The Haunting of Lady Sophie

by Marly Mathews

  “Why, a waltz is just starting, Lord Redding. Why don’t you take dear Sophie out for a spin on the dance floor?”

  “No…I…” her protestations were useless.

  “May I have this dance?” Redding asked.

  “Yes, you may,” Lady Montagu said, answering for Sophie.

  She tried to protest again, but Redding had already pulled her in close, and he swept her out onto the dance floor. She fell into the dance with him, following his lead, as he waltzed her around the dance floor.

  The music died away, and she could only concentrate on his striking green eyes. It was almost as if he could mesmerize her. She could easily drown in his gaze.

  His eyes looked adoringly into her own and no matter how hard she tried, she could not look away.

  “You are very light on your feet, Lady Sophie. You dance as if you have sprouted wings.”

  She felt as if she floated on a cloud, and barely felt her feet touching the floor as they danced. It was as if they were perfectly matched. She couldn’t allow herself to fall in love with him, no matter how handsome he was, or how captivating his eyes were!

  “I would like to take every dance with you this evening,” he said huskily, his voice sending a shiver flooding through her.

  “I don’t think I shall be doing much dancing this evening, sir. I am not really in the mood for it.”

  “A lady with such skill should not keep herself away from the dance floor.” The music faded away and the Viennese Waltz ended.

  Holding her close to his side, he escorted her back to the waiting Lady Montagu. She was breathless. Whether it was from the physical exertion or the fact that Redding set her pulse racing, she did not know.

  Lord Huntingdon’s spirit still waited for her, and he did not look amused!

  “Sophie, darling, we missed you!” Simone’s horrendously high pitched voice set her on edge.

  She closed her eyes, and said a quick prayer to keep her tongue from saying the wrong thing in front of an audience of their peers.

  She knew exactly why Simone had rushed over to ‘reunite’ with her, she had smelled a title. A title that would one day be upgraded to a dukedom, and a ridiculously wealthy one at that.

  On one hand, she hated seeing the sugary sweet Simone gliding toward her and on the other hand, she was just what she needed in order to make her grand escape.

  “Miss FitzCharles, how nice to see you,” Lady Montagu said, the enthusiasm in her voice dimmed, and that caught Sophie’s notice.

  Maybe Lady Montagu was someone who genuinely liked her after all, despite her reputation as being slightly barmy.

  “Simone, you have been introduced to Lord Redding. I do recall the two of you getting on terribly well last April. I shall take my leave so the two of you can take a turn out on the dance floor. Lord Redding is an excellent dance partner.”

  Sophie smiled impishly, knowing that Simone would revel in being able to dance the Marquess. Redding, on the other hand, looked less than enthusiastic. He looked a little peaky.

  He shot her a scathing glare, but before he could say anything, she turned away from him, only to come face to face with Charlotte.

  Charlotte caught her gaze and sternly held it. She could tell that Charlotte did not want her to leave. Charlotte didn’t want Sophie to step out of the picture so Simone could have Redding.

  Because of a non-disclosure agreement, Sophie had been unable to confide in Charlotte and tell her Redding’s real reason for pursuing her last April and because of that Charlotte believed that Redding was sweet on her and intended to court her.

  A courtship everyone hoped would conclude into an engagement that would thrill the ton and make their parents absolutely ecstatic.

  But all of the girls in the FitzCharles Family knew that finding the perfect match was not as simple as it was for everyone outside of the FitzCharles Family bloodline. There was a codicil to their being happy and if the Dragonwyck Ruby didn’t portend their blissful union, they could never be together. If they tried, it would ruin them.

  Besides, Redding didn’t want her for his wife, he only wanted her for his partner, and she could not agree to that. No self-respecting witch or lady would ever agree to work in such close proximity to a man like Redding without the promise of marriage.

  While Simone gushed unabashedly over Lord Redding, Sophie discreetly slipped away and followed the ghost out of the ballroom and through the grand townhouse. No expense had been spared on this lavishly decorated Georgian Mansion in the heart of Mayfair.

  She took a few moments to admire the stunning craftsmanship from the ornate wood paneling to the rococo ceiling, and when they swept past the grandiose cantilever stone staircase, her breath caught in her throat.

  She passed footmen and other guests. He led her deeper toward what she could only hope would be the library.

  He stopped at a spot in the hallway, and opened up a secret doorway in the paneling that led to a treasure trove of a library. This was a room made and designed for a loving family.

  The walls were lined with red Chinese silk wallpaper, and the red Grecian marble pillars reminded her that this was still a room in a grand house.

  When she craned her neck to look up, she found that this ceiling had a grand Venetian painting on it much like the ceilings throughout the house. Sinfully crimson red sofas stood facing each other, and there were several desks in the room, while armchairs were scattered around the immense space in case one needed to sit down and start reading.

  Her eyes rested on the large globe of the world. Everything was so perfect. She gasped, her heart flew out of her chest. She was in heaven! So many books awaited her. She wanted to hungrily devour them all.

  Curiously, some of the books were off the shelves. It looked as if someone had been in a hurry searching through each volume and hadn’t taken much care to do it in a neat and orderly fashion.

  “I can see the excited flush on your lovely cheeks, Lady Sophie, but don’t get too excited. I don’t want you to sit the night away in here reading to your heart’s content. Instead, I need you to procure my deed and will concerning the fee tail on the title and the Estate, Denham Abbey. In short, my nephew has become quite the magician in manipulating his very limited inheritance. He has been searching the Library for days for the original copy, so he can destroy it but I have been dealing with the dastardly bugger. Every time he comes close, I use my ghostly powers to move it. He will never find it if I have my way! He might fancy himself to be a magician when it comes to manipulating his inheritance, but he certainly isn’t one!”

  At the word magician, her mind jolted back to the present and away from the fluffy clouds she had been gaily skipping on with books gathered in her arms. “I beg your pardon, sir? I…I do not follow.”

  “You heard me well enough. You just can’t believe your ears. I am sure you can’t wrestle your pretty little head around the dastardly deeds committed by my bastard of a nephew. Even I was quite surprised by them at first. I never thought he would stoop so low. He is a rotten fellow.”

  “No, I…. Wait. Your will must have already been executed. Your nephew is invested as The Earl of Huntingdon. I simply don’t understand what I can do now, he shall have control over the family coffers. It seems to me like you want me to fight a losing battle.”

  “This is a battle you shall easily win with me by your side. You see, my nephew is a little prick, and I do beg your pardon for using such crass language in front of you seeing as you are a lady, not only in title, but in bearing. I just hope you are not as delicate as some females. He created a new deed and a new will and that was the unforgivable sin that tethers my spirit to this Earthly plane. He must be punished for his deeds. I shall have no rest until the wrongs he has committed are set right.

  “I died while touring the Continent if you do recall, and while my wife struggled to get my body back to England, that little bastard set about cheating her and my daughters out of what was rightfully theirs. He stole from the
m. And the little thief will get his comeuppance so help me God!

  “I should have seen it coming. My little brother indulged Laurence to excess, and a child that never hears no, is sure to be spoiled rotten. But I digress, let us return to the despicable deeds of my nephew. First, you must understand that the title and land are not the true source of our immense wealth. My beloved wife brought that fabulous fortune to the marriage. She was an heiress of immense wealth.

  “Before I married my dear Althea, Denham Abbey was in ruins, and I couldn’t hope to have a townhouse here in London. My father advised me to find and marry an heiress or we would be utterly ruined. I knew it would kill him if he knew he was handing me a bankrupted legacy, so I did my duty, and set out to find the heiress of mine and my father’s dreams.

  “I never dreamt I would fall so deeply in love with Althea but I did, we had a happy life together. Alas, I wish I could have lived longer,” he sighed loudly. “We had two sons that were both taken at too young of an age,” he sighed heavily.

  “If either of them had survived, if my beloved Beaufort had not decided to go hunting that ill-fated day, I would not have had to worry about my sweet Althea’s fate. He would have taken such good care of his dear mama and his sisters.”

  Her heart sank for the ghostly lord. Her mind immediately went to Sylvie, and the crushing grief nearly made her lose her footing. She knew full well of the tragedy that had befallen his family.

  They had lost one of their sons before he had hit the age of two years, and their other son had died while out on the hunt not three years past. She had been somewhat acquainted with that son and remembered him as a cheery kind of fellow.

  “We promised each other we would grow old and grey together. I was fifty when I passed with not one strand of grey in my head. My nephew thought he had to be devious and trick Althea out of what was rightfully hers, in order to live the way he wanted to so he arranged it so it would work to his sole advantage by laying claim to all of my properties, even those not entailed to the title and the Estate in fee tail to the title, Denham Abbey.

  “I made quite the fortune investing the fabulous wealth my wife brought to the marriage, and I want our daughters to have the dividends from the properties I purchased using the money from those investments.

  “I would wager that my nephew will have a hard time running our Estate in the country without my wife’s money funding everything. After all, he did not marry as well as I did, and after all of the sheer hell he has put my girls through I want to see him sweat it out trying to figure out how he will make ends meet! He won’t be living the highfalutin life in this townhouse I can assure you of that, since my wife should be living here and throwing gay parties that are the talk of the ton! I want that travesty rectified, and I have remained here on the Earthly Realm to make sure my daughters are not robbed of their birthright.

  “I had plans that my darling daughters, Ada and Geraldine would not live as paupers with their Mama relying on her family to support them. I want justice to be done, and I heard that you were the young lady for the job. The dastardly villain did not act alone, he had the support of my solicitor. I also want that bastard to be shamed in front of all who call him friend!”

  Silence dragged uncomfortably between them. Her heart beat rampantly hard in her chest, making her feel weak. She couldn’t go down this path again.

  “I can’t do it,” she said in a small voice. “I shall make another frightful spectacle of myself and I will never be able to show my face in public again. Don’t you understand? They will think I am absolutely crackers. Please, isn’t there another way? Why couldn’t I appeal to your nephew in private with no fuss or muss?”

  “My villain of a nephew will deny all charges you lay at his door, and if he sees the documents you are about to find for me, he will throw them into the fire after an extremely dramatic fit. I have been wailing through the house for days, and I’ve dragged so many chairs through the house that I am at my wits end, he just won’t realize his errant ways, and I am just about ready to attempt to throw him out of the nearest open window. The only ones that seem to notice are the staff, for he kept the same staff on that my wife hired and bless them, I think they know it is me. If I must, I will do what needs to be done.”

  “You mustn’t do that! You shall damn yourself, should you harm another living being. You know that spirits such as yourself are forbidden to use your paranormal powers to do such dreadful things…I….” she swallowed heavily.

  He was giving her little choice. She couldn’t allow him to walk the dark path he threatened to walk should she leave him, and yet, she couldn’t bear to make a mockery of herself again.

  “You risk your own safety should you attempt to confront him in private. I want you surrounded by many witnesses, including your father, and if you are just as wondrous strange as your father and mother, I know you would probably be able to handle him in private. Alas, I don’t want you doing anything that might expose your hidden talents.”

  She sank down onto the nearest sofa, her mind and heart raced. “You know about my…”

  “Witchy ways?” he chuckled. “Passing through the veil of death reveals a lot of hidden secrets kept by the living, my dear Sophie. You are about the same age as my eldest daughter. Oh, how I miss talking to my dear Ada. She is such a spirited and witty girl,” he sighed, his eyes filled with deep sorrow, and her heart, her heart went out to him.

  How could she allow herself to be sucked in by his sad tale? His widow and children needed his help and yet it could cost her so much more than what she had already lost. If she did this, she would have to leave London, and retire to the Isle of Dragonwyck, give up all hope of ever finding a husband, and just live the life of a magical spinster.

  “I can’t, I am so sorry but I can’t....” her voice broke with her emotion, and her chest tightened painfully.

  “What can’t you do?” Redding’s voice jolted her so much she let out a little scream and jumped clear off the sofa.

  “How did you find me?” she demanded, her heart fell from her throat back into her chest where it belonged.

  “I will always be able to find you, Lady Sophie. I just follow your delightful scent. You wear a most beguiling perfume.”

  “You were supposed to stay and entertain Simone! That is what I wanted you to do! You infernal man! I wanted you to keep her away from me!”

  “What you want me to do and what I want to do seem to be at war with each other, Lady Sophie. I am quite the independent fellow, and though I do admire your ability for independent thought, I do not admire Simone’s inability to think, nor do I admire the way that you left me in the lurch with her. That was a very wicked thing to do, my dear.”

  “Wicked? Should we talk about your wicked ways, Lord Redding? I daresay you would not want to dredge up that part of your life tonight. You know I do not agree with your dilettante behavior. You, sir, are a rake, you are a libertine! You are a scoundrel of the worst sort, and I detest all you stand for.”

  Her harsh words seem to cut him deeply, for his eyes flickered with pain, and the carefree smile he wore disappeared for one brief second. He recovered fairly quickly and the devilish smile of his returned, along with the wicked glint in his beautiful green eyes.

  “Haven’t you ever heard that scoundrels make the best lovers, Sophie, darling?”

  Chapter Two

  Sophie’s cheeks flamed red, and she pressed her hand to her bosom, as the corset she wore seemed ready to squeeze the life right out of her. She was titillated by his sinful words, and had to keep her reaction to his words to a bare minimum. Her heart raced the way it always did whenever she was in close proximity to Redding.

  “Your scandalous words invite trouble, Lord Redding. I know you are teasing me. You can’t possibly be attracted to me in that way. Besides, I would rather marry Lord Bracken over you.”

  There would be no happy marriage with a man like Lord Bracken for he was not attracted to the fairer sex and ever
yone possessing a brain within the ton knew that. Even so, he would marry out of duty to his title, be absolutely miserable, and produce an heir and possibly a spare, just like his father wanted him to.

  Redding’s eyes flashed briefly with what she could only describe as pain. He seemed utterly transfixed by her and altogether too attached to her. She shouldn’t be able to hurt him this way. After all, he probably just viewed her as another conquest on his way to recruiting her into his professional life.

  She couldn’t apologize to him for her curt tongue. She only wanted him to leave her in peace. He had a most discombobulating effect on her. Right now, with her emotions strained to the breaking point, she didn’t need the likes of him harassing her.

  “You often disagree with me, Lady Sophie. Perhaps that is why I want to be around you so much. You have the uncanny knack of telling me exactly what others in our circles will not. Most of the eligible young women seek only to feed my already engorged ego. While you never fail to speak the truth, it is most refreshing and in its own way, quite beguiling.”

  She couldn’t do this! She couldn’t deal with Redding, and a ghost set on vengeance in the same evening. Her emotions were going to be a bloody wreck by the end of the night!

  “I don’t think you should remain alone in this room with Lord Redding. He is looking at you like a hungry wicked wolf,” Lord Huntingdon murmured worriedly. “If he truly is a dilettante, he is not the sort to be around without witnesses. He is going to lead you into sinful temptation, Lady Sophie, and since you are roughly the age of my daughter, Ada, I will not stand idly by and allow you to place yourself that close to the fire. I do not want to see you burned for life, dear girl. So run fast, before the wicked wolf gobbles you up!”

  Sophie couldn’t help herself, she started to giggle at the absurdity of it all. The thought of Lord Redding being romantically attracted to her was right out of this world. Still, his actions tonight troubled her greatly. He seemed quite besotted with her, which alone scared the wits out of her. She couldn’t have a man like Redding pursue her romantically.