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Those dark eyes stared at him without blinking, and the pink lips were parted.
She came.
“Good evening,” he said, finding it impossible to resist his smile. Sophia stepped forward, lowering her hood completely.
“You sound almost relieved.”
“Well, part of me wondered if you had changed your mind, and if you would not come.”
As Sophia stepped into the house, Jeremy closed the door behind her. Silence fell between them, with nothing but the sounds of her shoes as she walked slowly into the middle of the hallway filling the air, with her head turning back and forth. As she admired the building, he admired her, thinking of the curve of her neck and her courage in coming here to see him.
“Where did you tell your brother-in-law you were going tonight?” he asked as he followed her into the middle of the room. He imagined there was some sort of force drawing him to her.
Attraction. That is all this is.
“I didn’t tell him anything.” Sophia turned back to face him with a playful smile on her features. “He believes I have a headache and have retired early for the night. Let us pray he has no reason to check on me tonight.”
With these words, she took off her pelisse, with her hand trembling. The moment Jeremy saw that shake, he stepped forward and took the pelisse from her, helping her off with the cloth.
“Are you nervous?” he asked, noting how she trembled.
Please, don’t be.
“I see little point in denying it,” she murmured, her eyes darting to and fro, and lingering on the way he took the pelisse from her. “I do not know what to expect.” She looked as if she was steeling herself, preparing her body for what he would do next.
“Do not look frightened.” He laughed then. That simple sound seemed to dispel the tension in the room. “I am not about to take you here in my hallway.” She smiled too, the words lightening the air between them. “Come, would you like a drink?”
“Yes please.”
He placed the pelisse over his coat stand and beckoned her to follow him to the sitting room. Once inside, he poured her a whisky, expecting her to taste it and then ask for something else. To his surprise, she knocked back half the glass in one.
“Since when have you developed a taste for this?” he asked. “I remember a time when you followed your husband around at balls, taking the measly glasses of wine he offered you.”
“Follow?” she scoffed at the idea. “You make it sound willing. I had to go where he said and drink what he told me to. This?” She gestured down to the whisky. “Well, Rachel already introduced me to this. Believe me, I can see why a man may want to keep this to himself.” He laughed once more as she knocked back the rest of the glass and then offered it forward, so he could top it up.
“Was life with your husband really so awful?” He found himself asking as he sat down in the nearest chair he could find. It ended up being his card table. She sat down on the other side, lifting her glass before her and analyzing the amber liquid.
“You have not married. It suggests to me you know how stifling a marriage can be.”
How little you know.
Jeremy wrinkled his nose and looked away, knowing he had no good answer for such a statement.
“Oh… you like the idea of marriage?” Sophia smiled as she looked at him.
“That is not what I said.”
“You clearly did not agree with what I just said. That was plain in your manner.”
“You are insufferably observant sometimes, you know that?” he said with mischief and a smile as he reached toward the center of the table and picked up a pack of cards. “Here, how about we play a game?”
“Very well, but are you doing this to just change the subject?”
“Stop being observant.” He warned her with another smile and began to deal out the cards. She laughed as she took another sip of her whisky.
Jeremy had not known this kind of ease in a long time. Often when he spent nights with women, they moved straight to a bedchamber, eager to begin, butthiswas different. He wanted a moment with Sophia first, just to see her smile and relax, before he showed her what they could do together.
“What is the game?” she asked as she smacked her lips and picked up the cards.
