Dalliance with the Duchess (Seducing the Duchess #3)

Chapter Nineteen

M arianne and Nicholas were seated together very close, their voices too low for Sophia to hear, but she smiled whenever she glanced at them. She was exhausted—it had been a fraught few hours—but she was also elated.

Nicholas had found his sister, and Gordon was free from the company of those vile men. And though Oldney had been the vilest of them all, it turned out that Marianne—Fern, she reminded herself—had been reasonably well treated. He had not grown bored with her, as Arnold had, and passed her on to someone else. Someone like Chatham.

Sophia shuddered at the thought of Chatham getting his hands on the sweet girl. And Fern was right, she had Hugo, and Sophia was determined that Oldney’s son be given his due. A good school, although perhaps not the sort of school Gordon and Nicholas had been to, and his rightful place in the world.

“Your Grace?”

Sophia blinked. Damn it, had she fallen asleep? “Yes, Marianne... I mean, Fern?”

The other woman smiled. Despite her pale face and shadowed eyes, she looked content. “It is very late and if I am to run your house well, I should retire.”

“Yes. Of course. We can talk in the morning. You may not want to stay now that your brother...” She looked over at Nicholas.

“I do want to stay,” Fern said firmly. “You have been so kind to me, and I like it here. Hugo likes it here. If you will have us, then we will stay.”

“I will certainly have you both.”

Goodnights were spoken. Gordon was already tucked up in one of the guest beds, the doctor having dressed his wound and pronounced it not too serious.

“I’m so glad you found your sister,” Sophia began, as soon as the door was closed. “And I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner who she was. It wasn’t until Chatham and Mountfitchet were posturing that I had an inkling that perhaps Fern had left Arnold and gone to one of the others. They were always so enmeshed in each other’s lives. I wanted to tell you right away, but what if I had been wrong? I’m sorry...”

Nicholas gaze softened. “No need, Duchess. I keep thinking that if you had not been so kind as to take her in, I don’t know what would have happened to her next.” He took a shaky breath, and she could see that the emotional reunion with Fern had taken its toll on him, too. “Truly, Sophia, you are a woman in a million! The sweetest, dearest, kindest—”

This time it was Sophia who laughed. “I think you must be lightheaded, Nicholas. I am none of those things. But I am trying. I want to be kind, to make up for the times I was not so kind. I give my sister, Ellis, credit for the change in me. She made me realize that people only see what you show them. You may mean well but how can they know if you do not invite them into your heart?”

He came and sat beside her, taking her hands in his. “A bit like you and me,” he said gently. “Our dislike of each other became a habit.”

She wondered what he was going to say. He had a look on his face that made her think he was working up to something. She only hoped he wasn’t going to bid her farewell and ride off into the distance.

“Sophia, I have wanted to tell you this for days now, but I didn’t know if you would welcome the words.” He took a breath. “I love you. And no, I have not lost my mind. I love you, and if you don’t want to hear that, then too bad.”

He looked so stubborn, almost as if he were expecting the worst. Nicholas had not had an entirely happy life thus far, at least not the sort of life he deserved. But Sophia was determined that only good things would come his way from now on. She would make sure of it, starting now.

She leaned forward and rested her forehead against his. “I love you, too. Are we not a pair? Who would have thought? Who will believe it when they hear? Nicholas Blake and the Dowager Duchess of Oldney in love and delighted about it.”

“You love me?” he breathed. And then, with a frown, “Who cares what anyone else thinks? Unless... do you? Will the ton disapprove?”

“Probably. And I do not care. I am deliriously happy to have you, and everyone else can go to hell.”

He kissed her, gently, as if she had said something profound. When he slipped his arm about her, she rested her head on his shoulder.

“What shall we do next?” she asked him dreamily. “Please don’t ask me for another favor, especially if it means I have to enter a gambling hell.”

He laughed. “I promise you I won’t. I have been thinking for some time that I would be happy to retire. It is a wearing and lonely life. And my father is getting old, and I want to live closer to him. But it would mean moving to Hampshire.” He pulled a face. “I suspect that is not what you want at all, is it?”

Sophia thought a moment. “I would not mind,” she answered honestly, because it was true. “Oldney had a number of houses which are now sitting empty and costing me a great deal—I cannot tell you how badly he managed his estates! I was considering selling some of them, and if I did that we could buy something closer to your father.”

“I have savings you know,” he said, sounding stern. “I am well paid for my work, so I do not expect to sponge off you, Duchess.”

As if she would ever believe him capable of such a thing. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “We will share,” she said. “What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine. Although...”

He groaned. “Sophia, I don’t expect—”

“I assure you, I am perfectly happy with such an arrangement,” she said, and gazed into his eyes so that he could see she was in earnest. “But I was thinking of Marianne and Hugo. She seems happy to remain here for now, and I will let her settle before I broach the subject, but Nicholas, I want Hugo to take his rightful place in the world. He is Oldney’s son. He should have the estate in Surrey—it has been in the Oldney family for generations. I will keep this place, too, so that when we come to London we will all have somewhere to stay. Do you think that is a good idea?”

He was gazing at her as if she was so wonderful he could not find the words. It made her uncomfortable because Sophia knew all too well her many faults. He would find them out once the gloss had begun to wear off, but it was nice that at least for the moment he believed her to be a saint.

“Yes, I think it a very good idea,” he said. “I love you so much. I sometimes wonder if I always did, even while I was loathing you.”

She laughed aloud now. “Come, Nicholas, that is ridiculous. I certainly didn’t love you until you showed yourself to me truly. I thought you an arrogant snake, and I said so many times. Just ask Ellis.”

He smoothed her hair back, gazing into her face. “This is the beginning for us, isn’t it? A new life?”

“Yes. A new life,” she whispered.

And then he was kissing her again, warm and loving, and when the tingle of desire began to burn in them both, Sophia led him upstairs to her bedchamber.