Badcock by Debra Glass Read Free Book Online Page A

cage. Seeing the familiar grounds and ivy-clad stones brought reality crashing down around her with startling force.
    She was ruined. Ralph would more than likely have his barrister break their contract. Her parents would be furious. No respectable man would ever ask for her hand.
    “God’s boots,” she said aloud as the ramifications of what she’d done settled in with sickening depth.
    Worse than any of that, she’d allowed the highwayman, a common robber, to plant his seed in her. What if he’d got a child on her? She closed her eyes and let her head fall hard against the back wall of the coach.
    Her hand went involuntarily to her stomach. Ruined. Utterly and thoroughly ruined.
    When the carriage halted in front of the house, a bevy of servants dashed out the door followed by her parents, Peter and Elizabeth Astley , the Viscount and Viscountess Bainbridge.
    “Sophia!” Elizabeth cried.
    A servant could scarcely pull down the coach steps and open the door for Sophia’s mother trying to get to her.
    Once the door was open, Sophia flew out and into her mother’s open arms.
    “My darling, did he hurt you?” she asked but then her eyes widened when her gaze moved from Sophia’s face to her neck. “Oh no. No. No,” she said, backing away as if she were afraid the plague were on her.
    Sophia’s gaze flitted from her mother’s horror-stricken face to her father’s.
    “Come in the house,” her father said tersely, snatching her roughly by the arm.
    Her feet hardly touched the ground as he dragged her into the parlor and stepped in front of the footman to slam the double doors shut.
    “Out!” he boomed to a maid who scurried quickly from the room.
    Sophia began to shake.
    As soon as the maid quitted the room, her father seized her by the shoulders. “Look at your neck! Did he have you?”
    Sophia stared. She’d expected them to be angry that she’d been abducted, intent on catching Bad Jack and seeing him hang. She had never dreamed they’d be angry with her .
    “I-I’m tired. I would like to go to my room a-and rest,” Sophia stammered.
    Her father’s eyes blazed as he gave her a hard shake. “Answer me!”
    She couldn’t believe this. She’d been abducted through no fault of her own. She’d practically been given to the highwayman by her fiancé. But still, her face flamed when she thought of all the things she’d willingly done with Bad Jack. “Yes, he had me,” she hissed.
    Her mother wailed. “She’s ruined!” she screamed. “Ruined!”
    Sophia stumbled as she was pushed onto a settee and then she watched in horror as her father whirled and slapped his wife’s face. “Shut up, woman! If no one else knows of this, then Sophia’s marriage to Wisbech might still be salvaged.”
    Sophia trembled violently. She’d never seen her parents argue before. She’d certainly never seen her father strike her mother. She had to get a hold of herself. She couldn’t let this happen—not because of her recklessness.
    Not because of Ralph’s greed.
    She shot to her feet. “It was no fault of mine I was abducted by a highwayman. Certainly Ralph will not hold me accountable.”
    Her father breathed in great heaving gasps through his nostrils, reminding Sophia of an angry bull. “Look at you!” he raged. “You look like a slattern. Go to your room until I can figure out what to do with you.”
    At that moment, realization struck Sophia as surely as if her father had slapped her instead of her mother. If she had it to do over, she would go willingly with the highwayman. She’d do it in rebellion. Men controlled the world. They also controlled the fate of the women in their lives. It wasn’t fair.
    But what could she do about it? Hopeless, she started toward the door.
    “Sophia,” her father called. “Not a word of this. Do you hear me? Not a word. Not even to your maid. You had a riding accident. Do you understand?”
    She nodded and twisted the door handle.
    Climbing the stairs, she dismally