An Ideal Husband? by Michelle Styles Page A

wait until the furore dies down.’
    ‘It may take weeks or even months.’ His eyes glittered amber. ‘The episode has ensured that the engagement will be on everyone’s lips tomorrow morning. Various members of the gutterpress were in the crowd. Our engagement will be the lead item in the gossip columns throughout the land. “The Redoubtable captures the Rake” has a certain resonance. Prior to your intervention, I had thought “Lord exposes caddish behaviour” or, better still, “blackmailer”.’
    Sophie winced. He had exposed a fatal flaw in her actions and had stated very clearly that he could not wait to be rid of her. Only now they were shackled together. Her doing, not his. All of his actions had been designed to take revenge on Putney and he had nearly succeeded in provoking a duel. Now, she had inadvertently prolonged the time they had to spend together.
    ‘It was the killing blow. I could not be certain your scheme would work,’ she argued.
    ‘You failed to think. Emotion carried you.’ He looked down at her. ‘It carries you still. Luckily, I still possess my faculties. We will have to spend more time in each other’s company, pretending that our engagement is one of the great love stories, or we shall be exposed as cheats.’
    Sophie put her hand on her stomach and tried to stop her insides roiling. She would have to dance with him again. She would have to pretend to be besotted. And there would be no expectation of marriage if she gave in to his charm. ‘I would like to return home now. Will you pleasefind my stepmother and make the necessary arrangements? We can discuss how long our engagement must continue at a later date. My head pains me too much to think straight.’
    Richard struggled to control his temper as the carriage stopped outside Miss Ravel’s house. There were things which needed to be said between Sophie and him, but Mrs Ravel sat squarely between them. Mrs Ravel kept up a steady stream of conversation, seemingly oblivious to the stony silence from Sophie.
    It was far from his fault that the engagement had been announced in the way it was. That was entirely her doing. There again, it had prevented him from beating Putney into a bloody pulp.
    The sight of Putney’s hand restraining Sophie had filled him with a primitive anger. He had wanted to murder him for daring to even look at Sophie, let alone touch her in that fashion. His actions had nothing to do with the past and everything to do with Sophie.
    ‘There is no need to see us in, Lord Bingfield,’ Sophie said, alighting from the carriage before he had a chance to hold out his hand and help her down.
    ‘There is every need,’ Richard retorted silkily, managing to swallow his annoyance. Despiteher public declaration, in private, Sophie made it all too clear how she felt about him. ‘I could hardly allow my fiancée or her stepmother to make their way home without being there to ensure their safety.’
    What made it worse was that he had to accept all the congratulations, knowing that the woman beside him could not wait to be rid of him.
    He had never considered that he was like his father and would lose his reason over a woman, but now it seemed he had. His feelings tonight made a mockery of his proposal. No finer feelings. He definitely wanted to hold Sophie in his arms again and feel her lips tremble under his. He wanted to unlock the passion he glimpsed again tonight when they had waltzed.
    Sophie pointed. ‘We can easily make it to our door, Lord Bingfield. You can see the door from where you are standing.’
    ‘Sophie!’ Mrs Ravel exclaimed. ‘Where are your manners tonight? First you insist on leaving before I finish my hand at whist and now you seek to dismiss your fiancé like a lackey.’
    ‘The upset at the Assembly Rooms has quite turned my brain.’ Sophie inclined her head. ‘I merely meant Lord Bingfield did not need to feel obliged. He has done so much for us tonight.It would be wrong for us to