The Sheik's Son (32 page)

“Sophie, what is it?”

She looked around the floor and found her white linen shift. She pulled it on and faced her husband, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I don’t know what to say,” she almost whispered.

“Just tell me the truth. I’m your husband and I will do everything in my power to protect you.” He came to stand before her.

She pulled her hair up and back and tried to find the words. “I don’t know where to begin.”

“At the beginning. Come, Sophie. Tell me what’s happened or I’ll expect the worst.”

“Very well.” She took a deep breath. The hiding and sneaking around was at an end. She would either face it alone, or he would be a true husband and protect her from the inspector. “Two weeks ago the inspector summoned me to his lodgings.”

“You went alone to his lodgings?!” Sebastian thundered, shocked.

“Yes. The note was implicit in that. Indeed, besides his address, it was the only thing he mentioned.” Sophie looked away from his gaze.

Sebastian cursed himself. He should have known the blackguard had not given up. “What happened at the lodgings?”

“He mentioned that he had been following me for some time. He called me a traitor to my country and the monarchy.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Bastard.”

Sophie shrugged. “I asked him the most obvious question. I asked him if he had proof.” At this, Sophie shook her head. “I had given him my own head on a platter.”

“How so?” Sebastian asked.

“My grandmother is such a stickler for niceties and tradition. She insisted I write a personal thank-you card to everyone who had attended the ball. That included the inspector.”

“So?”

“So I believe he took the card I wrote and went to the printer’s—or most likely, broke into the printer’s shop and stole my original writings of the pamphlet.”

Sebastian ground his teeth. “Sophie.”

“The inspector made no mention of any desire for me; quite the opposite. In fact, he told me he had no wish for me in that regard. What he wanted was my help. Or I should say, he demanded it.”

“Blackmail?”

“Yes.” Sophie told the story calmly but she could feel the tears building up. “He said he would have my assistance or he would arrest me. Then he showed me the card I had written and the pamphlet from the printer. The writing was identical.”

“Sophie.” Sebastian kneeled before her on the bed.

“He mentioned again his desire to be the youngest commissioner in Paris. He also told me that he was giving me a chance to avoid jail.”

Sebastian shook his head. To blackmail a well-bred young woman was unthinkable!

“He said that many must have told me that I was beautiful. I didn’t know why he was saying these things.” Sophie looked into her lap.

Sebastian remained silent, all the while cursing his anger at her. She had gone through everything alone and borne it well, but she should not have been alone. He should have been at her side.

“Then it became clear. He asked me how long I thought I would last in jail. He said that the guards would take turns with me one after the other. And when they were finished, I would be like discarded rubbish.” Sophie shuddered.

“Bastard!” He swore.

“I was never the target. He wanted me to get to my father—or more precisely, my father’s office,” she told him.

Of course
, Sebastian thought. An ambitious man would want power. How better to gain power then by seizing it from others or bringing others down? Sophie was merely a pawn.

“He didn’t mention who and I never pressed him, but he wanted incriminating papers on someone. He told me my father had those papers.”

“So in return for not being arrested, I helped him. I betrayed my father to help a power-hungry madman,” Sophie finished, trying to hold back the tears.

“Sophie, no. You had no choice.” Sebastian touched her cheek lightly.

“Yes, I know, but that makes it all the worse. You of all people should know. You warned me. You warned me and I didn’t listen!” She felt the tears upon her cheeks.

“Sophie, no, no.” He held her hands in his and his heart broke at the sight of her tears. “You could do no less. I see that now. You had to write. I know that now. He’s a blackguard! To take advantage of you! To threaten you!”

Sophie wiped away her tears. “He told me that once he retrieved the papers, our agreement would be at an end. He said that as commissioner, more important people would occupy his time and energy.”

Sebastian doubted the word of a madman.

“He told me to tell no one and specifically mentioned you and my father.”

Sebastian nodded. “Of course he would.”

“I waited to hear from him and finally we met at a park. He told me at the week’s end to meet at the coffeehouse on the corner of the street where my father works. I had passed it several times over the years so I knew it well.”

“Go on,” Sebastian said.

“He named the time and asked that I wear a mourning gown. I had one from my uncle who died two years ago. He said we must not draw attention to ourselves.”

Sebastian nodded. “Yes, I understand.”

“So I met him that evening. He gave me a lantern and we made our way to my father’s office.” She recalled the knife and the words stuck in her throat. “He had a knife but said he didn’t want to use it.”

“
Mon Dieu
!” Sebastian exclaimed. He would kill the man.

“We moved along the corridors and when we came upon my father’s office, he picked the lock. Once inside, he rummaged through the papers until he found what he was looking for. I spent the time looking out the window wishing I was somewhere else.”

“Sophie, you aren’t alone now,” Sebastian said quietly.

“Actually, I spent the time thinking of you and how you had warned me. You warned me and married me to keep me safe and all I did was ignore you.” Her moist hazel eyes met his.

“Stop! You could not have foreseen this,” he told her.

Sophie sniffed. “When he was done, we left the building and parted ways. But before we did, he said he would contact me again when and if he needed me.”

Sebastian was not surprised.

“I yelled at him! He had said it would be at an end once he had found the papers he needed. But he said no, it was just a beginning. He said we could find much information and he could bring Paris to heel. I told him there was no ‘we’ and that I would not help him. He told me I had no choice.”

Sophie’s story came to an end and Sebastian remained kneeling at her feet for several moments before he cupped her face and kissed her on the lips.

“You are no longer alone,” he told her. “Give me the address of the printer and the inspector’s lodgings.

Sophie was about to argue but her husband was up and moving through the adjoining door of their rooms.

Sophie sifted through her papers and found the address to Alain’s lodgings and wrote the printer’s address underneath it while her husband was quickly dressing.

“Here it is.” She handed him the paper.

“Good.”

“What are you going to do, Sebastian?” she asked, following him around the room as he looked for his hose and shoes.

“Right now, Inspector Vennard has all the power. The balance of power must be shifted in our favor. I aim to do just that.”

“How?” she asked.

“You’ll see.” He kissed her lightly on the lips and moved to depart the room. He glanced back and saw his wife watching him intently in her white shift, with her auburn hair falling down her back. He came back to her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her again. This time he lingered, smelling her hair and hating the inspector for causing her such grief.

“Trust me, Sophie. I will protect you.”

“I do trust you.”

“I will return.”

***

Etienne eyed Sebastian distastefully but continued to pull on his breeches and hose.

“What an ungodly hour to wake a man,” he complained, but continued to dress.

Sebastian ignored his friend’s protests and handed him the garments he requested. “Since when did I become your valet?”

“Since you decided to wake me up at the crack of dawn with no explanations and not even a crust of bread for an empty stomach.”

Sebastian slapped his friend on the back as they headed out the door. “There’s time enough for that later.”

***

The printer’s shop was not hard to find. The door was locked and the press was quiet but he banged on the door nonetheless. The printer finally emerged in a long white dressing gown, looking bleary-eyed and irritable.

Etienne looked in a similar state as the printer and Sebastian exchanged words.

“My wife has written several items for you and I require them back,” he said, placing several coins into the man’s hand.

The printer, normally a man of words and freedom of expression, was apt to argue but sleep deprivation and the heavy coins changed his mind. He allowed the two men access to his shop, waving his hand to the wooden shelves in the back.

“Over there. I keep all my originals in the back,” he muttered before returning upstairs to his bed.

Etienne was at a loss for words but Sebastian showed him Sophie’s writing and told him to look for anything similar. Many of the sheets were filled with cramped handwriting, not his wife’s elegant work, but before long they discovered her other writings and took them in hand, with Sebastian carefully placing the items into his coat pocket.

They left the shop with Etienne complaining about his lack of breakfast. Sebastian took pity on him and purchased them both meat pies from a street vendor before they made their next stop.

“What is all this about?” Etienne asked.

Sebastian sat across from him in the carriage in a stony silence as they made their way to the inspector’s lodgings.

Finally he took a deep breath and relayed everything to his friend as he had been told by Sophie. He laid the facts out plainly and told Etienne that their current mission was to secure all the items that would lead the inspector back to Sophie as the pamphlet writer.

They had achieved part of that mission at the printer’s. Now they needed to visit the lodgings of the inspector and take back the two items he held over Sophie’s head.

“With pleasure!” Etienne exclaimed as the carriage continued its course and Sebastian finished his story. “My God, Bash! To blackmail a respectable young woman like that and to have her break into her own father’s office. The man’s a scoundrel!”

“Yes. But once we have the papers in our possession, Sophie will be free and then we can deal with him properly,” Sebastian said coldly.

“You may count me firmly in your corner,
mon ami
,” Etienne said passionately.

The carriage deposited the two men in front of the unsavory tavern and went on its way. Sebastian saw the staircase Sophie had mentioned at the side of the main building, and several children ran by chasing a dog, but other than that, the small street was bare. They moved quickly up the stairs and found the door unlocked.

When the two men entered, both stared at the austere, plain room. It was simply filled with the necessary table and chairs, shelves and bed and nothing in addition. It looked more like a monk’s cell, only missing the necessary crucifix.

He saw no papers immediately in view so he and Etienne began to comb through the many books, shaking each one upside down to discover its contents. One after the other came out of the shelf but none revealed Sophie’s writings.

The spartan room left few places to hide anything, yet Sebastian knew the man well enough to know that he would have it someplace close at hand. He even checked the floorboards, but none were loose. He looked about the room and thought perhaps the inspector might have the writings on his person.

“Come, Bash. It’s not here,” Etienne said after they’d spent several minutes combing through the small library.

Sebastian shook his head and took one last look at the room. He noticed for the first time on the wall the painting of a ship at sea. It was a copy, and not a very good one, of an overly large ship atop a massive wave at sea. It seemed out of place and Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

He moved towards it, took the picture off the wall and flung it over onto the bed in one quick movement. There on the backside of the painting was the card and Sophie’s original handwritten pamphlet.

“
Voila
!” Sebastian exclaimed, tucking the precious papers into his coat and setting the painting back carefully. “Now the game begins.”

Chapter 25

Lizette hadn’t seen Sophie since her marriage ceremony, so when she was invited over to her new home for tea, she was delighted.

The two women chatted and talked of insignificant things in the small salon, although Sophie’s mind remained on her husband and what he intended to do with the addresses she had given him.

“I was so shocked when you had married, Sophie. Of course, he’s so handsome and connected but I never thought—”

“It was sudden,” Sophie nodded in agreement.

Lizette prattled on about the sudden marriage and Sophie heard bits and pieces of “expecting” and “marriage,” which only confirmed what she had thought. Everyone had decided that the sudden marriage was due to her pregnancy and the fact that the couple had visited the marital bed before the marriage.

If they only knew
, she thought, smiling.

She watched the day turn to midafternoon and waited for Sebastian to return home long after she had bid a warm goodbye to Lizette.

When she finally heard him enter the foyer, she tried to calm herself.

“Sophie?” Sebastian asked, entering the salon. “Marie said you were waiting for me.”

“Yes. I have been so worried since this morning when you asked me for the addresses.” Sophie moved toward him, looking for signs of blood or an attack, but her husband seemed perfectly fine.

“Sophie, I’m well. Etienne and I accomplished what I set out to do,” he assured her calmly.

“Which was?” Sophie asked.

Sebastian pulled from his coat pocket the two items that the inspector had held over Sophie and handed them to his wife.