Married to a Stranger (Danger and Desire 3)

‘Oh, I am so sorry for your loss. But you and Callum have each other now—Daniel would have been glad.’ No, it was not condemnation on the countess’s face, but the effort to hold back tears.

‘I hope so.’ Sophia felt a lump forming in her throat and swallowed hard, embarrassed by their shared emotion. There was a pause, then both women looked towards their men.

‘Sophia,’ Callum said, ‘this is Averil Heydon who was on the Bengal Queen. She was swept ashore and rescued by Captain d’Aunay and now they are married.’

‘Captain?’ She turned to the other woman. ‘Forgive me, I thought you said you were a countess?’ And who was this Bradon?

‘Luc is a French comte, an émigré and in the Royal Navy,’ Averil explained. She tucked her hand confidingly into Sophia’s elbow. ‘I was coming back from India to marry a man I had never met. He was not best pleased to discover I had thoroughly compromised myself and, what’s more, was delighted to marry Luc rather than him. It was all hushed up, but we thought it better to stay out of town while he got over it.’

‘Chatterton was my best man at a very small wedding,’ d’Aunay said with a grin.

‘How lovely,’ Sophia said with a smile, but something twisted painfully inside. Averil d’Aunay had known Callum’s twin, she could speak of Daniel with real knowledge and true grief as a friend. She should be glad for it, but she felt shut out and knowing that was wrong did not help. Sophia turned away from the look on Callum’s face; he seemed happier and more relaxed than she had seen him since he had returned home. ‘You must come to tea. We do not live far away—Half Moon Street.’

‘But we have just moved there too! We must be neighbours,’ Lady d’Aunay said. ‘What fun.’

Sophia told herself not to be foolish. Averil d’Aunay appeared to be a delightful, warm person. Someone who she would welcome as a friend. ‘Let us go back then,’ she said, turning to the path. ‘We will go ahead and Mrs Datchett will have tea ready by the time the men catch us up.’

*

‘You have not been married long then?’ d’Aunay asked as he and Callum emerged from the glade. Sophia and Averil were already well ahead, making their way at a brisk walk uphill towards the distant gate.

‘Two weeks, just over,’ Callum said after a moment’s frantic mental arithmetic. It was not the thing to forget how long one had been wed—not this early in the marriage. But was it really more than fourteen days? Not sleeping with one’s wife did not help. She had said it was convenient for him to visit her bedchamber again; it was encouraging that he had not had to ask.

‘It was very quiet, and in the country,’ he said. ‘Although not as quiet as yours. We did not care to make a great to-do about it, given that Sophia had been betrothed to Daniel.’

Sophia had seemed not at all averse to being kissed in the park, although she had not liked him embracing a strange woman! Had she thought he had been lying about mistresses? Or was her frown simply jealousy? The thought that Sophia might be jealous was rather pleasing.

‘It seems a very good solution for the two of you to wed,’ d’Aunay said. ‘I am sure your brother would have approved. You will have a helpmeet for your career and she is looked after.’

‘Yes, indeed,’ Callum said and changed the subject to d’Aunay’s latest commission. For some reason his friend’s easy acceptance that this was a cold-blooded marriage of convenience jarred. But that is what it is, he thought, frowning at the two young women who walked ahead, their skirts fluttering in the breeze. They seemed deep in animated conversation, their hands moving expressively. Sophia had found a friend, it seemed.

Chapter Fifteen

Sophia found she was riveted by Averil d’Aunay’s story. Beside its own intrinsic drama, at last she was hearing more about the wreck. She could never expect Callum to speak of it.

‘The day after the shipwreck I was washed up on St Helen’s, one of the uninhabited islands in the Scillies. Luc was based there on a secret mission. He found me on the beach. We became … close,’ Averil explained. From the way her cheeks coloured, close was a euphemism.

‘But you were still going ahead with the arranged marriage?’ Sophia asked, confused.

Averil nodded. ‘I had given my word. Papa had agreed all the financial details. But I had to do my duty. And then I found out something truly horrible about Lord Bradon’s character. He thought I had lost my virginity to Luc—which I had not,’ she added. ‘But he was prepared to marry me anyway and if I was pregnan

t with Luc’s child he would have got rid of the baby, as though it was an unwanted kitten. I ran away to Luc.’

Averil hesitated then said, ‘I hope you do not disapprove too much of the fact that Luc and I lived together for a time before we married.’

‘Why, no! From what you say it was the only possible thing to do. How dreadful that Lord Bradon should behave in such a disgusting manner, especially after your awful ordeal during the shipwreck.’

‘Thank you.’ Averil took her hand and squeezed it. ‘It is so good to have another woman to confide in—there is only one other I dare tell the truth to.’

‘Of course.’ Sophia returned the pressure of her new friend’s hand. A friend. A London friend. How wonderful.

‘Look, There is our house with the dark blue door,’ Sophia said.

Averil followed her up the steps. ‘Our house is the next but two. Such a coincidence that we should be neighbours. I do like these little houses, even though I know Luc always kept his mistresses here. Still, he will not be having another one after me—I would rather be the last than the first,’ she said. Her amusement put the last nagging thoughts about Callum’s past into proportion and Sophia found they were both laughing as Hawksley opened the door.

Rather be the last than the first. Averil’s words kept echoing around Sophia’s head long after she and Luc had left. I was jealous of her when I saw her in Callum’s arms, she thought. Jealous? I could have scratched her eyes out!

She looked across at her husband and forced herself to think what that emotion meant. Had it simply been hurt pride and surprise? He looked up from the journal he was scanning and smiled, a slow curving of his lips, but the warmth was there in his eyes before he went back to his reading.