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“That sounded like Papa.”
Sophia nodded in response as dread crept over her. She had thought she was being overly cautious when she bribed the footman, Thomas, to sleep in her room with coin and the promise of a position in the Saunton household if his current became forfeit because of his cooperation. Now, with the commotion out in the hall, she was alarmed that her caution had been warranted. She ran over to the door and opened it a bit, noticing Lily join her while she peered into the dark corridor.
“Where is Sophia?” Lord Moreland cried out.
Sophia swung the door wide and stepped out into the hall, where she found Thomas holding on to a squirming Lord Leech whose eye was swelling shut.
Uncle Hugh appeared fearful but exclaimed when he caught sight of her, clutching his chest as he inhaled in relief. “Oh, thank the Lord! Niece, where have you been?” He was dressed in his nightclothes and barefoot, evidently running out of his bedchamber after the initial scuffle between Leech and the footman.
“I was sleeping in Lily’s room.”
“What? Why? And what was Thomas doing in your room?”
“I asked him to sleep there … in case.”
Uncle Hugh scowled. “In case of what, exactly? Were you aware that this … this scoundrel intended to intrude upon your room?”
Sophia bit her lip, ashamed that she had not informed her uncle what had been happening under his roof. She had not wanted to burden him with the worry, and she wanted to take care of her own problems to maintain some tenuous control over her choices, but the concern etched on his face … Perhaps she should have told him what Cecil had planned. Her fingers tugged nervously at the cotton of her night rail. She felt awkward in her half-dressed state, but she doubted anyone was noticing her attire given the situation at hand.
“Sophia! Tell me, what is this about? Why is this disgraceful blackguard in my home?” Uncle Hugh gestured with disgust toward the squirming Lord Leech, who was muttering in indignant outrage at the servant holding him fast.
Aunt Christiana hovered down the hall in the doorway to her chamber, tying her dressing gown nervously, but she moved toward the gathering. “Sophia, what is this?”
Lily took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Did you expect Lord Leech, Sophia?”
Sophia shook her head in disbelief. She could not believe Cecil had tried to go through with his plot. She was utterly grateful she had taken the threat seriously, or even now she could be tied up in Leech’s carriage, racing out of London with no one the wiser that she was absent until the morning.
“Unhand me or you will regret this!” The despicable Leech chose that moment to interrupt.
Her uncle turned to glare at the man. “Charges can be brought for breaking into a peer’s home, and even you cannot sweep such a matter under the rug. I, too, have powerful friends, Leech.”
Leech fell silent at the threat. Turning back, her unexpectedly fierce relative gestured for Sophia to talk.
“Cecil …” she began, then stopped.
Uncle Hugh walked forward to grasp her gently by the shoulder. “Tell me! What has happened?”
She took a deep breath. “Cecil learned about the terms of my dowry and plotted with Leech to exploit them.” She waved a hand toward the outraged lord, still detained by the much larger footman whose powerful arm wrapped around Leech’s trapped arms and waist. “They planned to kidnap me to Gretna Green to force the trust funds to be released.”
Uncle Hugh grunted in dismay. “Oh, mercy!”
He rubbed his jaw with a hand as he paced back and forth for several moments. Finally, he came to a stop and glared at her. “Is this why you were so willing to marry Saunton?”
Sophia nodded. “But … I still wish to marry him. I realized I will not be safe without a husband. Cecil could strike an agreement with any fortune hunter. Saunton does not care about my funds, he only cares about me—for some inexplicable reason he has settled on me, but I know it is not for the want of funds.”
Silence followed this pronouncement for several moments.
“What do we do now?” Uncle Hugh walked over to Leech to flick his eyes up and down over the heaving, struggling form. “You, sir, are utterly repulsive. Absolute dregs!”
Leech glared at him, his yellow eyes glowing eerily in the dimly lit corridor. “You will regret treating me this way, Moreland!” he spat.
“My only regret, Leech, is that I did not have my servants throw you out when I saw you sneaking into my ball the other night! Can you believe it was to prevent a scene? Had I any idea of the threat you are to my niece—”
“Uncle Hugh, we will have to let him go. It will only cause a scandal to …” What did one even do in a situation like this? Calling for a runner or taking the lord to a magistrate would be more ruinous to her own reputation than to his once word got out.
Her uncle took a deep breath and spoke to Thomas. “See Lord Leech out and do not be gentle about it. If he happens to hurt himself on the banisters on the way out … well, that is what happens when you steal into another man’s household. Do not hesitate, Thomas. Leech cannot complain to the authorities”—Moreland gave the lord a speaking glance—“because he will have to explain how he came to be at the tender mercies of a footman in my household at two in the morning.”
Thomas grinned in delight. He dragged the struggling man away, his voice carrying back to where the Abbott family stood with Sophia in a huddle. “Oops, did your head hit that wall? So sorry, milord.”
