“I count on you to tell me all the details,” she said with a wink toward his lordship.
“No problem, Grams.” Lord Phineas winked back at her. If Sophia didn’t know better, she might even like him.
Ashley’s grandmother looked toward the head of the table where Ashley’s seat sat open. “Where is that other grandson of mine?” she asked absently.
Lord Phineas arched a brow at Sophia. Damn his hide. “He’s absent from the festivities, Grams. Like usual.”
“That boy needs to get his head out of his arse and get back to business.”
“His business acumen is not in question.” Thank goodness Lord Phineas took up for him, because Sophia felt the need to do so.
His grandmother smacked the table. “The business of marriage and raising an heir.”
Just then, a large voice boomed over all the others. Sophia nearly jumped from her skin when she heard it. “Do you normally speak of dangly parts and my need to breed over dinner?” the voice called from the doorway.
Sophia spun to face Ashley, who leaned casually in the door frame, his arms folded across his chest. He looked amazing. He was splendidly turned out in his evening clothes. An emerald winked from the center of his cravat. He gave a tug to his jacket and started across the room.
“Robin, what are you doing here?” his mother asked as everyone jumped to their feet. Sophia rose along with them, although she was finding it difficult to draw in a deep breath. A lock of hair fell across his forehead when his eyebrows drew together, and she wanted to brush it back for him. What a ridiculous thought.
“I’m having dinner,” he said absently. Ashley snapped his fingers and held out his hand. It was almost immediately populated with a goblet of wine. He raised it high in the air. He cleared his throat, inhaled deeply, and said, “I’d like to make a toast.”
Sophia reached for her glass and waited anxiously.
“Please do, Robin,” his mother sputtered as she motioned for everyone to pick up their glasses.
“Here’s to hell freezing over,” he said with a straight face. Then he looked directly at Sophia and winked.
***
“Robin, darling,” Ashley’s mother crooned. “So, happy you were able to join us,” she said as he motioned for everyone at the table to sit. They all dropped into their chairs like stones. His mother turned to the group. “Robin has been under the weather, you see,” she started.
He had? No, he hadn’t.
“I explained to everyone when they arrived that you were not feeling well, and that’s why you were not joining us.” She blinked her icy eyes at him.
“It’s quite unfortunate that you lied to everyone, Mother,” he said, his voice crisp even to his own ears. But he refused to compound her lies with any of his own. Nor would he ever. “I would have thought better of you. You could have simply told everyone how much I abhor crowded dinner tables and overstuffed sitting rooms.” He clucked his tongue at her. “Would have been much simpler. And it’s not as though I haven’t taken blame for things before.”
His mother’s face drained of color.
“I hope you’re all enjoying your stay,” he said to the table.
Anxious, worried gazes met his. Perhaps he’d been a little too candid.
“Nice to see you, Robin,” Finn said loudly. “And so nice of you to bring all your parts so they can talk about yours instead of mine.” His brother raised his glass at Ashley, then took a healthy swallow.
“I’ve been talked about for years,” Ashley said with a shrug. “It will be nothing new.”
Sophia coughed delicately into her fist and said, “May tonight be a night of new beginnings.”
“To new beginnings,” chimed the rest of the table.
Twelve
Ashley paced from one side of his bedchamber to the other. Perhaps he’d gone too far when he’d asked Sophia Thorne to visit him the dead of night, risking her reputation, her innocence, and her very life, if the rumors about his homicidal tendencies were true.
In the garden that afternoon, he’d nearly begged her to visit him under the cover of darkness. She’d agreed. Hadn’t she? He tried to remember their conversation verbatim. But he’d been so enamored of the way the sunlight played across her hair that he’d probably missed half the words.
Come and visit me tonight?