“Thank you.” Georgie pulled the dressing table chair next to the bed. “Now, I understand why you are hiding. I think Arabella is so brave to go about the school when she feels well enough. I do hope your wounds heal much faster, as I want you to feel comfortable downstairs. Since you couldn’t come down for the morning meal, I will tell you everything that was said.”
Sophie tried to focus as Georgie recited every conversation and explained all that Cook had served, but it was hopeless. None of it seemed to matter anymore. Her heart was broken. Would she ever care about anything again?
Chapter Twenty-One
A week later
Stoneleigh House
“Chris, you’re goingto wear out that rug, and it was not so expensive as to hold up to being trod upon like that.”
Christopher ignored his brother. After five days in his new home, he was no closer to sorting out his feelings than he had been while still at Silver Meadows. He swore he’d heard his own heart break as the coach pulled away the day after the duke and duchess returned. He’d ignorantly thought that being away from Sophie would lessen his feelings for her. If anything, they had only intensified.
Despite that, he still hurt at her rejection, and at the fact she hadn’t responded to the note he’d given to Mrs. Boyd to give her. Nor had she opened the door when he’d tapped on it in the middle of the night. In fact, according to Lady Rose, Sophie hadn’t come out of her room the entire two days before he’d left, so her rejection was complete.
And still, he couldn’t stop loving her. Whether he was meeting with his new steward or talking to a tenant, he continuously searched his mind for some solution to his problem. There was always a solution. He just had to find it. Sometimes it took thinking the unthinkable.
He halted.
“Finally, now will you sit down? You are a serious distraction.” Andrew’s voice was right behind him.
Instead of sitting, Christopher walked away and onto the hardwood floors of his study until he reached the fireplace where a poorly done painting of the former owner hung. He stared at it. The man, a merchant, looked almost aristocratic in his demeanor, despite his broad build. There was even a lift to the jaw as the eyes of the man looked down his nose at the viewer. His wife sat in the chair next to him, her skirts spread out to show her to the best advantage, though her long face and close-spaced eyes couldn’t be improved.
Christopher imagined Lord Dowling and his wife in such a painting. The man would look absolutely haughty and his wife cowed. How arrogant would the man be if it were known his slip of a wife had cuckolded him?
As the thought formed in his head, Christopher smirked. “That’s it.”
“You mean the painting? It’s horribly done. I have no doubt Amelia will be pleased to paint one for you.”
He finally looked at his brother, who now sat in a chair nearby. “No, not the painting. I believe I know how to bend Lord Dowling to my will.”
Andrew frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea. The man is well known and revered among the Whigs. He’s not one you want to make an enemy of.”
Was everyone against him? He threw his hands up. “So, I’m to let Lady Sophie go and forget that I love her?”
“I didn’t say that, but last I heard from you, you didn’t want to see her again. Of course, the conversation before that, you were planning to storm back to Silver Meadows and talk some sense into her. From where I sit, a lot depends on how you feel about the lady.” His brother grinned.
At Andrew’s observations, Christopher relaxed and smiled before taking the chair nearby. “I know, I sound like an idiot.”
“Love will do that to a man. Trust me, I know.”
“How would you know?”
Andrew laughed. “Amelia did the same to me. First, she agreed to marriage, and then after I fell in love with her, she rejected me.”
“I didn’t know that.” Andrew and Amelia seemed fated to be together.
“You were at Oxford. I was so angry, I never wanted to be within twenty miles of her.”
“Then how did you get her back?”
“I was tricked into seeing Amelia by the Duke of Northwick, of all people, though I’m quite sure the duchess orchestrated the whole affair. After all, she is Amelia’s older sister. The point is, even though I was tricked, I married Amelia because I loved her and couldn’t imagine my life without her. Is that how you feel about Lady Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? You didn’t hesitate, yet you’ve been going back and forth about it for the two days I’ve been here.”
“That’s because I’ve been angry at my helplessness. But I would do anything to have her as my wife.”
