Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

“Well, this is a fine mess you’ve got yourself into, isn’t it?” Ethan snarled, glaring across the carriage at Sophia, who sat resolutely gazing out the window at the passing countryside.

The farewells at Weston House had been muted, even as it had seemed Penelope and the Dowager Duchess were still convinced by the apparently blossoming courtship between Sophia and Jasper.

“We’ll see you very soon, I’m sure, Sophia,” Jasper’s mother had said, kissing Sophia on both cheeks.

“Dear sister. How happy I am we have one another,” Penelope had said, as she, too, kissed Sophia on both cheeks.

But Jasper’s farewell had been considerably more formal – cold, even – and he and Sophia had exchanged only a few words.

“Thank you,” she had said, and the Duke had nodded, mumbling a few words in response.

There had been no sense of anything other than mere passing acquaintance between them, as though the events of the previous few days had not even occurred. It had broken Sophia’s heart to say goodbye, even as she had made an outward show of decorum. There had been no sign of Henry that morning. He had left early for London, but Sophia had no doubt it would not be long before he played his hand.

“A fine mess for you, I suppose,” Sophia replied, not looking at her cousin, who had immediately sensed something was wrong, demanding an explanation as soon as the carriage drew away from Weston House.

“Do you know what it’s going to cost me if the Duke doesn’t go through with the business deal we’ve proposed? The cotton mills?” Ethan exclaimed, and Sophia sighed.

She could not care less about Ethan’s cotton mills, or his profits, or his prospects. He had no care for her feelings, and it seemed he would gladly sell her to the highest bidder, rather than consider what was best for her.

“Am I supposed to be sorry? Don’t you know what I’ve lost, too?” Sophia demanded, and her cousin cursed under his breath.

“You promised me, Sophia. I allowed this nonsense to continue, and for what? Nothing, that’s what. Why did he break it off with you?” he demanded.

Sophia did not have an answer to that question. She did not know why Jasper had behaved the way he did, though she feared some threat – like that of Henry’s threat – might have been responsible. She had thought a great deal about Henry’s words, and she had wondered if perhaps the Duke had found someone else – someone already waiting.

Had she been a mere plaything? A distraction for a few days?

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. He just said… it was over,” Sophia replied.

She could not reveal the truth about the ruse, knowing it would only anger Ethan further – though it hardly mattered now. There was no more pretense, and Sophia was no better off than the last time she had ridden with her cousin in the carriage, though at that time, she had believed Henry to no longer be a threat.

Ethan threw his hands up into the air. “Then you’ll marry Henry – if he’ll have you. But the way you’ve behaved Sophia… I don’t know… why should he marry you now?” he said.

But Sophia had no doubt as to Henry’s intentions. This was what he wanted, and it would not have surprised her to learn that Henry had manipulated his cousin into believing something terrible about her. This was all she could think of to explain Jasper’s sudden change of heart, and she clung to it, believing there was just the slightest possibility that Jasper’s feelings were still confused. She wanted him to love her, just as she loved him.

“I don’t want to marry him. How many times have I told you? He’s an odious man. Can’t you see that? Weren’t the last few days enough for you to see it? Would you marry me off to a man like that?” Sophia demanded, and her cousin scowled at her.

“I’d marry you off to whoever would have you, Sophia. And it’s becoming an increasingly shorter list, isn’t it?” Ethan retorted.

They spent the rest of their journey back to London in silence. Sophia saw little point in arguing further. Ethan’s mind was made up, and she had no doubt as to Henry’s intentions. He had made it clear he still wanted to marry her, and she expected him to make good on the prospect in the coming days. Ethan – as her ward – would agree to it, and Sophia would have no choice but to find herself engaged to a man she could not stand, whilst still in love with a man who had rejected her.

“Oh, Sophia, how I’ve missed you,” the Dowager Countess exclaimed, greeting Sophia as she entered the drawing room later that day to find her sitting by the fire.

Mother and daughter matched one another in looks, and Sophia’s mother had tied her hair up in a bun, just like Sophia’s.

“The Dowager Duchess missed you, Mother. We went on a painting expedition. It was such a delight,” Sophia said, sitting down next to her mother, who smiled at her.

“Oh, I missed Emily, too. Your godmother was… hard work, as usual. But at least that’s it for another six months. She’s invited me to Bath to stay with her. But tell me everything that happened,” Sophia’s mother said, and Sophia blushed.

Ethan was standing by the window, leafing through his correspondence, and he looked up at Sophia and glared at her.

“Yes, Sophia, tell your mother how you ruined the prospect of becoming a duchess,” he said, and the Dowager Countess looked at Sophia in surprise.

“But… what does Ethan mean?” she asked, and Sophia sighed.

She had hoped to avoid a lengthy explanation, though it seemed she would now have no choice but to give an account of what had happened between her and the Duke – leaving out the detail of it all being a ruse.

But in Sophia’s heart, it was not a ruse at all, not now. What had begun as a convenience was now a matter of the heart, and she could not as easily cast aside her feelings for Jasper as discover new ones for someone else.

“And so… there won’t be a courtship,” Sophia said, sighing and shaking her head.

Her mother slipped her hand into hers and squeezed it. “You poor thing, Sophia. How dreadful for you. But there’s still hope,” she said, as though the matter could be dismissed without so much as a care.

“But I… I wanted…” Sophia began, but it was clear that her mother would side with Ethan.

“To marry, yes – and you’ll marry Henry, and that’ll be that. I’m sure he can be convinced,” Ethan interjected, and Sophia’s mother nodded.

“Yes, these house parties, they can rouse an intensity of feeling. But it’s all bluster and bloom. You won’t see the Duke again, and… well, Henry… he’s possessed of many enviable qualities,” she said, though she was not forthcoming in listing those qualities – and Sophia was not about to suggest any.

“It’s not bluster and bloom, whatever that means. I had feelings for him – I have feelings for him,” Sophia replied, indignant at the dismissal with which her mother now treated the situation.

“Oh, Sophia, feelings don’t come into it. You need to make a match. I’d hoped this house party might be the opportunity for you to do so. But… well, obviously it wasn’t, was it? You and Henry are an excellent match, though, and if your cousin can persuade him to change his mind… well, the matter’s settled, isn’t it?” Sophia’s mother said.

Sophia looked from her to Ethan and back, astonished at how readily they were willing to dismiss her feelings in favor of a man of their own choosing, and without giving her any say in her own destiny.

“But it’s not,” Sophia replied as tears welled up in her eyes.

“Enough of this, Sophia. The matter’s settled. We’ve argued about it for long enough. You’re the one who spoiled your chances with the Fuke,” Ethan said, but Sophia shook her head.

“It’s not true. Something happened. He changed his mind because someone forced him – someone turned him against me,” she said, feeling more convinced than ever of Henry’s involvement in the matter, even though she had no proof.

“Don’t argue with your cousin, Sophia. He’s only trying to help you. You and Henry will make an excellent match, I’m sure – I know it. I’m your mother, aren’t I?” Sophia’s mother replied, and it seemed the matter was settled.

There could be no more arguing, and Sophia could only await her fate…

It was only a matter of a few days before Henry paid a visit to the house. Sophia was reading in the library when she heard the familiar voice of the Viscount as he was admitted into the house. She closed her book, rose to her feet, crossed the library, and then opened the door a little to look outside. Henry was there, a bunch of roses clasped in his hands, and he was pacing up and down on the tiled floor, a look of determined expectation on his face.

“Ah, My Lord,” he said as Ethan emerged from his study.

“You received my letter, then? I’m glad you’re here. We all are,” Ethan said, ushering Henry into his study.

“All of you?” he asked, laughing, as the door closed behind them.

Sophia shuddered. Her cousin had not told her about any letter. But she felt certain she knew what it had contained – an invitation from Ethan to Henry to call on Sophia and make his intentions known. This was just what the Viscount had wanted all along, and Sophia was now convinced he was the one who had driven a wedge between them.

She thought back to their conversation in the hallway at Weston House, when Henry had warned her of Jasper’s intentions, of the way in which he had behaved in the past. But those words had been countered by Penelope’s account of her brother, and those were words Sophia still clung to, wanting to believe Jasper was not the man he had portrayed himself to be in his study on her last night at the house party.

“His Lordship wants to see you, My Lady,” Spencer said, entering the library a few moments later.

Sophia was now resigned to her fate, even as she dreaded the look of smug satisfaction on Henry’s face when he realized the prize was his. She rose to her feet and took a deep breath, nodding as she followed Spencer out into the hallway. She could hear her cousin and the Viscount laughing with one another in the study, and stepping forward, she opened the door without knocking.

“Sophia… come in,” Ethan said, a smile playing on his face, even as she had expected him to berate her for being rude.

Henry rose to his feet and gave a curt bow. “How very pretty you look, Sophia,” he said, holding out the bunch of roses to her.

Their perfume was sweet and sickly, and Sophia took them with a look of disdain – it would take more than flowers to convince her.

“I’ll leave the two of you to talk,” Ethan said, and before Sophia could protest, he had left the study, closing the door behind him.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” Sophia said, and Henry smiled at her.

“I thought I’d wait until you’d had a few days at home…” he began, but Sophia interrupted him.

“You’re wrong about Jasper. I asked Penelope. She knows him better than you. What you said about him was nonsense,” she said.

Whatever happened next, Sophia was determined to let Henry know that she had not believed his lies. He might have convinced Jasper with whatever wickedness he had spoken of, but Sophia had not been fooled.

Henry smiled. “Is that so? I heard he was on his way to London for the Season. It’s hardly the behavior of a man lost in the depths of despair, is it?” he asked.

Sophia was momentarily perturbed. She had not heard anything from Jasper – nor from Penelope or the Dowager Duchess since returning home. She had assumed that the Duke’s mother and sister now knew the truth, or a potted version of it. It pained her to think she had lost a friend in Penelope, and that the Dowager Duchess would think badly of her, too, given her friendship with Sophia’s mother. It was all such a miserable mess, made worse by the fact of Jasper’s apparent nonchalance in the face of her own sorrow.

“But… I don’t believe…” she said, but Henry interrupted her.

“Whatever the truth, Sophia – and Jasper’s a closed book. He doesn’t share his feelings with anyone, except, perhaps, Peter. You and I both know his mind’s made up. Why upset yourself any further?” he asked, stepping forward and placing his hand on her shoulder.

His touch repulsed her. Everything about him repulsed her. It was the way in which he assumed her to be his possession, as though he had won her as a prize.

“I don’t want… well…” she stammered as his grip on her arm grew tighter.

“I don’t want us to argue, Sophia. But we both know what’s best, don’t we?” he said.

Sophia did know what was best. But it had nothing to do with Henry, even as it was clear what was to come next.

“Then don’t cause an argument,” she said.

He smiled at her and shook his head. “Sophia, please. There’s no point in denying it. You and I are destined to marry each other. It’s for the best. I’m hardly an unattractive prospect, am I?” he said.

Sophia had no answer. He was entirely unattractive, and the thought of marrying him made her feel sick. But Sophia knew she had no choice. Ethan would only force her hand, and her small allowance – not to mention the difficulties of being a woman alone in the world – was not enough to allow her to refuse. Circumstances now trapped her, and all she could say was yes…

“I just wasn’t expecting… well, we lost touch. I barely know you,” Sophia said, though she knew she was fighting a losing battle.

He looked at her and smiled, and now he took her hand in his, raising it to his lips.

“Then you must get to know me – the Season awaits us. There’s the Gibson ball this coming Saturday. We’ll go together. It’ll be a chance for us to get to know one another, won’t it?” he said, and it seemed there was no way of refusal.

“But… do you really want to marry me?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I do, yes. And, in time, I think you’ll realize the advantage to be had in saying yes,” he replied.

But Sophia could think of no advantage, even as she was now resigned to her fate. She had no choice but to accept Henry’s proposal, and she felt a fool for having pinned her hopes on the possibility of Jasper’s affections.

It really had been a ruse, one she had fallen for and was to pay the price for believing in. Henry’s visit was just a taste of what was to come, and Sophia could feel nothing but dread for the future now lying ahead of her…