IT WAS THE helicopter that made Magnus become shy, grip the bit between his teeth and finally bolt.
Vaguely Sophie was aware of the machine landing in the forecourt of the castle ground, but most of her attention was taken up with Magnus and all the power hunched beneath her. She considered trying to bring the giant horse under control, but in the end she gave that up as a bad joke and just hung on.
Realising that she wasn’t going to fight him, the horse relaxed his mouth, if not his speed, and she knew she could bring him to a halt if she wanted.
But she didn’t want. She spurred him on instead.
They’d already been for a hard ride, but it hadn’t been enough for Magnus. And it hadn’t been enough for her either. She pushed him on hard—she wanted him thoroughly worn out. She wanted him to think twice before ever bolting on her again. His sides were heaving with exertion when she finally cantered him into the stable yard.
A grim-faced Will met her. He reached out and caught hold of the bridle, holding Magnus still while she slipped from his back.
‘You could’ve been killed!’
The words emerged from between clenched teeth and Sophie found herself tossing her head, much as Magus had earlier. ‘The only one in danger of being murdered today, Will, is you.’
Those lips whitened further. He turned his head the merest fraction to glare at Colin. ‘I told you she wasn’t to ride Magnus.’
‘There wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it when I snuck into the stable and saddled Magnus myself.’
He glared at her. ‘I could…’
She raised an eyebrow when he didn’t finish. Throttle her? Good. That made them even.
She took the reins from Will’s clenched hands and walked towards the stables. ‘I need to give Magnus a good rub-down.’
Colin stepped forward. ‘I can do that.’
She hesitated before handing over the reins. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured.
He shook his head. ‘Don’t be. It’s not often we get to see such expert horsemanship. It was a bit of a treat, to be honest.’
She could feel Will’s glower from where she stood, and Colin made a hasty exit with Magnus. She watched them go and wondered if she could poach Colin for her equestrian centre.
The next moment her arm was gripped by unrelenting fingers and she found herself marched away from the castle, away from all the outbuildings, and in the direction of a copse of trees. She knew from previous exploration that a clear sweet stream flowed down there.
‘You could’ve broken your neck!’
She pulled free from his grasp. ‘So could you!’ She pointed towards the helicopter.
‘That is a safe mode of transportation!’
‘While I was never in any danger!’
They were both breathing hard and her legs were shaking. It was delayed reaction from the wild ride. It had absolutely nothing to do with the bristling display of masculinity in front of her. At least that was what she told herself. ‘You’re such an idiot, Will.’
They both knew she no longer referred to horses or helicopters.
‘I don’t want to have this conversation where anyone can see us.’
He went to take her arm again but she wouldn’t let him. She leaned forward to poke him in the chest. Beneath her finger his muscles were bunched tight and hard. ‘You were the one who told me how high the stakes were on Saturday night.’ She kept her voice low, making sure it carried no further than Will’s ears. ‘And yet you were the one who went home with another woman. At a ball your fiancée was hosting…and where said fiancée was taking such pains to ensure your sister enjoyed herself so much she couldn’t wait to come back to London. So that she’d no longer fear London but would start to associate it with fun and joy. And you—’
She couldn’t finish the sentence. She’d never expected his fidelity, but she’d thought he’d…
She thought he’d treat her with respect.
Evidently she’d been wrong.
He bent at the waist, bracing his hands on his knees. ‘Sophie—’
She pushed against his shoulder, though it barely made an impression on him. Still, he turned his head to meet her gaze. ‘Do you think Peter would pat you on the back for this…tell you what a good guy you are?’ She shook her head and then flung an arm towards the hill she and Magnus had just climbed. ‘He’d take you out there and beat the crap out of you.’
‘And I’d let him.’ He straightened, his face white and his breathing coming hard and sharp.
She wheeled away, heading for the trees and stream. ‘You needn’t think that makes a scrap of difference.’
In two strides he’d caught up with her, his hands on her shoulders pulling her to a halt. ‘Nothing happened.’
‘Let go of me.’
He dropped his hands immediately. ‘Nothing happened,’ he repeated.
‘Wow!’ She folded her arms. ‘You’ve never lied to me before. You must be feeling really guilty.’
His nostrils flared. ‘I’m not lying to you now.’
She went to turn away.
‘I did not sleep with Simone.’
She halted.
‘I got stupid drunk and she gave me a lift home. End of story. I rang her yesterday to apologise for the state I was in and for putting her driver to so much trouble.’
‘Why didn’t you ring me as well?’
‘Because there was nothing to tell! I didn’t know the papers were going to run with the stupid story.’
Given he was a successful businessman, he must have a great poker face, but…
She wanted to believe him. How much frightened her.
‘For God’s sake, Sophie, give me some credit! You know how much I hate a fuss or spectacle in the newspapers. If I’d had my sights set on Simone I’d have slipped out with her far more discreetly than that.’
He had a point, but…
‘Simone is a good sport. She’d been considering a final fling with me.’
That didn’t make her a good sport! It made her a—
‘But not once she realised how drunk I was.’ He grimaced. ‘Apparently all I could talk about was you anyway. So she gave me up for a lost cause.’
‘Me? You talked about me?’
He raked a hand back through his hair. ‘According to her I extolled your many virtues.’
‘Oh, now I really don’t believe you.’ But she did. And she could tell that, from her tone of voice, he knew it too.
‘I’m going to be brutally honest now.’ They’d reached the shade of the trees and Will shoved his shoulders back. The sound of the stream splashed and burbled in the still air. ‘I got so drunk on Saturday night because I was going out of my mind with lust for you. I want you like I can’t remember wanting any woman.’
‘No!’ She took a step backwards when all she wanted to do was hurl herself into his arms.
He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Denying it doesn’t make it any the less true.’
She twisted her hands together. ‘It’s only because we’ve put…limits on our relationship. If they weren’t there I wouldn’t seem half so attractive to you.’
‘I wish I could believe that.’ He dragged in a breath that made him grow taller. ‘But I made you a promise.’
Her heart raced and her stomach churned. ‘And it’s one that I’m going to hold you to.’
‘Why?’
The single word cracked from between white lips. What did he mean, why?
He leaned forward and took her chin between gentle but inexorable fingers. ‘I could make you feel so good, Sophie Mitchell. I’d work so hard at it, apply myself so assiduously, that I’d make you scream—’ his voice lowered ‘—with pleasure…and then I’d make you purr. And I’d do it again and again and again.’
Her mouth went dry with longing. ‘Stop it!’ She pressed her fingers to his mouth and tried to fight the tempting breeze that shimmered across the surface of her skin, tightening her nipples to hard, aching buds.
‘Why not, Sophie? We’d be good together and you know it.’
Because the stakes were too high—her heart, this strange friendship of theirs…their shared memories of Peter. Not to mention the far from simple matter that she’d sworn to turn over a new leaf. She wasn’t risking all of that. ‘Because you don’t do love and commitment, and I no longer use sex as a tool to…to forget.’
He let go of her as if she’d burned him.
She gestured. ‘Let’s go down to the stream.’
Once down at the stream, Sophie sat on a rock and Will stood with his back to her and started skimming stones at a spot where the stream widened and formed a calm pool. Her heart throbbed and no amount of deep breathing or swallowing eased it. ‘You could call the wedding off, you know, Will.’
He spun around. ‘No! Why would you even suggest that?’
‘Call it a stab in the dark, but… Because you don’t want to be married?’
He dismissed that with a snort and a wave of his hand.
‘And because with a little effort on your part I believe you could reconcile Carol Ann to living in London with you. I’d help.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘For a fee?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! Are you trying to deliberately rile me? We wouldn’t be fiancés, but we’d still be friends.’ Wouldn’t they? Her heart started to pound. It was why she couldn’t sleep with him. It was why she had to transform the idea from an alluring temptation for him to a potential nightmare instead. ‘You know I wouldn’t do it for money.’
She’d do it because she cared about Will and Carol Ann. She’d do it because it was what Peter would’ve wanted her to do.
One thing Peter most certainly would’ve counselled her against was getting involved in a physical relationship with his best friend.
He dragged both hands back through his hair and nodded. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’
He came and sat on the ground, his back resting against her rock. ‘My feelings for this place—’ he gestured out in front of them ‘—are complicated, Sophie. After the life Carol Ann and I had with our parents this was…a haven.’
Living with his parents had been a constant roller-coaster ride of anxiety and insecurity. And all of it lived in the glare of the public spotlight. No wonder he hated appearing in the society pages now. It made Saturday night’s exploits all the more extraordinary. Usually he was so careful.
She stared out at the rolling deep green fields, the clear brook and the blue of the sky. ‘This must’ve seemed like an idyll after London.’
‘Some days it still does,’ he admitted. ‘If you can discount my grandfather, which evidently I can’t. But back then… I don’t know. I could walk, run, ride. I could go for a swim.’
She imagined him in nothing but a pair of brief swim trunks and heat flooded her cheeks. It was all she could do not to fan herself.
‘I could do all of those things—normal things—without having reporters shoving microphones under my nose or having to dodge camera flashes every time I left the house. It was such a relief.’
Her heart went out to the boy who’d had to live his life in such a public fishbowl.
‘This place was freedom and security. I’d never had those things before.’
And finally she saw what he refused to admit even to himself. Ashbarrow Castle was the home of his heart. Despite the successful and autonomous life he’d created for himself in London, this was where his soul craved to be. He wanted to keep it safe for Carol Ann, yes. But he wanted to keep it safe for himself too. Her eyes started to sting and she had to blink hard.
‘Unfortunately, the moment I turned fourteen this place became a prison.’
Which was all due to his grandfather’s attempts to control him. Why was Lord Bramley so unbending, rigid…determined to force Will into a course of action that was such anathema to him? It was as if the older man wanted to punish him. And yet, that didn’t make sense, didn’t quite ring true.
‘I believe you about Carol Ann—especially after seeing her having such a good time on Saturday night. I probably could help her make the transition to living in London, but…’
He frowned and all his shoulder muscles tightened. It took all the strength she possessed to stop from reaching out and running her hand through his dark, auburn-tinted hair. ‘But?’
His gaze swung around to meet hers. ‘Ashbarrow has always been a haven for her—never a prison. She loves it. It’s her home, and it’s not fair that she should be asked to give it up.’
She pulled in a breath and then let it out slowly, a weight pressing down on her. ‘You’re right. It wouldn’t be fair.’ Life wasn’t fair, but Carol Ann had already had her share of unfairness. So had Will. After the trauma and upheaval of their early years, they deserved to keep their home. Both of them.
‘Sophie, I’m sorry I was such a total idiot on Saturday night. I’m sorry I made it look as if I’d been unfaithful to you.’ He rose to sit beside her. ‘I’m sorry I hurt you.’
She tried to shrug away the warmth that wanted to wrap about her. ‘Look, Will, you never promised me your fidelity. I don’t expect it.’
‘But I did promise you friendship and discretion.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘I should’ve been careful not to set tongues wagging. I should’ve been on my guard, and not allowed a fit of pique to jeopardise everything.’
Her eyebrows rose. What had he called it? ‘A fit of pique?’
His face darkened. ‘You and Carol Ann were having so much fun—you’d been shopping, you were having a slumber party and I felt like the third wheel. I was…jealous.’
‘You big baby!’
‘That’s fair.’ He nodded. ‘And I’ve been called worse.’ He sobered. ‘I promise it won’t happen again.’
Good.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She stiffened. ‘What?’
‘I didn’t realise you were promising me your fidelity.’
She swallowed. ‘Who said I was?’
‘I no longer use sex as a tool to forget.’
She shot to her feet and strode to the edge of the stream. ‘I’m not promising it to you. I’m promising it to myself.’ She was determined to leave the party lifestyle behind her.
‘You’re allowed to have sex just for fun, Sophie.’
His voice came from just behind her and it took all her strength not to turn. ‘I’ve been having a bit too much fun these last couple of years. I want to focus on other things.’ Like helping Carla. Like building up something that belonged just to her. ‘I want to find some balance in my life.’
‘Good for you.’
Which was odd when she was standing here feeling more unbalanced than she ever had in her life before.
‘So…we’re good?’
She turned. ‘We’re good.’
He stood too close and it made her throat hitch and her mouth go dry. He bent and pressed a warm kiss to her cheek, and her heart pounded so hard she thought he must hear it.
‘Except,’ she pushed out from an uncooperative throat.
He’d taken a step away, but he froze now and she could see how his every muscle bunched. ‘Except?’
‘I want you to talk to your grandfather. Today.’
* * *
Will’s every muscle screamed a protest. He wanted to shout a resounding No! until the sound of it rang through the hills.
He still couldn’t believe he’d been stupid enough, careless enough, to create a media brouhaha that had allowed the tabloids to make any number of impertinent and unsavoury claims about his relationship with Sophie. He who hated any kind of media acknowledgement—even plaudits for his business acumen and the success of Pyxis Tech.
Sophie deserved better from him. She sure as hell didn’t deserve him yelling at her now.
He forced himself to turn and meet her gaze. Was she really willing to forgo her million pounds so he could avoid a marriage he didn’t want? He had a feeling that the answer to that question was an unhesitating yes. Damn it! He nodded. ‘Okay.’
Her shoulders loosened and she let out a shuddering breath, the beginnings of a smile playing across her lips. ‘Good.’
He wanted her to have her million pounds. He wanted her to have the chance to follow her dreams. And he wanted her to know how much he appreciated her.
If he could, he’d like to wipe away all the hurt he’d caused her. She’d felt betrayed—not romantically, but that didn’t make the betrayal any the less painful. He understood that.
‘I couldn’t do this with any other woman, Sophie. I want you to know I appreciate all you’ve taken on, all you’re doing. You’ve earned your million pounds several times over.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t even think of offering me any more money.’
Why the hell not?
‘And I think you’re underestimating some of the women you know.’
He shook his head. On this point at least he was certain. ‘No other woman knows me as well as you do.’
Those eyes widened and he lost himself in the clearness of that blue for a moment. She shrugged. ‘We’ve known each other a long time, Will.’
‘I keep women at arm’s length.’
She snorted and picked up a stone and tried to skim it across the stream, but her technique was all wrong and it sank like a…uh…stone. ‘That’s not what I hear.’
He winced. ‘I mean emotionally. I keep them—’
‘I knew what you meant.’
A hint of laughter lit her eyes, making them sparkle like this stream in the sun at midday. How had he never clocked the many expressions in her eyes before? They were utterly fascinating.
‘Well, I don’t do that with you.’
She stilled and then shook her head. ‘You would if we slept together.’
Would he?
She turned so they faced each other fully, hands on her hips. ‘It’s the same for me, you know? I’m more emotionally vulnerable to you than I am to any other man.’
Emotionally vulnerable? Was that what he’d been describing? He supposed it was, but, rather than feeling emotionally exposed, with Sophie it felt comfortable…comforting even.
‘Does it frighten you?’
His head rocked back. ‘No! I trust you.’ She’d never try to manipulate him. ‘I value the person you are. I think you feel the same about me.’
She nodded.
A new thought—one that appalled him—rippled through him. ‘Does it frighten you?’
She met his gaze, swallowed and nodded.
A vice tightened about his temples. ‘Why?’
She turned and started back towards the castle. She stopped before they cleared the copse of trees. Shadows played across her face, making it difficult to read. ‘Why?’ he repeated. He hated the thought that anything about him frightened her.
‘Because I’m attracted to you, Will. Because I want you.’
Roaring in his ears shut out every other sound. He had to swallow hard to quieten it to a manageable din. His mouth dried. ‘But you said…’
‘We’re not going to sleep together. If we do you’ll become more emotionally distant while I’d be in danger of become more—’ her fingers grasped the air as if searching for the right word ‘—emotionally invested.’
He took a step back, shock rocketing through him when he finally realised what she’d been trying to tell him. Sometimes sex meant nothing, but sometimes it meant everything. And he knew that because he always ended his romantic liaisons before sex meant even a potential something. Sophie didn’t have any of the usual barriers where he was concerned. If he slept with her, he’d be in danger of breaking her heart.
He couldn’t do that!
He raked a hand back through his hair. ‘Complicated,’ he murmured, recalling her warning the first night they’d spent here at Ashbarrow.
She nodded. ‘C’mon, it’s time we returned to the house.’
Returning to face his grandfather suddenly didn’t seem anywhere near as intimidating as it had a moment or two ago.
‘You should—’
He took her hand. He wanted to squeeze it to tell her how sorry he was that he’d been so obtuse earlier, that he’d forced her to spell it out for him in detail. ‘I should?’
She laughed. ‘Hold my hand for the benefit of all the noses currently pressed against the castle windows. But I can see you were ahead of me.’
To hell with watching eyes! ‘Can I raise another topic in relation to Saturday night?’
She glanced at him. ‘Go on.’
‘You.’
‘Me?’
‘You were in your element hosting that party. You really seemed to enjoy yourself.’
‘I was seeing off my last commitment to my father. It was…satisfying.’
Had he misread the situation? A moment later he shook his head. ‘I think you enjoyed the party.’
She opened her mouth as if to deny his words, and then her shoulders sagged. ‘I did,’ she said, as if it were the worst thing in the world to confess. ‘I’m the shallowest creature on the face of the planet—I love parties.’
He pulled her to a halt. ‘That doesn’t make you shallow. It makes you a people person. You did a brilliant job on Saturday night—you made sure everyone had a great time. You not only helped to raise a ridiculous sum of money for charity, but you were instrumental in encouraging the guests to open their wallets so widely. That isn’t shallow.’
She stared at him, unconvinced.
He lifted their linked hands to point a finger at her. ‘You did nothing to be ashamed of on Saturday night.’ That’d been his domain. ‘You think I didn’t notice that while you were never without a flute of champagne in your hand, you never took so much as a sip?’
Her mouth dropped open.
‘Do you think I didn’t notice that the young men you had lined up to dance with Carol Ann were the kind of young men who’d enjoy her company too?
‘And you dealt with Lord Graham—’ a notorious drunk ‘—without fuss or drawing attention to him.’ She’d packed him off home in a cab before he’d managed to disgrace himself or his wife. ‘You should be proud of yourself, Sophie.’
She moistened her lips, an unfamiliar vulnerability shining out from her eyes, and for a moment he felt unaccountably honoured that she didn’t try to hide it from him. ‘Do you really think so?’
‘I know so.’
Before he thought of the wisdom of it, he bent down to press his lips gently to hers, telling her without words that he thought she was wonderful. Their lips held, clung, and then he forced himself upright.
‘Believe me?’
‘I… I guess.’ With her free hand she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
He turned them back towards the castle. ‘Which begs the question… If you love event planning so much, why aren’t you pursuing a career in that? I know you want to look after Carla, but there are other ways to do it. You don’t have to go to the trouble and expense of setting up an equestrian centre.’
She was silent for a long moment. ‘I’ve pretty much squandered my entire trust fund and inheritance, other than that bit of property in Cornwall. I want to do something good with it, something worthwhile. And I think you’ll understand it when I say I’d like to have something that’s just mine. Something that I built and created.’
He did understand that.
‘Something to fall back on if I ever need to.’
She could fall back on him whenever she needed.
‘I don’t want to manage an equestrian centre forever. I’m hoping that, down the track, it’s something Carla would like to do. But in the meantime I can’t wait to get started on it. It excites me so much.’
The truth of that shone from her eyes.
‘I wonder if maybe I couldn’t find a way to do both things—run the equestrian centre and event plan.’
‘Of course you could. You’re smart, talented, energetic and amazing. I don’t doubt for a single moment that you could achieve anything you set your mind to.’
With a laugh, she bumped his shoulder with hers. ‘Careful or you’ll be in danger of turning my head.’
He grinned. Flattery was not the way to her heart. He knew that. They were both safe. But it was good to hear her laugh again.
His grandfather was waiting for them the moment they crossed the threshold. ‘I want to speak to you in my study, young man. Now!’
‘Have fun,’ Sophie murmured under her breath. ‘Come find me on the terrace when you’re done.’
He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and then turned to his grandfather. ‘That’s fortuitous because I want to talk to you too.’
* * *
Thirty minutes later Will slammed himself into the chair opposite Sophie’s—one with a view of green fields and that babbling brook of a stream. She had a view of the castle, and she’d seen him coming—her gaze had felt like a physical presence on his flesh—but he hadn’t meant to slam himself with quite so much force to the chair. She winced and he grimaced. ‘Sorry.’
She shook her head, all that abundant blond hair fanning about her shoulders. ‘It looks as if perhaps I should be the one apologising to you. I thought talking to your grandfather would help.’
He appreciated her optimism, but…
She leaned forward. ‘I thought it would give you some answers.’
He held back a harsh laugh. ‘Oh, it did that.’
She halted halfway through pouring him a cup of tea, her perfect lips forming a perfect O. With a shake of her head she continued pouring the tea, cut him a luscious slice of chocolate cake and set both in front of him. As delicious as the tea looked it was nothing to her lips.
Her lips are off-limits.
He took a sip of tea. He took a bite of cake. But neither eased the burn in his soul. ‘You know, when I was little—before my parents died—my grandfather was my hero.’
The blue of her eyes deepened to the colour of the ocean. ‘He was?’
‘He’d sweep in during the holidays and bring me and Carol Ann up here for as long as he could get away with. It was a respite from the chaos of living with my parents.’
‘I wonder that they didn’t simply leave you both with him.’ The moment the words left her, her hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh, I don’t mean they didn’t love you and Carol Ann, it’s just…’ She grimaced. ‘I think I better quit before I dig myself a deeper hole.’
He laughed and took pity on her. ‘My parents weren’t interested in parenting. I think we can agree on that much.’
She nodded, her eyes shadowed.
‘But they were interested in displaying the accessories of family life that would garner them as much media attention as possible. The tabloids lap up pictures of celebrities with their kids.’ He could feel his lips twist, saw the way her gaze flicked to them, lingered, before she glanced away again, and it took a force of effort to keep his breathing even. ‘And they love stories about celebrities behaving badly and having sordid affairs with nannies and pool boys even more.’
She rubbed her fingers across her forehead as if trying to push back a headache. He sympathised. His parents had always been headache-inducing.
He bit into the cake, munched and pondered. ‘I think my father enjoyed punishing my grandfather.’
She nodded as if his words made complete sense. Which shouldn’t be surprising, he supposed, but as far as he was concerned his parents had never made any sense whatsoever.
‘But here’s what I never realised—my grandfather blames himself for my father’s wild lifestyle. He says he wasn’t strict enough when my father was growing up, that he spoiled him and went too easy on him, didn’t keep him on a tight enough rein. He believes that’s the reason my father went so completely off the rails. As a result he’s determined not to make the same mistake with me.’
She clapped a hand to her head. ‘Oh, that makes perfect sense!’
It did.
She frowned. ‘Except…you’re not fourteen years old any more but a grown man.’
His point exactly.
She seized her cup and took a gulp as if she needed the sustenance.
Will’s insides twisted. ‘He claims I’m a chip off the old block—that I’m as bad as my father.’
She’d started to choke as if her tea had gone down the wrong way and he went to slap her on the back, but she pointed behind him. He turned to find his grandfather standing there, all bristling aggression.
‘You will learn to toe the line, William, and to curb your reprehensible behaviour and degraded way of life, or there will be consequences as you’ll learn to your detriment.’
The table rattled and Will turned to find that Sophie had shot to her feet. Her hands had clenched to fists and she literally shook.
She looked magnificent!
‘Lord Bramley, you’re mistaken! And in danger of sounding like a fool because only a fool would consider Will and all he’s achieved as bad, reprehensible or degraded. He’s built an unbelievably successful business empire entirely through his own ingenuity and sheer hard work, but do you pat him on the back and tell him how proud you are of him? No! What is wrong with you?’
In her frustration she shouted the words so loud Will thought the entire valley would hear her.
His grandfather started rumbling something about duty and what Will owed his family name, but she wouldn’t let him continue.
‘He is not his father! Will doesn’t do drugs. He doesn’t lie, cheat or steal.’
‘He’s a womaniser!’
‘He only has affairs with women who are willing! He doesn’t have affairs with married women. He doesn’t use his position as the boss to chat up junior members of staff. He doesn’t sexually harass women. He rarely drinks to excess, he mostly stays out of the tabloids—even given who he is and his family history.’
‘But—’
‘No buts! He’s a man who’s doing something productive and useful with his life.’
‘But—’
‘And you should love him for who he is rather than trying to force him into a carbon copy of you.’
For a moment the only sound was the twittering of birds in the nearby hedge, and Sophie’s ragged breathing.
‘You want him to love this place, you want to bind him to it, but all you’ve done is turn the one place in this world that he considered home into a prison.’
Her voice had quietened, but it was all the more deadly for it. She lifted her chin. ‘Given what happened to your son, I can understand why you’re a mass of insecurities.’ She blinked as if something startling had just occurred to her. She moistened her lips, her mind racing behind the blue of her eyes. With a shake, she set her shoulders again. ‘But nobody else can shore up your insecurities for you, except you. Asking and demanding that someone else do that for you isn’t just pointless, it…it’s unfair.’
She stared at both men with stunned blue eyes. ‘It isn’t fair,’ she repeated. Before Will could say anything, she’d taken off for the house and disappeared inside the depths of the castle.
Will went to go after her, but his grandfather’s hand on his arm stayed him. ‘Do you consider this place home?’
‘I did. Once.’
And then he shook off the older man’s hand and set off after Sophie.