Karen Harbaugh by A Special License Read Free Book Online Page B

room, slept like the proverbial babe she was not. She woke with a sense of pleasurable anticipation. She had seen no fewer than three crests, and of those three, two of its owners were known to have reputations that bordered on the scandalous. Sophia sat up in bed, stretched, and looked in the chamber’s large mirror. She looked like an adorable fluffy white kitten with her tousled blond hair and soft white lawn nightgown. She smiled with pleasure at the thought. She would have her breakfast in the common room downstairs. It would be quite proper, for of course Richard would accompany her.
    The hapless Mr. Amberley, however, tossed and turned like a ship in a storm through the night. Ugly visions of moneylenders and tradesmen haunted his dreams. Richard dreamed of a school friend of his who was once sent to debtor’s prison; the poor devil had contracted prison fever and had barely escaped with his life. Richard dreamed a monk-like gaoler led him to his friend’s cell, but when he came to it, it was not Jack there, but himself. He turned to the gaoler to protest, but the gaoler had laughed, and the laugh was horribly like Sophia’s. He tried to leave the cell but could not, for the gaoler was reaching for him with claw-like hands. The gaoler’s hood dropped back, and it was Sophia, yet somehow she looked very much like their father.
    Richard woke up with a start and pressed a shaking hand to his eyes. He had to get that bill and find a way to keep his sister quiet. But how? One more confrontation with his father and he was stripped of his next quarter’s allowance. He got up and gazed into the mirror above the mantelpiece. He groaned. He looked very much like he felt. He would definitely have his breakfast brought up to him. Breakfast. His stomach clenched, and bile rose in his throat. Perhaps he would not have it after all.
    William, Lord Rothwick, awakened slowly and turned on his bench, almost falling off it. He righted himself and then looked about him with the usual disorientation one had when waking in an unfamiliar room. Ah, yes, the Lion’s Stone. And then the events of the night before hit him, and the consequences of his actions rose up and mocked him.
    Oh, Lord! Sophia! He had forgotten about Sophia last night. It must have been because their betrothal was so new. Or perhaps a part of him did not want to deal with any complications without enough sleep to fortify himself. Which all went to prove, he thought grimly, that things didn’t seem better in the morning. He would have to make sure he and Miss Ashley departed unnoticed; otherwise he would have to do the honorable thing and lay his case in front of Sophia and Lord Amberley. It was lucky their betrothal was but a few days old and that his and Amberley’s solicitors had not yet drawn up the marriage papers.
    Rothwick did not think the interview with Sophia would be easy, though. The man and his wife doted on Sophia—sickeningly so, he had often thought. And he was not at all sure that Sophia would release him from their betrothal. Perhaps he could convince Sophia that she was better off without him. Perhaps she would break the engagement. Rothwick did not feel very hopeful this would happen. Well, then! He would have to be as discreet as possible when leaving this inn.
    Chawleigh still did not have another room available. The innkeeper looked uneasy and clearly expected a reproof when he could not comply, but he did offer his own attic room for his lordship to refresh himself. Rothwick smiled genially and thanked the man, relieved that at least he could make himself somewhat presentable.
    When he entered the innkeeper’s room, the earl stopped and cursed softly. They had left his belongings in Miss Ashley’s room! He rubbed his face, feeling the stubble on his chin, and frowned. He was damned if he was going to show himself in public in his present disheveled state!
    Nicking himself with the innkeeper’s dull razor did not put the earl in a better