The Reluctant Bride (Regency Undone) Read Free Page A

steely expression.  ‘I sincerely hope that we wouldn’t need to force you to see where your duty lies Sophia.  You know my life with your father has not been easy.  Would you now add poverty and ruin to my lot by denying us this solution to our problems?  If you do not marry the Earl we will be undone. Make no mistake about that.  So it is all agreed.  You will marry Lord Avalon this Spring ...’
     
    Sophia was brought back to the present abruptly as the morning-room door was flung unceremoniously open and her husband strode in. 
     ‘I am sorry, my Lady ...’  Harrington rushed in in his wake.  ‘Lord Avalon would not wait to be announced.’
    Both Sophia and her mother had jumped to their feet at the intrusion.
    ‘That is quite alright Harrington ... thank you.’
    The butler withdrew and for a moment there was silence in the room as each took stock of the other.  Sophia tried to study her husband dispassionately but found it impossible to do so.  He was dressed like any other country gentleman but as always there was a careless elegance to his buckskins and the fine cut of his coat that set him apart from other men and accentuated the hard, muscular physique beneath - a physique that she remembered only too well from that morning. 
    His countenance, lean and almost swarthy was now dark with barely controlled anger as his eyes blazed burningly into hers. 
    ‘Well, Madam ... and what is the meaning of this little escapade?’
    She tilted her chin defiantly.  ‘I have decided on a visit to my parents Sir.  You can surely have no objection to that?’
    As if remembering his manners, her husband drew himself up sharply and turned to her mother offering a short little bow of acknowledgement.
     ‘Lady Challoner ... I apologise that you should have been dragged into this little ... domestic episode,’ he said stiffly.  ‘I believe your daughter and I have some unfinished business to attend to and I regret I must remove her from this house forthwith.’
    ‘I will not go.’ Sophia almost stamped her foot in defiance.  ‘And you cannot force me.’
    ‘I have no intention of forcing you,’ Ralph replied coolly.  ‘I feel sure I can rely on your mother to persuade you where your duty lies in this matter.  You are my wife and you will come home with me.’
    ‘ Mama?’
    Her mother looked embarrassed.  ‘I cannot interfere between a man and his wife, Sophia.  And you know if we send for your father what he will say.  You are best to go with Ralph.  You ... you can visit another time.’
    She would not look her daughter in the eye and Sophia’s defeated gaze switched back to her husband.  Hostility blazed from every line of her haughty young body as ignoring his outstretched arm she swept angrily past him and stalked to the door.
    Ralph bestowed a charming smile upon her mother. 
     ‘My thanks for your understanding Lady Challoner.  Perhaps you would be so kind as to arrange for Sophia’s bags to be returned to us in due course?’
    ‘Of course ...’ Lady Challoner’s hands fluttered nervously by her side as he bowed and took his leave of her. 
    ‘Goodbye my love,’ she called awkwardly after Sophia. ‘Come and see me soon...’
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    The atmosphere in the carriage as they undertook the journey home was oppressive and for a long while not a word was offered by either side as they sat opposite each other in stony silence.
    Ralph cast a quick look at his wife’s set features and not for the first time since their marriage, felt at a complete loss as to how to handle her.  She was unlike any other woman he’d known and it irked him that she had not fallen - as he’d believed she would in view of her chastened circumstances – readily in with his plans.
    Find someone soft and biddable, Guy had said so carelessly - someone who will be grateful for the position you are bestowing upon her.
    He’d made it all sound so easy, and Ralph had believed he’d made the