement must continue at a later date. My head pains me too much to think straight.’
Richard struggled to control his temper as the carriage stopped outside Miss Ravel’s house. There were things which needed to be said between Sophie and him, but Mrs Ravel sat squarely between them. Mrs Ravel kept up a steady stream of conversation, seemingly oblivious to the stony silence from Sophie.
It was far from his fault that the engagement had been announced in the way it was. That was entirely her doing. There again, it had prevented him from beating Putney into a bloody pulp.
The sight of Putney’s hand restraining Sophie had filled him with a primitive anger. He had wanted to murder him for daring to even look at Sophie, let alone touch her in that fashion. His actions had nothing to do with the past and everything to do with Sophie.
‘There is no need to see us in, Lord Bingfield,’ Sophie said, alighting from the carriage before he had a chance to hold out his hand and help her down.
‘There is every need,’ Richard retorted silkily, managing to swallow his annoyance. Despite her public declaration, in private, Sophie made it all too clear how she felt about him. ‘I could hardly allow my fiancée or her stepmother to make their way home without being there to ensure their safety.’
What made it worse was that he had to accept all the congratulations, knowing that the woman beside him could not wait to be rid of him.
He had never considered that he was like his father and would lose his reason over a woman, but now it seemed he had. His feelings tonight made a mockery of his proposal. No finer feelings. He definitely wanted to hold Sophie in his arms again and feel her lips tremble under his. He wanted to unlock the passion he glimpsed again tonight when they had waltzed.
Sophie pointed. ‘We can easily make it to our door, Lord Bingfield. You can see the door from where you are standing.’
‘Sophie!’ Mrs Ravel exclaimed. ‘Where are your manners tonight? First you insist on leaving before I finish my hand at whist and now you seek to dismiss your fiancé like a lackey.’
‘The upset at the Assembly Rooms has quite turned my brain.’ Sophie inclined her head. ‘I merely meant Lord Bingfield did not need to feel obliged. He has done so much for us tonight. It would be wrong for us to presume further. I didn’t want to put him to any trouble.’
‘I am sure it is no trouble, Sophie. Is it, Lord Bingfield?’
Richard silently blessed Mrs Ravel. Sophie’s earlier caution in confiding in her stepmother had resulted in him gaining a valuable ally, one which he intended to exploit fully. Everything was fair in this battle between him and Sophie’s fears. He intended to win and unlock her passion. He wanted to see what she’d be like when she forgot herself.
He could not remember when a woman had intrigued him as much. She made him forget about his family and his reasons for being in Newcastle.
‘It is not an obligation, but a pleasure,’ Richard added smoothly.
Mrs Ravel shook her head. ‘I do wonder about young people these days. Not an ounce of romance in their soul. You two may say your goodnights in the drawing room. I am quite weary and will take myself off to bed. I do trust you, Sophie. Lord Bingfield, if Sophie failed to inform you—tomorrow and every Thursday is our At Home.’
‘I am grateful for the intelligence, Mrs Ravel.’ Richard gave Sophie a hard look. If she thought she’d get rid of him that easily, she had another think coming. He intended to exploit the situation to his advantage and see what the woman Sophie tried to hide was like. ‘Sophie and I obviously have had other things on our minds. I’ll make a note of it, but I can’t make any promises.’
Sophie marched ahead of him into the drawing room, her skirt slightly swaying to reveal her slender ankles. She stopped to turn up the gas lamps, bathing the room in a soft light before facing him with her arms crossed and blue eyes glowing like star sapphires.
‘What was that little demonstration with my stepmother in aid of? A goodnight in the carriage would have sufficed.’
Richard assessed her with half-closed eyes. She was attracted to him and he would get her to admit it. Tonight. ‘You haven’t informed your stepmother of our arrangement. I would hardly wish for her to think ill of me. It would be impolite to miss an At Home simply for lack of knowledge. It might cause speculation. I believe there has been more than enough speculation and gossip recently. If you are not careful, people will begin to look at your waistline.’
She flushed scarlet. ‘That … that is an impossibility.’
‘You were the one who uttered the words about our impulsive marriage, not I. Women who have found their dream man often forget their sensibilities.’
She gave a decisive nod and removed her gloves. ‘My stepmother has gone upstairs. There is no need for you to linger. Or indeed for you to appear at the At Home at all. We can slowly drift away. It will provide an excuse for
