Page 133 of A Duchess for his Family

Sophia always tried not to show it. And Benedict had seen. He had simply chosen to pretend he had not.

Marjorie looked deeply unimpressed with him. “So you should say sorry.”

Nathaniel spoke solemnly. “There is a revolutionary quality to the suggestion, I admit.”

Benedict turned on him. “You are enjoying this.”

“Considerably less than usual.”

That answer silenced him. Nathaniel’s face softened.

“Which should perhaps tell you something.”

Benedict looked around the room. Amelia watched him with quiet hope. Marjorie watched him with open accusation. Nathaniel watched him with the expression of a man trying very hard not to interfere and failing magnificently.

Three of the people Benedict loved most in the world.

Three people whose opinions he trusted.

Three people who were, quite unmistakably, judging him.

Worse… they were right.

He had pushed Sophia away because he was frightened. Then he had acted as though fear excused the hurt he'd caused. The thought still hurt, but beneath it, something else stirred, the beginnings of an uncomfortable question. Perhaps loving someone did indeed give another person the right to take from him.

But sitting in the nursery Sophia had helped fill with warmth, Benedict found himself wondering whether fear of losing love had led him to throw it away with his own hands.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“All right, now, tell me what happened,” Sophia’s mother asked tenderly.

Sophia looked down at the untouched tea cooling between her hands. Across from her, her mother sat by the small fire in Sophia’s old bedchamber, wearing a dark green dressing gown over her nightdress. She had dismissed the maid nearly half an hour earlier and closed the door herself. She had not asked whether Benedict had behaved improperly or whether there had been a quarrel. She had simply sat down and waited.

Sophia traced one finger around the rim of her cup. “Nothing happened.”

Her mother raised one eyebrow. “I have raised three daughters, Sophia. I can see on your face that something has happened.”

Despite herself, Sophia smiled. Then, she sighed and looked into her tea. “We… kissed.”

Her mother blinked. Sophia immediately wished the floor would open.

Then her mother said, very calmly. “I see.”

Sophia covered her face briefly with one hand. “This is dreadful.”

Her mother smiled. “My darling, you are married.”

“That does not make discussing it with one’s mother pleasant.”

“No. But it makes the event itself considerably less alarming.”

Sophia lowered her hand. Her mother’s mouth twitched faintly. Then her expression softened.

“And after?”

Sophia’s smile disappeared. “Afterward, Benedict changed. He began spending more time in his study. He stopped lingering after meals. When we met alone, he was perfectly polite, but…” Sophia swallowed. “Different.”

“How?”