Lords of Honor (49 page)

“
I p
romise
.
No
w
go, my lovely wife
,
before I drag you into the tub wi
th me
,
new gown and all
,
and thoroughly
ravish
you
!”

Libby shrieked with laughter
as he lunged for her
playfully
.
She eluded him
, but not before he smacked her bottom lightly with his palm
.
Grinning, she
left Micah alone in their bedchamber.

“Sophia
?”
Lyon entered his bedchamber
.
His lovely wife
was perched up
on the settee
with a book
.
She
had
bathed and
dressed
for dinner
.
She looked stunning in a
n
emerald silk
gown, with her coppery hair arranged in a top knot with a mass of shining
flame-colored
curls framing her face
.
The gown fit her well and
displayed her lovely breasts perfectly
.
He noted she wore
no jewelry. Come to think of it, he did not remember her wearing any jewelry
at any time
.
He
decided at that moment he would
purchase
some emeralds
for her
at his first opportunity
while in London
.
Emeralds
would be
exquisite
with
her
eyes
and against her creamy skin
.

“Sorry,
my darling,
I’m running a bit late
.
Our meeting just adjourned
.
I will bathe and change quickly,” Lyon smiled
as he began to loosen his cravat.

“I’ll go and leave you to your privacy
.”
Sophia rose
quickly
.

“
Please
,
don’t go, Sophia
.
I need to talk to you
.
Please sit
.”
Jack
pulled him aside
earlier
and
privately told him the deeper content of the ladies’ conversation
.
That Sophia thought he did not desire her, or want her
.
The knowledge
pained him
.
He was trying to respect her, not hurt her
.
He did desire her
.
He did want
Sophia
.
Tonight he would show her
.
Share with her.
But he
must
tell her
something else
first.

Lyon joined her on the settee
.
“There is something I need to discuss with you
.”

Lyon watched h
er eyes gr
o
w wide
.
She looked frightened
.
He reached for her hand and took it in his
.

“Yes?”
she
whispered
.

Lyon
caressed her fingers tenderly
.
“We’ve decided to try and find this Mr. Crow
.
Since I’m the only one who has been close to him and knows
exactly
what he looks like, I’m going back to London.”

Sophia
was stricken with the loss
.
The fear
.
She
said, “No
!
Surely someone else can go
.
You said your friend Newt saw him
twice
.
”

“They would suspect a trap i
f
another one of us showed up in the opium dens
, Sophia
.
They know Newt pulled me out and locked me up
.
The last Mr.
Crow and his cronies saw
of
me I was a hopeless opium addict
.
That is what they will see when I return, however, I won’t be addicted to opium
.
Nor will I drink
alcohol
or take laudanum
.
But they will think I am doing so
.”

Lyon continued, “
I’ll have two men
near
me
at all times
.
Both Cornishmen sent by our friend Trevan Chynoweth
.
They will meet me in London
in t
hree
days
.
We have to find out who Mr. Crow is
.
We must know
if he is in charge
of the Brown Coats
or
if
someone higher up is
.
We have to stop this
.
We cannot continue to live like this,
darling
; s
tuck inside Horethorn
e
Hall, all of us i
n fear
of being attacked
, u
nable to go out of doors
or travel safely
.
I worry for
you
, Sophia.
”

“Can you go into an opium den and not smoke the opium, Lyon
.
Can you do that?”
Sophia
asked heatedly
.
Her cheeks flushed when her anger rose.

“I can
.
And I will
, f
or you, Sophia
.
I will do this for you
.”
Lyon bent,
and
kissed her gently
at first
.
When Sophia responded, he allowed the kiss to deepen
.
The p
assion grew between them
.
He was surprised when
he felt the wetness of her tears.

“Sophia, darling
?
Why are you crying?”

“I’m worried about you, Lyon
.
I’m worried about your being hurt or killed
.
I’m worried about the opium
.
Mr. Crow and those men
wanted to kill you
before
.
That is what they planned
.
What if they do
it
this time
?
We’ve never even had the chance to
truly
be man and wife…I wanted that
.
I know you do not, but I do
.”
A small sob escaped Sophia
.

“Shh
, Sophia
.”
Lyon gathered his petite Sophia into his arms
.
“I do want us, Sophia
.
I do
.”
He whispered against her ear
.
“
More than anything
.
I
knew
you didn’t
directly after
that night
.
O
nce we arrived at Horethorne Hall,
I
feared I might
make you angry again
.
I was a
fraid to
break
the fragile bond we
just
made
. T
he first time
we conversed normally was in the c
arriage on the way
here from London
.
I promise you, Sophia,
we are truly man and wife
.
We’ll start tonight
, this moment
.
Do you feel like going down to dinner?”

She wiped her tears away
and
s
hook her head.

“We’ll stay in our rooms
.
I’ll go find someone and have our dinner sent up
.
Would you like that, darling?”

Sophia nodded
.

Lyon rose
and
walked out their bedchamber door
into the hallway
.

Sophia could hear him speaking to someone
.
A few moments later he came back in
.

“I saw Libby out in the hallway
.
She will
have
our dinner
sent
up in about an hour
.
‘Tis early yet
.”
Lyon did not
return to his seat beside her
.
I
nstead he bent and
scooped
his wife
up and
into his arms
.
He carried her to
ward
the bed
, albeit he moved slowly with his wounded leg
.
He s
et her
gently
on her feet
.
He q
uickly unfastened her
emerald
gown,
allowing
it
to
pool
upon
the floor
.
He u
nlaced her stays
.
Her p
etticoats and chemise followed
.
Soon, there was just Sophia,
standing naked before him save her
garters and
silk stockings
.
He made a quick job of plucking the pins from her
coiffure
and shook out her coppery hair
.
He pulled the
creamy silk
bed
coverlet down
.

He picked her up in his arms once again and tenderly
laid
her upon the soft, smooth sheets
.
He divested himself of his clothing
quickly
.
Minutes later Lyon lay
naked
alongside
her, kissing her, touching her
, w
ooing her
.
He rose up and gazed into her green eyes as he said,
“I want you Sophia, more than I’ve ever wanted any other woman
.
I think about you all the time
.
I’ve been in agony these past weeks
.
Since…then
.
I want you and I want us to be
truly
man and wife
.
I want us to love, to have children, to be happy together.”

“Truly?” she asked, a soft smile turning up the corners of her mouth
.
Tears threatened
.
She blinked them back.

Lyon
smiled
back at her
.
“Yes
,
Sophia
.
I’ve been in sheer agony
.
I thought you might never want me
that way again
.”

“I do want you,” Sophia’s
hands ran over his arms, his chest
.
“I’ve thought
of you every day as well, Lyon,
”
her voice was silky
.

“I want you
,
o
nly you
, Sophia
.”
Lyon’s lips traveled to her breasts
.
He suckled her
, h
is tongue teas
ing and
arousing
her
.
H
e moved downward
, o
ver her flat belly
.
Lower still
to
the triangle of
red-
gold curls at the juncture between her thighs
.
His fingers, his lips, his tongue gently explored her folds
.
H
is
tongue f
ound the sensitive nub
and brought her
to the peak of
exquisite
pleasure
.
His fingers moved inside her
.
He didn’t stop until his wife found her release and was left
panting and boneless
.