CHAPTER 15
G abe was foxed, but not so foxed that he didn’t understand what she was asking. Elope with her in Scotland? Tie her irrevocably to him for the rest of her life? If only he could agree. He’d have Sophie in his life and in his bed for the rest of his days. She was already in his heart, there was no shaking her from there, no matter the time nor the distance that had separated them. But he loved her too much to seal her fate with such ill-advised recklessness. One of them had to be levelheaded, and even with him deep in his cups, that chore fell to Gabe.
“You know we can’t do that, Soph.” He tipped her chin up so she had to meet his gaze. “Scottish weddings aside, if the truth about my parents ever comes out, you wouldn’t be received anywhere. You’d be a pariah. I won’t see that future for you.”
But Sophie, his Sophie, was not to be so easily deterred, and she met his gaze with a stubborn glint in her eyes. “If,” she stressed the word. “If it’s discovered. But I will not give you up on the chance something might happen. Your brother assumed the earldom over three years ago. Don’t you think if someone was going to call him out as a fraud they would have done so then?”
Well, Beckbury had promised not to say a word as long as Gabe left Hampton Hall and washed his hands of Sophie in the process. But there had to be others their fathers had served with, someone else who knew of Charles Prideaux’s first and legal wife. There was no guarantee that everyone who knew the truth would hold their tongues forever. “We can’t take that risk, sweetheart.”
Sophie heaved a frustrated sigh. “Every moment we stay here, is another moment we are giving Papa to catch us, Gabe.”
“You aren’t listening to me.”
“I am.” She frowned up at him. “But you aren’t listening to me. I love you, Gabriel Prideaux. I always have. And I will not sacrifice my future with you because of something that may never come to pass. It isn’t fair to me. It isn’t fair to either of us, and—”
“There’s a very good likelihood—”
“And…” Sophie pitched her voice higher to talk over him. “Even if it does come to pass and I am tossed from each and every drawing room in Mayfair, I will still have you which is all I’ve ever really wanted.”
Dear God, he loved her. Gabe couldn’t help but smile at her declaration. She’d always been so full of fire and energy, and if he—
“Don’t you want me just as deeply?” she asked. Her voice was softer as it whispered across him and echoed in his heart.
“You know I do,” he admitted just as softly, because he could not deny that indisputable fact. To do so would see him struck down by lightning, but—
Victory flashed in her eyes. “Then let’s do hurry,” she said as she began to tug him toward the doorway. “We’ve already lost four years. I don’t want to lose a moment more.”
Neither did Gabe. It had been four years, four long years they’d been separated. She was right about that, and his heart lifted just a bit at the thought of running off with her and to hell with everyone else. They had been apart for entirely too long. But even so, he wasn’t ready to run off with her, not quite yet…
He dug in his heels and made her turn back to face him.
“Gabe?” There was a question in her pretty blue eyes and a hint of despair.
He hated that despair and hoped to never see it again for the rest of his days. “We can’t leave quite yet,” he said softly.
“Gabe…”
“We’re only going to do this once, Soph. At least let me be as proper as I can.” And then he dropped to one knee, never letting his gaze leave hers as he held her hand tightly in his. Gabe cleared his throat. He had clearly lost his mind, whatever of it he had left. And she’d lost hers too, he had no doubt about that. If they were going to consent to madness, he supposed there was no one else in the world he wanted to fall into that abyss with other than Sophie. “Sophia Josephine Hampton, will you do me the greatest honor in the world by becoming my wife?”
The despair was gone and hope shone in her eyes before she threw herself around his neck and squeezed him to her. She nearly smothered him in her bosom, but Gabe would never complain about that. She was so soft and she smelled so familiar, like a memory from so long ago had washed back over him.
He pushed back to his feet and tucked a strand of her damp hair behind her ear. “Is that a yes, then?”
“You know it is.” Sophie nodded quickly. “But we should leave, Gabe. We should put as much distance between us and London as we can.”
“Aye, love.” He smiled down at her and cupped her jaw in his hands. Her skin was so soft and her face so lovely, he’d seen it in his mind nearly every day he’d been away. “But there’s certainly time enough for this.” And then he dipped his head down to brush his lips against hers.
A soft sigh escaped Sophie as her hands settled against his chest. Her touch urged him on, and he deepened their kiss, tangling his tongue with hers, bringing his cock to life. Gabe breathed her in like his very life depended upon it, threading his fingers through her hair and relishing the feel of her in his arms. Kissing Sophie now was so much better than the memories of their kisses that had kept him warm all these years, and he never wanted to let her go.
But she was right. They needed to make quick work getting to Scotland and hope Beckbury wouldn’t be able to catch them. Gabe slowly lifted his head and broke their kiss. Sophie blinked her eyes open and the color in her cheeks made her even more lovely than usual. “We should go,” he whispered.
She nodded in agreement. “Will you kiss me like that all the way to Scotland?”
He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. “Just try to stop me.”
He had kissed Sophie so long, so passionately as they traveled north, she thought she might very well burst into flames at any given moment. Her insides had tingled, her blood had rushed, and her lips were swollen. But he hadn’t done anything beyond kissing her, nothing beyond holding her in his arms. He hadn’t lifted the edge of her skirts, nor had he tugged at her bodice, no matter how much Sophie had wanted him to. She hadn’t voiced that, of course, but she’d wished for his touch, for his skin against hers the majority of the day.
Still, there was nothing in the world that compared to being held by Gabe, nothing in the world like knowing his pulse beat for her as much as hers beat for him, nothing in the world that compared to his kisses or to the feel of him beside her as they embarked on this journey together. It was almost as though she was truly living for the very first time in her life.
They’d changed horses a number of times along the way, but Lumley was quite expedient in doing so. They even seemed to be traveling at breakneck speed along the road, and for that Sophie would be eternally grateful to the driver even enough to forgive him for dragging her through the mud. The further distance they put between themselves and London, the more difficult it would be for Papa to catch up to them. If Papa caught them before they managed to say their vows over an anvil, there was no telling what he would do…to both of them.
But she was more at ease the further they traveled down the road, and the reality of the future she was running toward became clearer with each mile they gained. Sophie loved the feel of Gabe’s arm draped around her shoulders. She loved his sandalwood scent that enveloped her in their confines, making her feel safe and protected within. And she loved the way his deep baritone made her belly flip whenever he spoke and particularly when he said her name. She loved every single thing about him, she always had.
Along the way, he told her of his travels with the 9th across the Continent and then all the way to Canada, and how much he’d wanted her beside him during those years. She told him of her first two London seasons and of the private foundling hospital where she and Charlotte spent so much of their time the last few months. He told her about surviving a French bullet during the Battle of Vittoria. She told him about the fire in the Worfe Mill back home in Beckbury and the village’s repair efforts. He told her how much he missed her. And she told him the same.
In so many ways, it was like they’d never been apart. Oh, Gabe was not the same young man he’d once been, but how could he be after several years at war? No, no. He was more serious and quiet now, perhaps even stoic these days. But the core of who he was had not changed in the least. He was honest and true and noble and brave. And when he kissed her, her toes curled and the rest of the world faded away into a blur.
Against the fading light, the ducal carriage began to slow, and Sophie noticed a coaching inn appear in the window.
“We’ll just stay long enough for Lumley to get a bit of sleep before we start again,” Gabe said softly.
Sophie nodded in agreement. The last thing in the world they wanted was for the coach to careen off the side of the road due to the driver’s fatigue.
“Perhaps you’ll want to even pen a letter to Charlotte or your father to keep them from worry.”
Sophie bit back a smile. “Knowing I’m eloping with you would hardly bring either of them comfort.”
Gabe’s brow lifted as the coach rambled to a stop in the yard. “I know your father hates me, but I thought Charlotte liked me.”
“She did before you broke my heart. Now you have the distinction of being the one person in the world Charlotte cannot abide.”
Gabe lifted Sophie’s hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “You cannot know how sorry I am about that. I will—”
“It was hardly your fault,” she said softly as the door to the coach opened. After all, if Papa had said yes all those years ago, she never would have been apart from Gabe for even a day.
“I am still sorry all the same,” Gabe replied. Then he climbed from the carriage and lifted his hand back inside to assist her to the ground. “And I will spend my life making it up to you.”
Her father had quite a bit to make up for, honestly. Threatening Gabe with revealing the secret about his parents’ marriage. She’d always thought her father to be the most honorable of men. But his dealings with Gabe hardly spoke to the lofty pillar Sophie had once put her father atop.
Gabe glanced at the coachman and said. “Just a few hours, right?”
Lumley agreed with a nod. “Indeed, Major. And if we maintain the pace we’ve set today. We can reach the border by tomorrow evening.”
Tomorrow evening. Sophie would arrive at Gretna Green tomorrow evening and then, after all their years apart, they’d finally be husband and wife. It was quite the surreal thought.
“Perfect.” Gabe smiled at the servant in farewell as he led Sophie into the taproom.
The establishment was quite the raucous place, filled to the brim with locals and travelers alike. Everyone had a pint of something and it was difficult for Sophie to even hear her own thoughts over the din. Gabe leaned across the bar and said something to the barkeeper. Sophie managed to make out the word wife but nothing else.
The barkeeper nodded, then reached under the counter, retrieving a key that he offered to Gabe. He gestured toward a set of steps and muttered indiscriminate directions that Sophie didn’t have a prayer of understanding. Gabe must have heard every word, however, as he pocketed the key and led Sophie in the direction that the barkeeper had indicated.
After they climbed the stairs and arrived at a landing, the noise from below was diminished some. Sophie glanced up at the oh-so-handsome major. “I can’t believe you heard anything he said. It was so loud down there.”
Gabe smiled. “I’ve a lot of practice hearing things over cannon fire, love.”
Oh, she supposed that did make sense.
He squeezed her fingers and escorted her down the corridor until they arrived at a particular door. Gabe retrieved the key from his pocket, opened the door and then gestured Sophie over the threshold. In the waning light, he opened a flint box and lit a nearby lamp, swathing the small chamber in a warm glow.
“You told him I was your wife,” Sophie said as she eyed the small bed in the corner of the room. It was a far cry from her bed at Beckbury House. And it would certainly be tight fit for the two of them.
Gabe came up behind her and squeezed Sophie’s shoulders with his hands. “You will be that tomorrow.” His touch made ripples of awareness wash over her and Sophie closed her eyes, relishing in the sensation. “Certainly better if all those fellows down there think you’re already Mrs. Prideaux.”
Sophia Prideaux, a name Sophie had once repeated over and over in her mind as though willing it to be hers could somehow make it true. And tomorrow it finally would be. She shivered in anticipation at the thought.
“Are you cold?” Gabe asked softly, his deep voice enveloping her in the tiny room and turning her insides to mush.
Sophie shook her head. “Just thinking about the fact that I’ll finally be yours tomorrow.”
His lips found the side of her neck, heating her all the way down to her toes. “You’ve always been mine.”
How true that was. She smiled in agreement. “And I always will be.” She spun around to face him. How wonderful he was in every single way. “Will you make me yours tonight?” She’d been wondering that the last several hours along the road, but hadn’t spoken those words aloud until now.
A flickering of desire sparked in his hazel eyes. “I want you more desperately than my next breath of air.” But then he shook his head. “However after the way my father went about things in his life, I won’t have anyone question my respect for you.” He released a breath as he captured both of her arms with his hands. “When you’re finally mine in name, I’ll take all of you, but not until then, even if it kills me in the meantime.”
There was something so romantic in that. No one would ever know what happened between them this night. Only the two of them who had always loved each other, who had pined for the other while they were separated. And yet, there was more than love between them, more than desire…He wanted her to know he respected her. She was, after all, the only one who would know he’d been a gentleman along their journey. But that, it seemed, was everything. And that warmed her more than anything else in the world ever had.
Sophie stepped closer to Gabe, and his hands slid down her arms until he intertwined his fingers with hers. “I love you, Gabriel Prideaux, with my entire heart. And there is no man I have ever respected more.”
He dipped his head down and kissed her like he had so many times in the carriage that day. Heat pooled within Sophie and her nipples tightened against her borrowed homespun dress. Goodness tomorrow could not come soon enough.
After a moment, Gabe lifted his head and smiled down at her. “We should get some sleep. It’ll be a long day tomorrow.”
Sophie agreed with a nod and climbed under the counterpane on the small bed. It was lumpy and uncomfortable, quite possibly the worst bed she’d ever come across, but she didn’t care in the least, not when Gabe unbuttoned his regimental jacket and folded it over the back of a nearby chair. She’d never seen him in his shirtsleeves. He was quite noteworthy, all muscles, broad shoulders and that bit of skin she saw at his neck was rather mesmerizing.
Gabe sat on the edge of the bed and tugged his boots from his feet before finally leaning back beside Sophie. “The bed’s not very big, is it?”
Sophie turned on her side and rested her head on Gabe’s chest. It was so comforting listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. “I don’t mind.”
“Neither do I.” He squeezed her to him and she couldn’t help but smile against his chest.
“So tomorrow Gretna Green and then onto Fairhaven.”
She felt Gabe nod. “Everything hinges on the cottage, Soph.” If we can sell it at a decent price, we should be able to stay afloat while I figure out how to turn the earldom around.”
“Lucky you have it, then,” she said. “Lucky your brother hasn’t already sold it.”
“Perhaps,” he replied. “Though there must have been some reason Clayton hasn’t done so. If it’s a crumbling pile of stones, it could very well be worthless. We won’t know until we lay our eyes on it.”
But they couldn’t think that way. Sophie pushed up on her arms to look down at him. “Fairhaven will be perfect and we’ll sell it for even more than you could possibly hope, and then all will be well.”
“From your mouth…” His gaze lingered on her lips and Sophie’s skin grew warm once again. Heavens, she hoped he always looked at her with such passion. If her parents had ever possessed such affection for each other it was so long ago, she didn’t remember it.
Sophie dipped her head down and kissed him quickly before resuming her spot in his arms. “And then onto Northend?” His family seat. Their future home. The place they would raise their children someday. Heavens, she wanted that.
“And then onto Northend,” he agreed, though there was hesitation in his voice. Of course, it had been years since he’d seen the place. If he was worried about the state of Fairhaven, he was probably even more concerned with how they’d find Northend.
“Everything will be perfect, Gabe,” she said softly, hoping to alleviate his worries. “All will be well from now until forever.” One way or another.
He squeezed her a bit tighter. “With you at my side, Sophie, all will be well from here on out.”