Page 47 of Love and Other Disasters

Jasper gaped. “What more did you assume she could be? I’m sure you know full well my brother is married.”

The older woman snorted and then she smiled. “Lord Nash could divorce and make Sophie his wife instead.”

Jasper stilled as the potential for a divorce became all too clear. Laura didn’t want anything to do with her husband. And Ravenswood had feared something was going on between Nash and Sophie before they left for the summer. If the madam suspected a divorce was in the wind, Nash must have been considering it for quite a while and let something slip.

But Sophie was with Jasper now. “Nash would never do that. Divorce.”

“Why not? Is our Sophie not worthy of his adoration? She respects your brother, and adores his children, well enough to make a comfortable companion in a marriage of convenience, so the problem is not with her,” Madam Clover complained.

Jasper hugged Isabelle a little closer to his heart. “Is that what she told you she wants?”

“Not in so many words, but it is clear she greatly esteems your family and her life here.”

Jasper ground his teeth together. That possessiveness rose and lashed out in impotent fury. “What is it you would have me do about it?”

“Support the match. Your brother is dragging his feet unnecessarily. If you think it will help, make him jealous by showering her with attention so he sees what he is missing out on. Our Sophie is meant for more than a governesses life and anything closer to my profession is an insult to her intelligence. She has the wit and charm to do anything but is forever plagued by self-doubt and her humble upbringing. When I took her in, it was with the intention to see her make a great match one day.”

“I see,” he mumbled. Numb. The idea of Sophie married, and to Nash, made his stomach turn. She was his lover…or had that just been a mistake borne of loneliness and disappointment on her part? It wouldn’t be the first time a lover had chosen him when they’d really wanted his older brothers’ favor instead. And to find out Sophie’s friends expected her to marry Nash one day made him feel ill. “If my brother had any plan to divorce and to marry anyone, I am not privy to it. My brother is ambitious, so why would he choose Sophie? A penniless orphan?”

“Because she is my heir, young man. When a woman gets to my age, she begins to think and plan for the future. I was never blessed with children, but when I met Sophie, I found the daughter I’d always longed for. Sophie can be counted on to look after my ladies and my business interests when I’m gone. After all, she was responsible for most of our recent success. Your brother knows this.”

Jasper turned away, troubled. Nash’s priority would always be to the duke and to Ravenswood. If he divorced Laura, and remarried anyone, any new money from the union would flow directly into the family coffers. “So he knows Sophie will inherit a fortune?”

“Not in so many words, but he will ensure my wishes are carried out I’m sure.”

Jasper turned back to the woman, dread in his heart. She expected Nash to marry Sophie. But Jasper was almost certain her faith had been misplaced in his brother. Nash wouldn’t care about Madam Clover’s employees once she was gone, and he already did not listen to Sophie’s opinions, or so she recently had told him. Marriage would only take Sophie’s inheritance and control of it out of her hands entirely. He did not like what he’d heard today.

“I will broach this matter upon his return to Ravenswood.”

“Good.” She smiled at him. “You know, it is a shame. I should think you would have made a much better match for my Sophie had you ever been in the market for a wife.”

“I am not, madam,” he blurted.

“Every rake says the same until it is too late,” the older woman said, and then drew close to him, her eyes on the sleeping child. “So much like her father.”

Jasper couldn’t help but smile at the compliment.

“And her mother too,” the woman said, turning away. “A pity she could not bear to live with the man.”

“Wait,” Jasper called out to her. “Who is her mother?”

The woman frowned and met his gaze. “Why Laura Sweet, of course?”

“What!” He recoiled. “No. I would never bed my sister-in-law.”

“Oh, dear…so it is as Sophie claims.” She came closer. “You really believe the child is yours, then.”

“Isn’t she?”

The madam shook her head slowly and there was compassion in her eyes.

Jasper felt the news like a punch in the gut. From the beginning, he’d believed the child was not his, but Sophie had insisted and he’d reluctantly conceded he might just be a father. He’d fallen under the little girl’s spell too and had begun to think about what sort of future she might have. What he might have to do to raise her and protect her when she was grown up. But if she was Laura’s child, born within a legal marriage, Isabelle was Nash’s responsibility whether he liked it or not.

He looked down at the infant and squeezed his jaw tightly together as regret hit him squarely in the heart. And yet, he only had Madam Clover’s word for it. Gossip. He glanced at the older lady and wondered what else she would say about his brother. “Madam, how did you come by the information about this child?”

“I have made it my business to keep a close eye on Lord Nash for Sophie’s benefit. Any arrangements he made with other women keenly interested me.”

He raised a brow. “Other women?”