Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 04] - Love's Duet Read Free

said meekly. "Will you not please see if they follow?"
    Muttering beneath his breath, he lowered the window, leaned out
quickly, withdrew his head, struggled with the window again, and sat
down, glaring sodden and speechlessly at the Lady Sophia.
    She gave a musical little laugh and, taking a tiny piece of
lace-edged cambric from her reticule, wiped at his face, pushed back
his wet brown curls, then leaned to kiss his cheek. "My poor coz! James
follows, I gather?"
    He nodded. "Why you need your maid
and
dresser when you merely hope to capture Whit and bear him back to Kent is beyond me."
    The truth was that she needed their support, but she said nobly, "If
Steve is ill, we may have to rest at 'The Wooden Leg' before we start
back."
    "In heaven's name why? I hear Cancrizans is enormous. Damon could
certainly find room for us. Though I hope to God we can get in and out
fast." Sophia looked taken aback, and Clay said apologetically, "I want
for manners, do I not? If Douglas made such a crude remark, I'd likely
spank him! But—well, I'm sure you must have heard of the place, Chick.
And of Damon…?"
    She had, indeed, and wondered for the hundredth time why Stephen
must put her into such a dreadful position. But she looked away and
said lightly, "You must remember I have never seen Cancrizans. Nor met
my uncle. He may—"
    "Your uncle!" He gave a shout of laughter. "What fustian!"
    "The Marquis of Damon's sister," she said demurely, "was Stephen's Mama."
    "Yes, but a daughter of the Duke's first wife—not at all blood related to Damon. And
you
were born to
your
father's second wife."
    "Stephen and I share everything," she smiled. "Marcus, is Damon
truly a cranky old recluse with a face like a washboard? Deirdre says
he is appalling."
    She was obliged to wait for a reply as Clay blew his nose, groaned
that he must be catching a cold, and asked breathlessly if she had not
met Vaille.
    "The Duke? No, but I hear he is a formidable old gentleman, though
he cuts a fine figure…" Her voice trailed off, her smoothly arched
brows drew together, and she mused, "Which must be remarkable
considering…"
    "Considering he is senile?"
    "I find that unkind in you, dear," she reproved mildly. "Shall he be
at the Priory, do you think? Or is it true that he and Damon do not
deal very well?"
    "I've heard the same." Clay sighed and stared out at the deluge.
    Sophia watched him narrowly. "I simply cannot understand why your
Papa stipulated you must be eight and twenty before you could inherit.
Surely he loved you."
    "He did. But fancied I'd squander the fortune on Esther. Or fall in with some choice group like Cobra. Or—"
    "Never even
think
such a dreadful thing!" Sophia's eyes
were wide with revulsion. "As if someone as clean and honourable as you
could sink to the level of those depraved monsters! Now tell me—do you
mean to ask Damon's help?"
    Astonished, Clay said, "How shrewd you are!"
    "Shrewd enough to realize the Duke must have refused you. What did he say?"
    Vaille had said a good deal, beginning with the observation that
Clay had wed, against his advice, a lovely henwit, and ending with a
suave, "You were certainly aware of her want of good sense, and I knew
you'd retain sufficient of your wits to guard against her excesses. My
confidence in you was not, I trust, misplaced?" With a wry smile, Clay
answered, "He was not—sympathetic."
    "The beast! Does he know you face Newgate?"
    Too bedevilled to wonder how Sophia was aware of that hideous fact,
Clay shuddered and shook his head. "I did not know of it at the time."
    "Then perhaps you should approach him again, dear."
    Gordon had said the same, and Clay realised they were both right,
but in the face of Vaille's attack upon his repentant Esther, he'd
drawn back from confessing the extent of her recklessness. To have to
face those icy eyes again, to have to admit that she had brought the
threat of Newgate upon him, reduced his courage, so firm in battle, to
quivering shreds.
    Sophia read a