Free The Scoundrel Takes a Bride: A Regency Rogues Novel by Stefanie Sloane Page B

for him. Mouse darted to the left, his bare feet slipping on the wet
     floor. He lost his balance and fell to his knees.
    “Enough,” Sophia commanded, wrapping her arms protectively around the frightened boy.
    Nicholas moved to help her with the child, but Sophia warned him away with a hurried
     flick of her hand. He halted, close enough to intervene if needed.
    “You are safe, Mouse,” she said firmly, her tone calm and soothing as he struggled
     for release. “You are safe.”
    The boy’s terror was obvious and Nicholas had no idea how to help. “What can I do?”
    Before Sophia could reply, Mouse stilled and allowed her to rock him soothingly back
     and forth. The sobbing began once more, giant gulps of air punctuating the agonizing
     sound.
    “Mr. Singh, please bring me a tumbler of brandy,” Sophia instructed as she stroked
     the boy’s pale blond hair. “And Mr. Bourne, I will see to Mouse while you review my
     notes concerning your accounts. You’ll find them on the desk in your study. The sketch
     as relates to the men in question should be of particular interest, I would think.”
    Nicholas knew she referred to the Afton file. He just didn’t know why.

    The door hinge creaked, drawing Sophia’s attention.
    “Under the bed again?” Nicholas asked softly, stepping inside and closing the door
     to Mouse’s room behind him.
    Sophia rose from the wing-back chair and took the candlestick in hand. “Follow me,”
     she whispered.
    She pointed to the farthest corner and moved ahead of him across the Aubusson carpet,
     tiptoeing around the bed. “There,” she said quietly, pointing to where Mouse lay on
     his stomach, the bed linens pushed to his waist. The featherbed pillows were lined
     up in a row, forming a barricade between him and the room.
    “Why?”
    Sophia shooed Nicholas back toward the fireplace and motioned for him to sit. She
     couldn’t be bothered to return the chair she’d moved nearer the door should Mouse
     attempt an escape. So she’d followed Nicholas’s tall form and sank to the carpet in
     front of the hearth.
    Nicholas instantly stood up.
    “Do sit down,” Sophia urged, halfheartedly arranging her skirts about her. “I’m too
     tired to stand up, so you’re wasting your time.”
    His eyes narrowed with displeasure and he lowered to the floor, backing up until the
     velvet upholstered chair supported him.
    “He’s never slept in a bed.” Sophia rubbed the back of her skull where a wayward hairpin
     had been poking and worrying the spot all day. “Even after swallowing the entire tumbler
     of brandy, he would not yield and climb beneath the covers. So we moved the blankets
     to the floor. The pillows, I suspect, are for protection.”
    She expected Nicholas to respond with a caustic remark. Instead, he nodded in agreement.
    “As ridiculous as it sounds, I believe you’re correct,” he said. “With his back in
     the corner, two sides are safe. That left two more to guard. Sleeping in the rookery
     must have presented a dangerous proposition.”
    Sophia wanted to cry. Instead, she allowed her fingers to fumble once more through
     her hair. Despite her efforts, the menacing pin remained at large. She bit her lip
     in frustration.
    “It’s all right if you need to cry.”
    Her breath caught. His voice was soothing, considerate, and tempered with concern.
     “Who are you?”
    Nicholas’s eyes flared in surprise. “Do you mean to tell me I’m responsible for your
     tears, not Mouse’s insufferable existence?”
    “No,” Sophia replied, swiping at her wet cheeks. “That is, yes. Oh, Nicholas, I don’t
     know. I cannot bear to think of his life before this,” she added, looking around the
     beautiful room. “But there’s more; there’s you. India changed you, I believe. Your
     affection for Mouse and Mr. Singh is quite revealing.”
    “Affection?” Nicholas parroted as if to deny any suchsilly notion. “I am hoarse from trying to convince Singh to return to