Three Redeemable Rogues Read online

  Sophie was suddenly too sleepy even to attempt to understand her father’s strange tale.

  “You, see, Sophie... sometimes it takes more courage to follow your own dreams instead of the dreams of the ones you love.”

  “What about the little boy?” Sophie asked. Her papa stood, drawing the covers up to her neck. He tucked her in snugly and he smiled down at her, a little more sadly still. “He grew up to be a terrible daddy, who never was home and gave his sweet little daughter terrible, terrible advice. Just pretend you didn’t hear a word of that story, Sophie ... Go to sleep and dream of angels as sweet as you.”

  It would be silly to pretend she hadn’t heard him, but it was easy enough to put his story out of her mind. Sophie didn’t understand a word that he was saying to her. “I love you, Papa,” she murmured as he caressed her cheek. “You’re the best Papa in the whole world!”

  She turned then, cuddling her pillow, her shark’s tooth tucked in her hand safely beneath it. She heard him walk away and gently close the door... and then she dreamt of riding on the backs of golden whales over sweeping blue oceans while her daddy stood by and watched and waved.

  Chapter 1

  Boston, 1899

  The evidence seemed undeniable.

  It was, in fact, her fiancé’s penmanship, but just to be certain Sophie withdrew her most recent letter from Harlan from her private desk, meticulously comparing the handwriting. She studied both letters side by side, trying to find some difference in the script.

  Behind her, Jonathon Preston opened the drapes a bit wider, letting in every last ray of afternoon sun, giving her ample light to see by. “I would never have brought it to you,” he claimed, somewhat more eagerly now that she had begun to take the matter seriously. He stood at her side, peering over her shoulder, and his razor-sharp scrutiny of her while she read the letter made her cheeks burn with both anger and humiliation.

  She swallowed uncomfortably.

  No matter how much she wished to find the letter a forgery, the penmanship was the same; identical long-tailed y’s looping purposely about to cross simple t’s... precisely dotted i’s and j’s. Harlan rarely capitalized the names of his acquaintances... nor did he ever capitalize hers, though his invariably was—something that plagued her acutely.

  “Although Harlan has always been a friend to me, it seemed somehow unconscionable,” Jonathon continued, “that you should be treated with so little regard!”

  Sophie doubted Jonathon’s intentions were at all honorable. He might have sold his soul to the devil for her father’s favor. Still, she was not the sort who preferred not to know. If her fiancé was making her out to be a fool, then she certainly did wish to know about it—no matter what Jonathon’s motives for relaying the information.

  And, damnation, it seemed Harlan was, indeed, making a fool of her!

  Her entire future suddenly crumpled before her like an old castle in some forgotten fairy tale, all of her carefully laid plans reduced to rubble and her dreams blown away like so much dust.

  What a fool she had been.

  She peered up at Jonathon to find him still staring at her, as though he expected her to burst into heart-wrenching sobs any instant. Sophie frowned. No doubt he would enjoy that. Well, she wasn’t about to give in to hysterics! Anyway, she shuddered to think of Jonathon comforting her.

  Strange how before today she had not thought him quite so nefarious, but the boy she remembered from her youth was gone, and in his place stood a gleaming-eyed, calculating man. No, she had no doubt of Jonathon’s intentions, and less of his motivations. Her father was a powerful and beneficent man—witnessed by the generosity and support he had bestowed on Harlan. From the day Harlan had departed Boston, his best friend had set out to woo not her, but her father.

  Drat men and their love for money!

  Her eyes stung as she scanned the letter Jonathon had brought her, this time allowing herself full comprehension of the words scribbled so neatly before her.

  God help her, she refused to weep—and certainly not before Jonathon Preston.

  She examined the envelope again. It was postmarked April 20, 1899. Two months ago—ironic that he should have written this letter on the third anniversary of their engagement. She wondered if Harlan even realized.

  My good friend, the letter began.

  Sophie glanced up at Jonathon, wondering implausibly how he could betray his good friend so easily. Her emotions were in tumult. She didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry at the man standing so gleefully at her side. And yet, how could she, even now, think to champion Harlan? Why should she even care that Jonathon had played his Judas?

  She read the letter carefully.

  You really must join me here directly! Give no more objections, jon! It is a wondrous world that not merely allows us the opportunity to experience life’s most bountiful pleasures, but in fact grants us to do so! Every man should have such an understanding fiancée, eh? And a father-in-law willing to support his cause. I count myself fortunate, indeed—yes, indeed—to have won the heart of sophia vanderwahl, but do not think me unappreciative if I do not rush home to the encumbrances of matrimony.

  His choice of words stung.

  Encumbrance.

  So that’s what he thought of her?

  She took a deep breath and continued.

  At any rate, dear friend, I hardly think you can say sophia is wasting away. She is young enough still that she might bear my children were I to delay the nuptials five, even six more years. And neither are her spirits low; her letters are buoyant and full with interest in my studies. She’s a peach to affect such an interest in matters that would only bore her to the grave. Women have not the patience or capacity for such ruminations, jon. But do not concern yourself with sophia, my good friend. She is most loyal, to be sure, and will await me with the grace she was raised to show. Indeed, I could not have chosen better.

  Sophie grit her teeth, resisting the urge to crumple the letter.

  Loyal, was she?

  A peach, was she?

  Anger surged through her.

  Her interest had hardly been feigned! Her questions had been born of legitimate interest—and how dare Harlan assume she would wait five, even six more years until he deigned to return to her! And yet it was hardly that particular narrative that incensed her most. Her eyes skimmed the pages until she came to the paragraph in which he began to tempt Jon...

  ... and the women here are the most lovely... skin so velvet brown and eyes so deep a black a man may sigh to see his own reflection in their depths. And hair... Christ, I have never had the joy of touching hair so rich it flows through one’s hands like the mane of a fine riding horse. (And they love to be ridden, jon... I know this firsthand.)

  Sophie was not such a moron that she did not understand his meaning, even if she did not know exactly what that meant. Her cheeks burned with both anger and mortification.

  “Forgive me, Sophia, I did not wish to mask even the worst of it,” Jonathon interjected, interpreting correctly the flush on her cheeks. “You had a right to know.”

  Sophie nodded, too shaken for words, even after reading the letter for the third time.

  She forced herself to continue.

  ... never have I known women so earthy in nature. If you experience the carnal joy of one woman’s bosom, you must not think her the exception because the next will make you yearn to feel her native soil between your toes forever and run like a savage through the jungles of her birth. You will nearly forget you are a civilized man and never again wish to languish in the misery that is Boston. Not for all the vanderwahl money would I be dragged so soon from this paradise!

  Sophie winced at the not so subtle reminder that it was her father’s money, not her, that would most likely bring him back—and not even her father’s money was enough! He was enjoying himself far too well at Vanderwahl expense!

  And she couldn’t help but notice that he couldn’t even be bothered to capitalize her surname.


  Sorrow was at once replaced with cold fury, and armed with anger, she reread the last passages.

  Even here in the wilds I have received word of jack macauley’s reckless venture... his purchase of that deuced old ship... the Miss Deed, is it? In any case, he must be ready to set sail soon. Entreat upon him, if you will, to give you passage. He would make room for you, I’m certain. His pockets have grown quite shallow. In the meantime, I shall hand choose the most luscious native girl, and let no man sample her but you. Join me, jon, and you will hardly wonder why I must convince sophia’s father to purchase me more time. Between the two of us we could surely convince him of our potential here. He is eager for grandchildren and alone I will not prevail.

  Come, my good friend. Your presence is the one thing I find I sorely miss.

  Your loyal friend and associate, Harlan Horatio Penn III

  Jon’s company was the one thing he sorely missed, was it? Not hers?

  How could she not have realized sooner how little interest he held in her? Just the other night Sophie had viciously defended him to her friend Maggie when Maggie dared imply his interest had waned. Why had it taken a letter from him to Jonathon for her to realize what was apparently quite obvious to everybody else?

  She slumped over the letter. She tried so hard to be everything everyone wanted her to be—the best daughter, the best girlfriend—she shouldn’t wear her décolletage too high, or too low. She wasn’t supposed to weep, nor was she supposed to laugh too loudly.

  She set down her own letter from Harlan, with all its sweet lies, on the desktop, and kept the other in hand, unwilling to relinquish the damning evidence, forgetting just for an instant to keep her shoulders even—a lady never slumped, you see, not even in the most distressing of situations.

  “Is everything quite all right, Miss Sophia?”

  Sophie straightened and looked reassuringly at their longtime butler, Harold, who stood in the doorway. In her parents’ eternal absence, Sophie was the lady of the manor. She had been groomed well by her mother, and she managed the household meticulously, but it was only in that very instant, as Harold looked in upon her, that she suddenly wondered who exactly was looking after whom.

  “Everything is fine, Harold,” she assured. “I’m fine,” she lied.

  He cocked his head at her as though he didn’t quite believe her. “Are you quite certain, Miss Sophia?”

  Sophie waved him away, choking on a wave of grief. “Quite. It’s nothing I can’t manage.”

  The older man smiled affectionately at her. “As always, Miss Sophia.” He cast a suspicious glance at Jonathon and left, assuring her, “I shall be right here in the hall should you require my presence.”

  Sophie smiled to herself. Harold was, as ever, her guardian angel. If she knew him well—and, indeed, she did—he would, in fact, remain just outside the door, dusting the same picture frame over and over until Jonathon Preston left the premises. In fact, were it up to Harold, he would have never allowed Jonathon entrance at all. Harold was far more protective of her than even her own father. But then her father and mother always expected her to do the right thing. They never doubted for an instant that Sophie would always adhere to her good breeding.

  “Sophia,” Jonathon prompted.

  Sophie looked up at him. He seemed suddenly to take up far too much of her breathing space.

  All at once everything seemed far too confining—her father’s house, her predictable manners, even her dress.

  She had every right to be angry!

  Why couldn’t she ever allow herself a single instant of real emotion? Why must she always be perfect? Always be strong? Always do the right thing? She wanted to shout and cry and break things! She eyed a photo of Harlan on her desk and didn’t dare touch it.

  She sucked in a breath and stood calmly, clutching Jonathon’s letter to her breast. Her fingers unconsciously curled about the parchment, crinkling the fine paper. Fury constricted her throat—not sorrow, not fear, but unrelieved fury.

  How dare Harlan take advantage of her father!

  How dare he use and discard them both so easily!

  “Oh, dear! I see how much this has upset you, Sophie. Perhaps I should not have come,” Jonathon proposed. He set a hand gingerly upon her shoulder.

  Sophie shrugged out from under his touch and brushed past him, swallowing her temper, trying to regain her composure.

  Three years ago, with her mother’s and her father’s avid blessings, she had promised herself to Harlan. Three years and two months she had waited for him to come home and marry her, so that she could go and make them another perfect home. She had gladly rebuffed the advances of all her would-be suitors until every last one of her friends was wed, and only Sophie remained. And still she had waited, content in the knowledge that her darling Harlan would someday return from some faraway exotic land to claim her for his bride—like some knight in shining armor.

  Poppycock!

  They were supposed to have lived happily ever after... together with three children and a miniature pony for their daughter—all nothing but a young girl’s foolishness!

  And, yes, indeed, she had been a young girl when Harlan had left Boston, but she was twenty-three now, and no longer some giddy school-miss with girlish dreams meant to be broken. No longer was she content to make do with straggled letters intended to keep her on a shelf!

  Harlan thought he was so smart, did he?

  Jonathon’s company was the only company he sorely missed, was it?

  Well, Sophie had more pride than to allow him to discard her at will, only to reclaim her when it pleased him! She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction!

  “Please believe me… I never intended to join him, Sophia,” Jonathon reassured her, his tone reproachful of Harlan. “I could never join in his unconscionable sophistry against your father!”

  Sophie narrowed her eyes at Jonathon. She was just about tired of hearing about her father! Why was everything always about her father, his money, his connections, his name? She decided in that instant that she would never again allow herself to be party to such an arrangement—even if it meant she would spend every day of the rest of her life completely alone! If a man could not love her for herself, then she just didn’t want him!

  In fact, she rather liked the idea of being alone! And why shouldn’t she? She didn’t really need a man in her life!

  She only wished Harlan were here so she could rip up his letter and toss it into his face—along with his wretched engagement ring and a few well-chosen words.

  She felt almost giddy at the thought, empowered with the decision to forsake the wretch.

  “Sophia,” Jonathon pleaded. “Please don’t weep, my dear.”

  Startled by his request, Sophie straightened her shoulders. Weep? Oh, but she wasn’t weeping!

  Though she could certainly understand why he thought so, with her back to him and her head bowed as it was. Her brows drew together suddenly as a thought occurred to her.

  Why, indeed, wasn’t she weeping?

  Maybe she was simply in shock?

  Yes, that must be it; she would break down later when Jonathon left. And then she would sit down and write a scathing letter to Harlan, breaking off their engagement once and for all—she only wished she could be there to see his face when he read it—the rat! She wasn’t about to wait about like some ninny for her fiancé to deign to return, simply to tell him to go to the devil. She absolutely would not put her life on hold one instant longer!

  It was Sophie’s father’s money and connections that had won Harlan his prestigious grants, and Sophie had supported Harlan with all her heart, wishing him to be happy in all his endeavors, and now it just wasn’t good enough to simply see his grants declined.

  Resentment sidled through her.

  Perhaps he wouldn’t regret losing her, but he would regret losing her father’s support—although she didn’t precisely know what her father would say about all this. She had no idea if he would
support her or if he would endeavor to convince her that Harlan meant no harm... that all men strayed... that it bore no reflection on his feelings for her... but for the first time in Sophie’s life, she intended to take a stand. She was quite untreatably weary of being the good daughter!

  A devilish thought suddenly occurred to her.

  Why, indeed, should she wait for Harlan to return? Furthermore, why should she twiddle her thumbs until her father and mother returned from Paris to convince her everything was fine? Why shouldn’t she see Harlan’s face when she tore up his damning letter? In fact, why should she send the letter at all when she could take it to him?

  She turned slowly to face Jonathon, her thoughts stewing, her eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t crying,” she assured him.

  “It seems y-you’re angry,” he sputtered.

  Sophie lifted a brow. “Quite!”

  “Sophia, my dear... I-I’ve never seen you like this,” he managed to say.

  Sophia had never felt quite like this.

  With Harlan’s betrayal, something snapped inside her, something slightly terrifying and exciting all at once. The simple fact that she wasn’t huddled in a weepy pile at her desk and sobbing should have alarmed her as much as it seemed to shock Jonathon. The poor man was staring at her, mouth agape.

  Sophie tried for an even tone as she dismissed him. The sooner he left her, the sooner she could begin making plans. “Thank you so much, Jonathon, for bringing this matter to my attention.” She straightened the parchment against her breast, ironing it neatly, resolved in what she must do.

  She wanted to see Harlan beg for her father’s money! She wanted him to fall at her feet and endeavor to convince her to stay with him. And most of all, she wanted to rip his letter into a thousand little pieces, and then walk away forever.

  “Sophia,” Jonathon began, taking a step backward as she neared. Sophie couldn’t help but note his confused reaction. He’d obviously expected a far different response from her. “I think perhaps you are in shock,” he said, recovering himself, and planting his feet firmly.