Ryder was with her, holding her tightly against him, kissing her nose, her cheek, her eyebrows, her ears. He told her again and again that he loved her.
“Am I too heavy?”
He wasn’t, not really, but her wrists were cramping, not because of how tightly he’d fastened the pillowcases, but because she’d jerked and twisted so violently, wanting more of him, more of herself.
“Can you untie my hands?”
He raised himself with effort, ducked his head down again and kissed her, grinning as he did so. “I can’t get enough of you, Sophie.”
“I don’t mind kissing you,” she said as he untied her wrists. He pulled out of her and came down onto his side. He rubbed her wrists, frowning at the redness. “I didn’t mean to tie them so tightly. I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t that,” she said, not looking at him. “It was the other.”
“What other?”
She looked at him straight in his blue eyes. “How you made me feel. I was an animal.”
“Ah, another condemnation perhaps? Based on your wonderful objective experience? I hate to tell you this, Sophia, but we are both animals, carnal as hell, and so wonderful that I pray you’ll go wild and ferocious on me every night.” He paused, frowning. “Perhaps every morning as well. Ah, and there’s the hour just after luncheon, you know, when you’re just a bit tired and—”
She laughed.
Ryder was so surprised that he simply stared down at her. He kissed her again and six more times.
She kissed him back, but her body felt so languid she doubted she could have roused herself even if Mrs. Chivers had shouted fire. She felt beyond herself ; she didn’t understand. She didn’t know what to think. And she had laughed.
She said, “Do you really love me?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t just say it because you were inside me and your lust ... well, you know what I mean.”
“Yes, I know what you mean. Now, I’m not inside you. You’ve exhausted me twice. I’m limp and nearly expired. My wits have gone begging. I have no sensation below my heart. And I love you.”
“You never said that before.”
“I didn’t realize I loved you before. Things have changed and I don’t mind telling you that I’m quite pleased about it. No, Sophie, don’t feel that you have to fill in the silence.”
“You’re the master here.”
He said easily, accepting her words, understanding them, “Yes, I am. You want to know something? It feels good, damned good. I never felt I was needed at Northcliffe Hall and of course I wasn’t. It was and is Douglas’s home and his responsibility as the Earl of Northcliffe. But Chadwyck House, it’s mine, Sophie, it’s ours, and our children will grow up here, and this will be their home and, why, I might even wear a smock and become a farmer on Wednesdays and Fridays. What do you think?”
“I think you would look beautiful in a smock and hobnail boots.”
“Ah,” he said, and kissed her mouth. “Dear God, but I love kissing you.”
Tell him, she thought, tell him, but she was afraid to, afraid he would search out both Lord David and Charles Grammond and threaten them or kill them, she didn’t know which. But she knew there would be an awful scandal and she couldn’t do it to him, to the Sherbrooke family, to Jeremy, to herself.
She kissed him back, urgently, wanting only to bury her misery, to forget it for just another instant, just one more moment, and she succeeded. He caressed her, and when he came into her again, she cried out in her climax, and Ryder thought he would die from the pleasure of it. When they slept, Ryder dreamed of his children and knew, even in his dream, that he would have to tell her about them very soon now and pray that she would understand.
Ryder didn’t tell Sophie anything; he had no chance to. She was still sound asleep when he left the house the following morning, from exhaustion, from his exhausting her.
The following afternoon, when he was in the north field with three of his tenant farmers, a carriage pulled up in front of Chadwyck House. The Earl of Northcliffe, Alex, Jeremy, and Sinjun spilled out.
The earl simply stood there, his wife’s hand in his, and stared at the house and grounds.
“You’ve done very well,” he said to Sophie, who didn’t look like a waif today but was actually wearing a gown that Mrs. Plack had made for her. Her hair was a bit mussed because she’d been polishing the crystals on a chandelier in what she now thought of as her own room, which was set at the back of the house, its doors giving onto the garden.
“Hello,” she said, then turned to Jeremy, holding open her arms. He limped to her and hugged her, saying as fast as he could talk, “It’s wonderful, Sophie! Oh goodness, I’ve missed you. Look, Sinjun, just look at the stables, certainly big enough for George and—”
“Who’s George?”
“My pony, he’s a barb and all black with two white socks and fast as the wind, Sophie.”
“As in the second George or the crazy third George?”
Douglas laughed. “Actually, this George is a tradesman in Hadleigh who bears a remarkable resemblance to Jeremy’s pony.”
Alex said, “You’ve done marvels. We were so shocked to hear about what that wretched Dubust had done.”
“The furniture will be back in the next few days. Alas, I have only three chairs and one table downstairs.”
“Perfectly adequate,” the earl said, then frowned as he looked around. “Where’s Ryder?”
“He’s with some of the tenant farmers.”
Douglas stared at her. “Tenant farmers,” he repeated blankly. “What is he doing?”
“I think they’re talking about crop rotation. Evidently Mr. Dubust was more than just a criminal. He wouldn’t allow the farmers new implements and discouraged letting fields lie fallow as they must, you know.”
“Yes,” Douglas said slowly, “yes, I know. And Ryder is dealing with this?”
“Not only is he dealing with it, he quite likes it.”
Sinjun said to her brother, “Can Jeremy and I go find Ryder? It is late, Douglas, and he should be finished with all his rotations soon now. Please?”
“Go along, brat.”
“Walk north,” Sophie called after them. “See the trail just by the stables?”
An hour later, Ryder, Jeremy, and Sinjun strolled into the drawing room that held only three chairs. Ryder walked over to his wife and kissed her. “Look who found me. And I wasn’t even wearing my hobnails or my smock.”
Sophie felt a deep surge of pleasure at the sight of him and could only nod.
Ryder grinned at her, and lightly caressed his knuckles over her cheek. “No, Douglas, don’t say anything, if you please. Things change, all right? To show me proper respect, call me Master Ryder or Farmer Ryder. I begin to think that I must design a new plow, one with style, one that will be made by an artisan as famous as Hoby or Weston. What do you think?”
“I think you’re mad, Ryder, utterly mad and very happy.”
“And what do you think of our home?”
“That it is a home and you’ve made it thus in a very short time.”
“I must give Sophie credit for accomplishing a bit, a very little bit, but I don’t wish to make her feel useless.”
Sophie squawked and flew at him. Ryder, laughing, his blue eyes as light as the afternoon sky, gathered her against him and held her and then swung her about.
The earl looked at his wife, who was smiling at them.
The Earl and Countess of Northcliffe didn’t mind at all sleeping on piles of blankets in a guest room. Indeed, if Ryder were any expert on the matter, and he most assuredly was, he knew that his brother and sister-in-law quite enjoyed themselves. His brother was a man of a creative nature.
The earl and countess remained for only a day and a half, for they were on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Portsmouth. As for Sinjun and Jeremy, they were to stay for a long visit. Sinjun’s goal, she said, giggling, was to see Ryder in his farmer’s smock.
<
br /> Not an hour after the earl and countess had left, Sinjun found her brother in a rather ardent embrace with his wife. She cleared her throat. Ryder looked up and frowned at her. “Go away, Sinjun. You’re only fifteen and you shouldn’t be witnessing all this excess of affection.”
“Ha,” Sinjun said. “You should see Douglas and Alex when they think no one’s looking. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen him doing, and Alex always throws her head back and makes these funny little noises and—”
“Be quiet, brat. Now, this had better be urgent or I’ll tan your backside.”
“I’ve got to speak to you, Ryder. Alone.”
This was a very serious Sinjun, and Sophie, having regained her equilibrium, merely nodded, and took herself off.
Ryder crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the mantel.
“I’m too late.”
“Too late for what?”
Sinjun, to her brother’s absolute astonishment, turned red and wrung her hands. “They’re nearly here. I rode as fast as I could back here to warn you. Oh, Ryder, I’m sorry, but there was nothing I could do. I know how you feel about Douglas or any of the rest of the family knowing how wonderful you are, but—”
Ryder had a peculiar feeling in the pit of his stomach. “What are you talking about?”
“The children should be here in no more than two minutes from now.”
“You have two minutes, then, to explain all this to me.”
“I took Jeremy over to Hadleigh to meet Jane and the children. All right, you can tan my bottom later for that, but Ryder, he fit right in and much enjoyed himself. He and Oliver are the best of friends. Oh dear, there’s only one minute left. Jane came down with the measles. She immediately sent me a message saying the children had to leave so they wouldn’t become ill; then Laura, one of her helpers, sent me a message at Northcliffe and she didn’t know what to do. So I told her and Jane to send all the children here. What else should I have done, Ryder? Told Douglas?”
Ryder looked off into the distance. “Well, that solves one problem, doesn’t it? Is that the sound of carriage wheels I hear? Probably. Who paid for all this, Sinjun?”
“I did. It took nearly all my savings, but I managed. I didn’t want the children to travel by stage, so I hired four carriages, three for them and one for all the luggage, and I managed to secure four rooms at the Golden Calf Inn in Reading.”
Ryder grinned at his sister. He patted her cheek. “You did well. Let’s go meet all my brood. Good God, I hope none of them have come down with the measles. It can be quite nasty.”
“What about Sophie?”
“Sophie isn’t a fool,” he said, but to Sinjun’s fond and alert ears, his voice sounded very odd.
When he and Sinjun arrived on the front steps of Chadwyck House, there were Sophie and Jeremy assisting child after child from the carriages. Only Laura Bracken had come with them because the other two helpers had come down with the measles along with Jane. Laura, bless her heart, was exhausted. The children, luckily, were all well.
It was Jaime who first spotted Ryder. He let out a yell and rushed at him. Ryder swung the boy up in his arms and tossed him into the air, then hugged him tightly against his chest. The other children were on him in the next moment, and there was pandemonium for the next five minutes.
Sophie saw the little girl standing off to one side, her thumb in her mouth. She didn’t understand any of this but, oddly enough, she was content to wait and see. It wasn’t perhaps so strange with the children hanging on to his arms, legs, and neck that he wouldn’t look at her.
Sinjun grabbed her arm. “I swear this isn’t what you think, Sophie.”
Sophie said easily, “No, I doubt it is. That boy over there must be all of eleven or twelve years old. Surely Ryder couldn’t have fathered him. No, I’m learning that with Ryder nothing is as it appears to be.”
“They are his children, his Beloved Ones,” Sinjun said, desperate now, “but not really, all except for Jenny. Ryder saved each of them at different times, you know. He loves children and hates cruelty toward them, and—”
Ryder, dragging four children and holding two others, came down the steps, grinning hugely, but not at Sophie. He looked over her left shoulder as he said simply, “These are my children.” He introduced all of them to his wife. Sophie smiled and spoke to each of them. A moment later, she realized with a shock that Ryder was embarrassed.
Then he got a huge smile on his face as he looked over at the little girl who was standing alone, watching silently.
“Now, all you wild savages, I want you to go with Jeremy and Sinjun to the kitchen. We don’t have any furniture yet, but you can sit on the kitchen floor and Mrs. Chivers and Cook will make sure you have scones and biscuits and lemonade. Go now, and later I’ll tell you all about my adventures and why the house doesn’t have any beds for you.”
“And I’ll tell you more stories about the Virgin Bride,” Sinjun said. “Who knows, maybe she’s followed Ryder and Sophie here.”
Amy shrieked with excited terror.
Ryder simply took Sophie’s hand and led her over to the little girl. Sophie stood still, watching her husband go down on his knees. He opened his arms and the little girl came to him. He held her close, kissing her hair, stroking her back, and she heard him saying over and over, “Ah, Jenny, I’ve missed you, little love. Now, would you like to meet Sophie? She’s not as pretty as you, but she is nice and she makes me smile. Just maybe she’ll make you smile as well.”
He looked up at his wife and she knew that this was his child, and that the little girl wasn’t like the other children. There was a look of near desperation on his face and she realized that he was worried that she would snub the little girl.
“You should have some faith in me,” she said as she came down to her knees beside her husband and held out her hand, making no move toward the little girl, who was huddled against her father’s chest. “Hello, Jenny. That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing, much nicer than mine. I’m very glad to meet you and I’m very glad you’re here. Your father has missed you very much. How old are you?”
Ryder raised her right hand, folded down her thumb and said very slowly, “One.”
Jenny said, “One.”
Ryder folded down the next finger and said, “Two.”
When he reached her little finger, he only bent it in half and said, “There now, I’m four and a half years old.”
“Yes, Papa.”
There was such pride and love on his face. Another Ryder, no, another side to him. She said now, “Such a big girl you are and just look at that lovely locket. May I see it?”
Jenny very slowly stretched out her hand, and her fingertips lightly, tentatively touched Sophie’s palm. She held out the locket and Sophie opened it. “Ah, what lovely paintings. You and your mama? Yes, I can see that you’re as pretty as she is. You have your father’s beautiful eyes though.”
“Papa,” Jenny said, and threw her arms around Ryder’s neck again and buried her face in his neck.
“It’s her new word,” Ryder said, immensely pleased.
“Now, little love, my old bones are creaking. Let me heave you up—you’re such a great big girl, Sophie’s right about that—and let’s go into the house. You’d like some lemonade, wouldn’t you?”
Pandemonium reigned in the kitchen. Mrs. Chivers looked as if she’d just been dumped willynilly into Bedlam, but she was smiling, thank the good Lord. Cook, a Mrs. Bedlock, was running to and fro from the pantry. It was Sinjun, though, who was in charge of the brood. Each child was finally seated on the floor with a plate filled with goodies.
“There won’t be anything left to eat,” Mrs. Chivers said, staring from one child to the other. “I have three grandchildren and they all eat like it’s their last meal.”
“Then we’d best send Mrs. Bedlock to Lower Slaughter to buy out the town,” Sophie said. Ryder looked at his wife, still didn’t meet her eyes, and she would have sworn that h
e blushed.
He neatly managed to avoid her for the next several hours. It wasn’t difficult because each of the children wanted his attention. He showed them the east wing, told them about Mr. Dubust, making the man a villain fit to rule the world, but his aunt, dear Mildred, had shrieked him down and now he would pay for his crimes.
Sophie merely bided her time and made decisions as to where the children would sleep.
At last she managed to corner him as he tried to slip past her out of the house. “Oh no you don’t, Ryder. I want to talk to you and it’s now or I will make you very sorry.”
That ruffled his manly feathers and he said sharply, “Oh, and just how do you plan to do that? Tie me down and have your way with my body?”
She grinned at him. “Come along. We’re going for a walk.”
Sophie walked beside her husband in the apple orchard just behind the house. It was private, with not a single child hiding behind a tree. Sinjun was with the children, playing mediator, mother, and nurse-maid. Ryder was silent. Sophie started humming.
Suddenly she laughed. “You’re embarrassed! I couldn’t believe it, you were actually embarrassed. You couldn’t meet my eyes. Is it because I never, even for one instant, believed all those children to be yours! Ah, if that is it, why then, what a blow to your manhood.”
“Go to the devil, Sophie.”
“No, that isn’t it at all. I had hoped to enrage you out of your damned silence. No, you were and are embarrassed because you don’t want anyone to know that you’re not a care-for-nothing rakehell. You enjoy being the homme terrible and this, my dear, truly ruins that devil-may-care image.”
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