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“You stole them. You are going to put them back, Delilah,” she ground out and turned away.
Delilah’s mouth opened, but she didn’t give her chance to say anything. She marched the last few steps to the front door of the Harvell residenc
e, and knocked loudly.
She was aware of Delilah’s evil stare as they swept inside but didn’t care what her aunt thought, felt, or wanted. The truth was that Sophia had no intention of getting caught with stolen items in her bag no matter how much Delilah lied. It irked her that her aunt had promised to return the items she had taken, three at a time, and had continued to do so right up until the moment they had left the house. Unfortunately, Delilah had then quite cunningly announced that she wasn’t going to return anything because it was too much of a risk to take. She had swept out of the house before Sophia could argue, leaving her to snatch the bag off the table.
As a result, the silent clash of wills between the two ladies had soured the relationship even more. To the point that Sophia seriously doubted it could ever be rekindled to even ordinary civility. Still, she couldn’t ignore the fact that a crime had been committed, several times, right under her nose. She was compelled to do whatever she had to in order to protect the family name, in spite of Delilah’s best attempts to sully it.
Once at the Harvell’s though, Sophia’s disappointment faded a little. Tea was a sparse affair indeed, accompanied by luke-warm tea, and dried cake that should have been thrown in the fire days ago, but that didn’t matter. Jeb was there, and his presence made the discomfort worthwhile.
“Good afternoon, Miss Carney,” Jeb murmured huskily as she entered. He bowed politely at both Sophia and her aunt. “Miss Carney. How are you both on this fine afternoon?”
“Fine,” Delilah replied absently, clearly not interested in making conversation.
“I am very well, thank you,” Sophia replied with a smile. “How are you?”
His smile widened when her gaze dropped to his lips again. He knew she was remembering the kiss he gave her. If they had been alone he would have kissed her again, but in deference to the other rather watchful guests had to content himself with a smouldering look that was full of sensual promise.
Unable to resist touching her, he kissed the back of her hand.
She blushed as the memory of those kisses on the doorstep came flooding back, and her eyes fell instinctively to his lips as he lifted his head.
“Do come in,” Pearl gushed.
“Is your father not here?” Sophia asked him.
“No, he and Mr Everson had some business to conduct.”
“Please send him my regards,” she replied.
“I shall do just that, thank you,” he assured her, hating the formality of the occasion.
He despised these affairs where people always watched everyone else like a hawk, and one could be scorned if a word or foot was put out of place. Still, he wasn’t there to represent his father. He was there to catch a thief. If spending a bit more time in the company of those present at his father’s dinner helped him to identify the thief then he was prepared to suffer their company. He had been subjected to far worse throughout his work for the Star Elite.
He glanced about the room. The sitting room they were in was sparsely furnished, to the point that some of the guests were forced to remain standing. Jeb and the Squire were in front of the fireplace. The remainder of the guests either stood, or were seated awkwardly around the room in a way that made conversation difficult. Unfortunately, although Jeb was closest to Sophia, he still couldn’t talk to her the way he wanted to either.
Sighing in frustration, he focused his attention on the real reason he was there; the thief.
It quickly became evident to Jeb that nobody else really wanted to be there either. It wasn’t that the Harvell’s weren’t well liked. It was just that the few pieces of wood in the fire did little to heat the chilled room. The ladies were struggling to make ends meet, which made drinking their tea and eating their cake feel just plain wrong. Everyone appeared to feel the same because they sipped their cups of tepid tea slowly, and ate the rather awful cake sparingly.
Despite the Harvell’s best attempts to keep it rambling on, conversation was stilted.
Sophia was disappointed. However, it had nothing to do with the awful refreshments, or her lack of ability to converse with Jeb. She was disappointed because Delilah had perched next to her on the chaise, and had immediately dropped the bag with the hairbrushes inside directly onto Sophia’s feet. Evidently, she still had no intention of returning the stolen items.
Mentally cursing her, Sophia had no choice but to try to find a way to leave the brushes behind when they left the house or she knew she would be taking them back to Delilah’s again.
“While everybody is here,” Squire Trelawney suddenly announced. “I shall hand out the invitations to the ball at the end of the month.”
“Oh, but everybody is not here, surely?” Miss Mabel declared, all atwitter as she accepted her invitation from the Squire.
“I have already delivered Algernon’s, and that man of business of theirs,” the Squire declared loudly. “Never fear, my dear. Everyone shall be invited.”
He moved around the room and handed everybody a small embossed card with the details on for his ball in a week’s time.
“It is my turn to host one of these occasions,” he declared without any hint of enthusiasm.
Sophia smiled at the reluctance in his voice. She had to wonder why he would want to accommodate such a lavish affair as a ball if he didn’t like any of the guests. Still, it wasn’t for her to question the man, so she accepted her invitation off him with a smile of thanks and placed it in her lap to read later.
