Once she had properly composed herself from the near meeting with Malcolm in the garden, Sophie spent the remainder of the day working in the study. Some hours later, she sat up, flexing her fingers, cramped from scribbling away at the accounts. She had taken a quick break for dinner and had then returned to the study to finish off writing her list of the remaining mistakes she had found in the ledger.

Glancing up at the clock, Sophie realized with a shock that it was much later than she had thought. Given that she was falling so far behind due to her nerves, Sophie had wanted to finish her task regardless of the time, knowing that Lords Harrington, Haversham, and Dunstable had all gone out for the evening.

However, it was now close to midnight. Sophie should have already been abed since she would have to wake up early to help with the morning duties. Closing the ledger and promising herself she would finish the task in the morning, she made for the door – only for it to open.

“I’m sure he keeps some brandy in here,” she heard someone mutter and, with a gasp of fright, Sophie stepped back into the shadows. She pressed her hand to her mouth as her cousin stepped inside, swaying just a little. While Sophie had no wish to ever be in his presence, it was much worse when he was clearly deep in his cups, as he currently was. Fear clutched at her heart as she realized that he stood between her and the door. There was no way for her to escape. The night in the library of his home came rushing back to her, as did the fear she felt when he had chased her through the halls. She would have to just hide herself away and hope that he would leave once he had found the brandy.

Unfortunately, in her haste to hide in the dark corner of the room, she managed to trip over a footstool and went crashing to the ground with it.

“What the devil –- ?”

Sophie scrambled away, her ankle beginning to throb painfully. She tried to hide as best she could, but her cousin was already coming in search of her, his eyes piercing the darkness.

She screamed aloud as he reached forward and grabbed at her, his hands scrabbling in the darkness. “No, no!” she cried out, her heart beating so fast she thought she might be sick. “Leave me alone!”

“A pretty little maid, is it?” Lord Dunstable chuckled, using his strength to pull her against him, staggering back a little. “Come here, my sweet. I have been long missing the company of a warm body in my bed.”

Sophie cried out and kicked him as hard as she could but found that she could not stand on her other leg at all. She collapsed on the ground as Lord Dunstable let out a cry of pain where she had connected, only for him then to grab her hair and attempt to haul her to her feet.

Recognition flared in his eyes when the light his her face.

“You little witch,” Lord Dunstable hissed. He grabbed her face with one hand and pulled her closer to the candlelight. “So you decided to you could hide away from me, did you?”

“Leave me be!” Sophie whispered, struggling against him. “Leave me, I beg you!”

Lord Dunstable squeezed her cheeks painfully. “I have been searching high and low for you, and here you are in the home of my friend,” he growled, slamming her against the wall so hard that all of her breath shot out of her body. “Did you really think you could hide from me?” He let his fingers trace down her throat, his other hand now on her arm. “I always get what I want, Sophie. You should know that by now.”

Sophie cried out again, only to receive a sharp, stinging blow across the face. She tasted blood, her head spinning as she tried in vain to move away from him. Her ankle was too painful to stand on, and his strength was beginning to overcome her.

His hands began to rake at her skirts and, fighting with all she had, Sophie tried hard to push him away, screaming at the top of her voice. He slapped her again but Sophie did not stop trying to wrench herself away from him. She tried to slump to the floor, but he grasped her shoulders and held her against the wall, pressing the length of his body against hers.

This was it. She was doomed. There was nothing she could do. Panic gripped her as he pressed his fingers to her throat, his meaning clear.

“Do not try to fight me anymore, Sophie,” he whispered, threateningly. “I do not intend to make things easy for you. If you want to live, you will do just as I say.”

“I’d rather die first,” Sophie rasped out, hardly able to speak. “You shall never have me.”

He chuckled, darkly. “We will see about that, Sophie.” He pressed his lips to hers and, even though she banged on his chest to try to make him let her go, he simply pushed himself against her all the more.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The door to the study flew open, slamming against the wall. Lord Dunstable stepped back from Sophie at once, and she slumped to the floor, drawing her knees up and letting her head fall into her arms as she tried to catch her breath.

“I’m just taking my pleasure with your maid,” Lord Dunstable replied, with a touch of humor. “Nothing to see here, Harrington.”

“It seems like she does not want your particular attentions, Dunstable,” Harrington replied, firmly, stepping closer to Sophie. “And I do not want my staff treated in such a way.”

Sophie shuddered violently and he bent down to look at her. He reached out a hand and lifted her head, to gasp with horror at what he saw. Sophie knew her face was already swelling, and, as he touched her cheek gently, she could not help but wince. A flash of anger in his eyes and a growl from his throat told her that he was enraged by what Dunstable had done and he turned sharply to the man.

She knew that now the truth would come out. Dunstable would not hide her identity. What would Harrington feel for her then, knowing she had lied to him for all this time?

“Get. Out.”

Lord Harrington rose to his feet, glaring at Lord Dunstable, who merely laughed.

“I said, get out,” Harrington repeated, glowering at him. “No one treats my staff this way. You are not welcome here, Dunstable.”

“Ah, you feel something for the little maid,” Lord Dunstable replied, easily. “I suppose she has not told you, then.”

There was a short pause.

“Told me what?”

Lord Dunstable chuckled, wandering over to Sophie and reaching out a hand to her. As Sophie shuddered, Lord Harrington stepped between them, keeping Malcolm away.

“This is my fair cousin, Lord Harrington, the one who went missing.”

The atmosphere grew thick. Sophie could hardly breathe, desperate for Lord Harrington to understand.

“She belongs to me,” Dunstable continued with a smug grin. “Miss Sophie Carmichael – her father was Lord Carmichael, although he died recently and she was left to my care.”

“I am not yours,” Sophie but out, her words shaky but with some strength. “I have rejected you again and again, why can you not leave me be?”

“Be silent!”

Lord Dunstable’s words were like a gunshot, echoing through the room. Sophie shrank back, terrified that he would hurt her again.

“If she is your cousin,” Harrington began, quietly. “Then why did she end up with me, under some false pretense of being a servant?”

There was a short silence. Sophie, too afraid to say another word, prayed silently that Lord Harrington might take pity on her, might realize that her cousin was a tyrant, that she had been desperate to escape him.

“Because she is a foolish, foolhardy young thing who would not step in line,” Lord Dunstable said, with a trace of anger lining his words. “Selfish, headstrong and entirely willful.”

“And it is not because she was running from you, I suppose,” Lord Harrington continued, calmly. “Is what I walked in on how you treated her at home?”

Lord Dunstable chuckled. “She is mine to do with as I please.”

Sophie’s skin crawled with loathing and a prick of fear. If Lord Harrington turned his back on her now, then there would be nothing for her. She would end up as Lord Dunstable’s plaything, never to have a life of her own.

Lifting her head, she looked up at Lord Harrington, who had turned toward her. His eyes flashed with emotion -- of what, she wasn’t sure. Silent tears began to roll down her cheeks as Malcolm laughed.

“I think you ought to leave, Dunstable,” Harrington said, eventually. He walked to the corner of the room and pulled at the bell multiple times, despite the hour.

Lord Dunstable snorted. “Very well, but I shall be taking my cousin with me.”

“No,” Lord Harrington interrupted, firmly. “You shall not. You’ll never touch her again.”

“I really do not think this has anything to do with you, Harrington,” Lord Dunstable sneered at him as he walked over and grabbed Sophie by the wrist. “I apologize my cousin wormed her way into your home. We shall be going now.”

“You will go alone,” Lord Harrington stalked over to them, gripping Dunstable’s arm until he let go of Sophie, and she shifted as far away from Malcolm as she could. “And I do have a say as she is to be my wife.”

There was a pause, only for Lord Dunstable to start laughing incredulously. “Sophie?” he cried, mockingly. “You intend to marry her? Do not make me laugh so!”

Sophie, who was similarly aghast, although for different reasons, gazed up at Lord Harrington. He did not look at her, but grasped Lord Dunstable by the collar with strong hands and lifted him, bodily, away from Sophie.

“I said, get out,” he breathed, his voice dangerously low. “You are not welcome here. Stay away from me and away from the girl.”

“You will regret this, Harrington,” Dunstable exclaimed, his expression altogether ugly.

“Never,” Lord Harrington replied, opening the door to his study and practically throwing Lord Dunstable out. “I regret only bringing you here. Now get out and go home. I never want to see you in my house again.”