A Gentleman by Moonlight

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  "I did not mean to!" Sophia protested weakly "At first, it was just these funny feelings tickling my tummy on occasion. The same way I used to feel about Alex. But then once I thought about things, I mean really thought about them, the idea of doing those things with Lewis? They didn't seem so terrifying. So I let him kiss me."

  Abby scooted closed. "I could see his attraction to you that first day he arrived upon our doorstep. He was captivated by you. I think he likely was that night on the Road as well, perhaps even long before that, but knew he could do nothing about that attraction at the time." She paused, as if deciding how much further to press. "And after the kiss?"

  Sophia blushed deeply. "There was more."

  "How often?" Abby's eyebrows rose in obvious surprise.

  "Twice." Sophia's hand strayed to her stomach before she glanced again at Abby's own swollen belly. "You do not think..."

  Now it was Abby's turn to shrug. "It is possible. We cannot know for certain. At least not yet." She paused. "Do you love him?"

  "I...think I do." Then again, Sophia thought she had loved Alex and that had been a mistake. "I cannot say for certain, for I have never felt this sort of peculiar buzzing sensation in my stomach before."

  Abby's grin widened at Sophia's words. "You love him. Oh, Sophia, this is wonderful! I am so happy for you!" She engulfed Sophia in a tight embrace. "And he loves you. So very much. As I have said, I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you."

  "Ahem."

  Both women pulled back and looked up to see Thompson standing there stiffly. "A Lord Blackmore to see you, miss."

  "Send him in, Thompson." Abby rose with some degree of difficulty. "I shall leave the two of you alone to discuss matters."

  "It would be better if you remain behind, your grace."

  Sophia leapt to her feet when she heard the gravely voice she knew so well. "Lewis! I did not expect you for some time yet. Calling hours are still a bit away." When he shifted nervously from foot to foot, she had the odd sense that something was most definitely amiss. "What is wrong, Lewis? Why are you standing there like that?"

  Abby waddled forward and crossed her arms over her chest, very much like a mother animal protecting her cub, even though she and Sophia were only a year apart in age. As if she somehow knew something that Sophia did not. "If you have some news to impart, Lord Blackmore, then I suggest you do so as quickly as possible." She glanced back at Sophia who had begun to quiver where she stood. "You, of all people, should know this is not the way to behave where a lady's heart is concerned. And do not lie to me and pretend you do not know of what I speak."

  Lewis bowed, his leg clearly paining him with each movement. "I would not do any such thing, your grace. Rather, I am here to inform Lady Sophia that I am afraid that our association must end. Immediately." He cleared his throat. "This was only to be a temporary farce, not a true courtship and based upon this morning's papers, it is clear that we have crossed the line with our actions. If we press on, we might not be able to end matters as neatly and discreetly as we had all hoped. Therefore, I am afraid that it is time we end this charade for good."

  Sophia took a small step forward on wobbly legs. "End this? But I thought... Last evening we..." She was grasping for words, her world upending as Lewis stood there still as a statue and just as immovable. "I do not understand this. Why, Lewis? Last night we spoke of the future, though I will admit that everything was couched in vague terms at best. Did that mean nothing to you? I thought you understood."

  His face was an impassive mask completely devoid of all emotion, and Sophia felt the cold claws of fear tighten around her heart. "I have said why," he grumbled darkly. "I do not wish for feelings to be misconstrued or there be a...misunderstanding."

  "The only misunderstanding here is that it is acceptable to lie to her!" That came from Abby who looked just as fierce as any tigress and ready to attack Lewis with the least bit of provocation. "Even if she does not know you are deceiving her, I do! For I have seen many a man lie to a woman and do so far better than you just did, Lord Blackmore. Now explain yourself!" Then she glowered at him again. "For I know far more about this situation than you might imagine. And this family will be the ones dealing with the consequences, should there be any."

  Lewis' face went a deathly shade of pale at Abby's words and his lips trembled slightly for just a moment, but then the mask of the military man he had been for so long slammed back into place and he became inscrutable once more.

  "Let us hope for a favorable outcome then." His back was ramrod straight and Sophia had to grasp the back of the settee to stop herself from running to him and flinging herself into his arms. "There is one other thing."

  "Yes?" Sophia's voice was a mere whisper. She felt sick inside as all of the hopes and dreams she had built around this man began to crumble around her. Truly she had not learned a damned thing. She was just as foolish and stupid as she had always been.

  Lewis cleared his throat. "In the coming days, you might hear word that I have inherited a title. That will be true. A distant relative passed very recently without issue and the title came to me." He looked at Sophia now and saw the anger and hurt clearly burning in her teal eyes. Then he looked back to Abby who still appeared ready to claw his eyes out. He knew he deserved no less for what he was putting Sophia through. "If you ask Sophia, your grace, she will be able to tell you why the title came to me and not to my brother Silas. It is a family matter, but she is aware of the circumstances."

  Then Lewis swallowed hard before he cleared his throat. One more blow to deliver and then this unthinkable nightmare would be over. Though this blow might be the cruelest of all and for a moment, Lewis faltered before pushing on as any good military man would. "You will also be hearing news of a betrothal. My betrothal to A Miss Modesty Watts of Bedfordshire. That, also, will be the truth. I do not wish there to be any misunderstanding."

  "The only misunderstanding here is us allowing you into our home! Trusting you with Sophia and her heart." Those words, cold and deadly, came from Adam who had now appeared in the parlor as well. "How dare you, Blackmore? Did you just use my sister all along so that you could worm your way back into Society? To be accepted as a gentleman once more, so that you and this Miss Watts would have an easier time of things after the two of you wed? Well, if you believe that I will allow such a thing to pass unremarked upon, you are very much mistaken. You and the sure to be lovely Miss Watts will be barred from every drawing room and ballroom in London. Make no mistake, Blackmore. You will not be welcome here. Or anywhere in Town if I have any input into the matter."

  Lewis nodded stiffly. "I expected nothing less, your grace. As I said, my arrangement with Lady Sophia was only meant to be temporary. We all knew that going in, so this should not be a surprise."

  "Go away." Those two words were all but torn from Sophia's throat. "Just go away, Lewis. Now. I never wish to see you again." She stared at him, her eyes full of tears, but she would not shed them. She refused to give this man the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

  "As you wish." There was an undercurrent of something beneath his words, but Sophia refused to even attempt to try and decipher his real meaning. She was done with men and the heartbreaking confusion they caused her. Forever.

  Then Lewis was gone, striding out of the room with his now-familiar lopsided gate and his too-big-for-the-house frame.

  For a long moment the three Reynolds family members simply stood there in silence. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Adam turned to Sophia and opened his arms. "Come here."

  Those two simple words were all Sophia needed to hear, and she fled into her brother's embrace just as she had when she was a child. She didn't even remember him leading her to the lounge as she cried, her chest heaving in great sobs. He rocked her as he had when she was young and had suffered what then seemed like the greatest hurts imaginable. Only now, Sophia knew that the pain could be so very, very much worse.

  Abby's comforting hand on her shoulder only m
ade Sophia cry harder. It was not just tears for what she had lost with Lewis, either. It was tears over the last destruction of her innocence and her belief in the inherent good of people. It was the loss of the only man that she now knew she had ever truly loved. And she cried for the loss of all that she had known, as well as all that could never be.

  Sophia would pick herself up and move on. She knew that. But where and how? Those were questions she did not know how to answer.

  "Mama... The marriage requirement..." Sophia stumbled over the words, a fresh wave of panic seizing hold of her. How could she allow another man to touch her? How could she even think of being bedded by another man? She could not and the very thought filled her with fresh fear.

  "I think that demand can be put on hold," Adam whispered, pulling Sophia closer. "In fact, if you do not wish to ever discuss marriage again, that would be perfectly acceptable to me."

  Sophia sniffed. "Thank you." She pulled back for a moment, no longer buried quite so deeply into her brother's comforting shoulder. "And I am sorry, Adam. I have let you down. Again."

  "There now," he smiled and pushed Sophia's hair back from her eyes. "How have you let me down, exactly, Sophie?"

  "I made another mistake with a man." She took the handkerchief Abby offered her with a nod of thanks. "After Alex, I promised you that I wouldn't be so easily led by my emotions. That I had learned my lesson, when in reality, I have learned nothing at all. I am as foolish and stupid as I have ever been! Maybe even worse!"

  Sophia began to cry anew and Adam pulled her back tightly into his embrace. "No, my darling sister, you fell in love this time. Real and true love, and not the infatuation you carried for Selby for so long. And love is an entirely different beast. It is not something I would fault you for, as I am just as guilty of falling into true love myself."

  "You won't?" Once more Sophia unburied herself, unable to believe her good fortune. "But I...I..."

  Adam took the handkerchief from Sophia's trembling hands and wiped at her eyes. "I know what you did, Sophie. Or at least I can guess." He gave her a wan smile. "We are not so very different, you and I. And while that is not the path I would have chosen for you to take, I cannot place blame on you when not so very long ago I did the very same things myself."

  "Lord Blackmore is lying." That came from Abby. "Consider that as well, Sophie. I do not know what he is up to yet, but I have seen men in love and he is in love with you. Not this unknown Watts chit. I have to believe that there are outside forces acting upon him." She shook her head ruefully. "Given what I know of his father and his brother Guy, I suspect they both have something to do with this mess as well."

  Sophia shook her head. "Lewis did not fight for me. Even if that was true, even if his family pressured him in some way, he could have resisted. If he loved me, or even thought that he did, he could have pushed back."

  "Not everyone is as bull-headed as you, my darling sister." For the first time since Lewis had appeared in the parlor, Adam smiled a bit. "You fight for those you love, but not everyone is as strong in their convictions as you are. Or as strong in their defiance of family when they believe they are right." Then he took Sophia's hands in his. "Still, there might be more to this than we know, so give me something to go on, and I shall have...friends...investigate, if at all possible. Lewis said you would know why he was given the title and not Silas?" He peered at her questioningly.

  There was little reason to keep the truth from Adam now, Sophia supposed. "Silas is not quite right in the head. There was an accident years ago at Westwind and Silas injured himself. Before that, he was a bright child, or so I have been told. After? He...ceased to advance mentally, I suppose you might say." She bit her lip and sighed. "I have met Silas and, while charming, he is in many ways a child in the body of a man."

  "So it is as many of us have long suspected then." Adam nodded, his eyes taking on a distant look.

  "What speculation?" Abby asked as she continued to rub Sophia's shoulder. "Remember, my darling, that I did not grow up in the same social circles you did."

  Adam reached for his wife's hand, still not letting go of Sophia either. "For years, the Blackmores have attempted to explain away Silas' absence from the family and Society. They insist he went to Eton, yet no one remembers him being there. Ever. The family claims he has traveled extensively around the world, including through the depths of India. Yet none of our people there have seen him. Nothing made any sense, and yet the Blackmores continued to insist they were being truthful. When coupled with the rumors of occasional sightings of this almost child-like man over the years? Well, I believe that we all assumed that Silas was, as Sophia just said, not quite right in the head, and that the family was attempting to protect him from being taken away to Bedlam."

  Sophia sniffed again, though her tears were drying. "He was very nice the day I encountered him."

  "Bond Street?" Adam asked and Sophia nodded. "I thought as much. Which also proves that Madame C is thoroughly in Candlewood's pockets, for she printed nothing but a bunch of lies in regard to that episode."

  "Silas should have been the heir to this earldom," Abby filled in now, "but since he is not able to even manage himself, the estate passed to Lewis instead."

  Adam gritted his teeth. "And, of course, Lewis is a military man, likely trained since birth to obey his family's every wish and whim. I have a feeling that whatever is behind this breaking off of his relationship with Sophia, they are likely the cause. In fact, I would bet my entire fortune upon it."

  "Please. Just let the matter rest, Adam." Sophia slowly rose from the lounge and swiped at her skirts. "I am tired. So very, very tired. Of everything. I cannot continue in this manner."

  "But you love him! Abby protested. "Surely that should count for something!"

  Sophia shrugged. "For me it does. But for Lewis? It clearly does not. He might love me, but he loves his duty and his loyalty to his family more. I knew this. I have always known this. For him to turn away from what he views as his biggest loyalty? His family? Protecting Silas' secret? He would never do that. And if he did? He would not be the man that I love. I cannot ask him to choose. To do so would be to destroy him. And that is something that I cannot and will not do."

  "And you would suffer in his stead?" Adam seemed incredulous.

  "Better only one of us than both." Sophia inclined her head. "Despite his surviving his physical wounds, I am stronger than Lewis. I have survived once and I shall do so again." She looked at Abby. "So long as I have my family." She swallowed hard before raising her chin almost defiantly. "Now if you will excuse me? I would like to lay down for a bit. Please inform Thompson that I am not receiving any more callers today."

  When she was gone, Adam and Abby looked at each other.

  "You are not simply going to allow this to stand are you?" Abby asked her husband. "They are in love! I know that they are."

  Shaking his head, Adam rose and straightened his lapels. "No, I am not about to let this pass. My sister's future and her happiness are at stake. She fought for me when she worried that I was making a mistake by courting you. I was not, but her intentions were good and her heart true. Now it is time to repay the favor."

  "How do you intend to do that?" Abby truly marveled at her husband at times. She had never taken him for such a devious man, but with each day that passed, he revealed a bit more of himself to her and she fell a little bit more in love each time.

  Adam grinned wickedly. "I believe that it is time for me to go visit the Bloody Duke and have a little chat before he and his lovely wife leave Town."

  Chapter Nineteen

  Town Tattler

  Over! Am I to really believe that what many have termed the "Romance of the Little Season" is over? Surely not! For it cannot possibly be! Some of my sources inform me that our "Moonlight Gentleman," Lord Blackmore, has abruptly ended things with the lovely Lady Sophia. Rumor has it that another lady is in the mix, a missish country mouse by the name of Miss Modesty Watts. I know of no
such woman, though that does not mean that she does not exist. She very well might. However, as there is an earldom in the offing for Lord Blackmore - or so I am told by extremely reliable sources - it is highly doubtful that someone of Miss Watts' unassuming nature would make a suitable countess. A baroness? Possibly. But certainly not a countess! Does she come with the earldom or some other such nonsense? I cannot imagine that being the case! After all, Lord Dunleighton has far more sophistication and ethics than that! It is just not the done thing in this day and age! Why it is positively barbaric!

  Why would the earldom not fall to Lord Silas you ask? Why would it? Would you wish for a ner'do well like the mysteriously disappearing lord to be in charge of your estate when you pass on to your great reward? I think not!

  So what of our Lady Sophia and Lord Blackmore? Are they truly over, as some gossip implies? Or are they merely in a rough patch while Lord Lewis learns how to deal with his new responsibilities? I certainly hope that is the case, for I predict a bright future for these two if they can weather the storm of their relationship. A new earl needs a seasoned lady of taste, breeding and sophistication by his side if he is to succeed. Lady Sophia is just such a woman. Somehow I doubt very much that this Miss Watts has the same qualifications.

  -Madame C

  Empty. Lonely. Heartbroken. Bruised. Battered. Destroyed. Betrayed.

  Any or all of those words could describe Sophia in the days since Lewis had ended their relationship so callously. However as she drew in a deep breath, Sophia decided that she could also add strong and resilient to the list as well.

  She was bent, certainly, but she was not broken. Alex had not broken her. Therefore, neither would Lewis. Though he had come dangerously close.

  "Am I truly boring you to tears so completely that you cannot even be bothered to respond as to whether or not you would like a glass of punch?"

  Blinking a few times, Sophia looked up into the coppery-hued eyes of Lord Hunt, as if finally realizing that he was speaking to her. "Pardon?"