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Sophie laughed softly. “I believe we were speaking of two different things. When you said, ‘He told me,’ I thought you meant Somerton had told you about the baby. I’d made him promise not to tell you or anyone else.”
“I was talking about the money.” A slow smile finally deepened the dimples in his cheeks. “You went to Somerton for support, didn’t you?”
“There was no one else I could go to,” she said, looking down at her skirts. “I hated going to him. I didn’t want to take money from him and Victoria.”
“You should have come to me,” he whispered.
She shook her head. “No, you were supposed to marry Miss Littlebury. It wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t as if I’d been your mistress and we had a monetary agreement.”
“You were my lover,” he said softly. “You were my love. I would have done anything for you.”
Sophie heard his words and went still. Tears refused to fall but she recognized the most important word he used—were. She had been his love. And wasn’t now. Why did he come to Venice if not for her?
Sophie had lost everything she’d ever wanted. The only man she had ever loved.
Nicholas.
Had she stayed in London things might have been different. But she had made a mess out of her life and now the life of her unborn child.
“I’m so sorry, Nicholas,” she whispered. “I should have told you sooner about the baby. I’ve made a mess out of everything. Your life. And my own life.”
“Sooner? When did you tell me about the baby? I figured it out when you entered the room a few minutes ago.”
She shook her head. “I sent you a note about a fortnight ago. It most likely hasn’t even arrived in London yet. I knew you had a right to know the truth.”
“Why did you wait?” he asked so softly it almost made her cry again.
“I was afraid,” she finally admitted to him and herself.
“Of what?”
Everything, her mind screamed. But one thing more than others. “That you would take my child away from me. That I’d be left alone again.”
He shook his head slowly. “What happened with Maggie was completely different, Sophie. Maggie planned to abandon my child. I could never let her do that.”
“I never would have abandoned our child, Nicholas.”
“I know that. Watching you with Emma made me see what a connection you two have. I’m assuming because of your birth. When I saw you with her I realized . . .”
Sophie nodded, encouraging him to continue.
“You are the only woman I have ever been with who asked me about Emma.”
“Indeed? She is the most important thing in your life. You must have been with some very foolish women.”
“I believe you’re right.” Slowly he reached down to the end of the bed and brought her close.
“You should be resting,” she said and then felt his forehead. “I do believe your fever is gone.”
“I wasn’t sick. I think I was overcome from the heat and had a slight fever. A few people on the ship were sick with fevers so I believe Mrs. Griffon and Emma overreacted and insisted that Dominic call the physician. Dominic knows better than to let me have laudanum.”
“Why is that?”
“It makes me sleep like the dead for hours. I hate the bloody stuff.”
She put her head back down on his chest and sighed. He gently caressed her hair.
“I love you, Sophie,” he murmured. “I knew I’d fallen in love with you the night you called on me and I found you with Emma in the salon. But I still felt I had to prove your intuition wasn’t always right. That is why I insisted on going to the Middletons’ party.”
