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Somerton picked up the book she’d thrown and placed it on the table. “Her father, Witham, is good friends with Middleton. They might have conspired to get the match and told her about the panel.”
She nodded. It all made sense now. Miss Littlebury had come to her seeking information on Nicholas. When Sophie had told her that she’d seen Nicholas in her future, Miss Littlebury must have assumed she meant as a match.
“What will happen now, Anthony?” Even as she asked the question, she knew the probable outcome.
“Witham will call him out if he doesn’t propose marriage, Sophie.”
“I assumed so.”
“There might be a way for you,” Somerton said and stopped his pacing.
Sophie shook her head. “I have always known that we would never be together. It was a risk I took when I seduced him.”
“Tell him you are with child, Sophie.”
She looked up at him agape. “How did you know?”
He smiled down gently at her. “I can tell these things,” he said with a shrug.
“You mean like I can?” While Somerton had some intuitive
sense, his appeared nowhere near as strong as hers.
He tilted his head and smirked down at her. “Your breasts are larger, your skin is radiant, and every time I visit you in the morning you look like hell. I am dealing with the same issue at my own home.”
Sophie smiled up at her brother. “Of course. Still, I cannot tell him, Anthony.” She played with the tucks on her gown. “Nicholas is a good man. He will do the right thing by Miss Littlebury.”
“He needs to do the right thing by you.” Somerton sat down on the edge of the divan. “I can take care of Miss Littlebury.”
“You will do nothing. It has been obvious to me since I returned from Venice that we were not meant to be together. You cannot force these things, Anthony. It was no different between you and Victoria. Had you two met before the timing was right, it never would have worked for you. That is why I never told you her name until last year.”
“You are still basing everything on the fact that you don’t see him for you. You might be wrong this time, Sophie.”
“I never saw anyone for him either,” she admitted.
“And what about Miss Littlebury? Did you see anyone for her?”
Sophie explained how she saw a very blurred image of Nicholas and a clearer vision of another man. Someone she didn’t know. “Which again leads me to believe Nicholas isn’t meant to have a long life. After he dies, Miss Littlebury will marry the other man I saw for her.”
“What does he look like?” Somerton asked.
She shrugged. “Blond hair with green eyes. He seemed tall to me but other than that . . . wait, I remember, he had a small scar on his chin. I never mentioned that to her, though. She never would stay long enough that I could ascertain his surname. All I discovered was his first name was Edward or possibly Edmund.”
Somerton turned away from her. “Hmm, I’m not certain I know anyone named Edward or Edmund with a scar on his chin.”
Sophie yawned. “It doesn’t matter. Nicholas will propose and she will accept.”
“Go to bed, Sophie. You look exhausted.” He kissed her on the forehead and walked out of the house.
There was nothing else she could do now. She’d never felt so conflicted in her life. If she told Nicholas about the baby, he would ruin Miss Littlebury. If she didn’t tell him, she would be ruining herself and denying Nicholas his child. But as long as she was the bastard daughter of an earl, she was nobody. Nicholas could not choose her over Miss Littlebury.
And once again, Sophie would be alone.
She wiped away the tear that fell down her cheek. The one time she desperately needed her mother’s advice, she wasn’t here.
“You will propose to Miss Littlebury this afternoon.”
Nicholas crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the window frame of his father’s study. “No, I will not.”
