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CHAPTER9
By the time their second dance had ended, Jeremy saw little point in parting from Sophia’s side. What would it have accomplished? He would have only stared at her for the rest of the evening, his body restless and longing to be beside her again.
As they stepped off the dancefloor, with him smiling and Sophia still laughing at their latest jest, Jeremy led her across the room. He was careful to take her far away from where her brother-in-law still watched them together. He escorted Sophia to a drinks table set between two candelabras, so that all the crystal glasses that stood in a pattern on the white cloth glistened in the orange candlelight.
“Wine?” he offered to her.
“Please. I need it after all that dancing.” She pressed her gloved fingers toward one of her eyes, clearly trying to calm the tears that had come to the surface with so much laughter.
He poured out two glasses and passed the first one into her grasp. When their fingers brushed together, neither of them mentioned it, but he could see she felt that same heat. A blush filled her cheeks, though she looked down into her glass, as if hiding that was what she felt.
We have been together in our excitement and passion, so why is every single chaste touch still so filled with tension?
Jeremy was beginning to think Stephen was right. He couldn’t get Sophia out of his mind without spending another night with her. Only, perhaps that night shouldn’t just be about foreplay. Perhaps… he should not hold himself back from knowing her completely.
Maybe then I will be free of this burn.
“So, you have put off dancing with me for years now. I hope I did not disappoint in the end,” Jeremy jested with her, turning to face her completely as he sipped from his glass.
“You did not,” she declared, lifting her chin confidently so that her eyes met his without demureness or restraint. He found he rather loved that look. “Well, after asking me to dance for so many years, and being constantly turned down, I should be the one to ask you if it was worth the wait, should I not?”
“Worth the wait? Indeed, you were.” He deepened his voice, hoping to hint to her that he was referring to other things rather than the dance. When her lips curled into an indulgent smile around the rim of her glass, he knew she understood him.
“Are you capable of having a conversation without flirtation, Jeremy?” she asked, lowering the glass once again.
“With you? Hmm, it might be somewhat difficult, though I certainly manage it with others. I think Stephen would be rather shocked if I spoke to him as I did with you.” His jest once more made her laugh. She snorted a little, and then tried to hide it behind the glass. The two of them laughed harder at the noise she made, enough to draw the attention of others at the ball nearby.
One glance for Jeremy showed that some people gathered were whispering about the two of them. No doubt, the fact they had shared two dances was enough to make people speculate.
“Then I have a challenge for you, if you permit it,” Sophia said, earning his attention once again.
“Please, go ahead.”
“I have often wondered now that I am free, as Rachel calls it, what I should do with my life.”
“Are you unhappy with it?” Jeremy was intrigued. He tilted his head to the side and watched Sophia carefully. “I thought you were enjoying your new-found freedoms.”
“I am. Yet where I am now is not necessarily where I always wish to be.” She shrugged, as if she were speaking rather nonchalantly, but Jeremy could tell in the way she kept her gaze on the wine glass in front of her, she wanted to speak of something particular.
“Tell me, Sophia. What do you want from your life?” he whispered, encouraging her to confide in him. Her eyes flicked up from the glass to his face.
“I have often wondered what it would be like to travel,” she murmured the words, as if they were the greatest scandal in the world. “My husband didn’t even like going to the countryside. He was only fond of London. I still remember engravings and paintings I have seen of the continent, and the number of times I have heard a gentleman talk of a Grand Tour, it has made me wonder… if I could do such a thing. If I could travel.”
“There is nothing to hold you back.” Jeremy nodded eagerly. “Sophia, you have your husband’s annuity to you, do you not?”
“Yes, but…” She glanced away. Jeremy couldn’t quite figure out where her gaze went before it returned to her. “I mean, yes, I do.”
“Then you can use it as you wish to. If you wish to travel, then travel. Do! I myself had a Grand Tour when I was younger, and it was without doubt, one of the best experiences of my life.” He paused and stood taller, remembering those days. “I have particular memories that will always stay with me. Standing on a beach in France watching the sun set or watching a bull fight in Spain. Exciting, yes, thrilling, definitely, yet it is the other culture, as if you are treading a while in another world… that is what I loved the most.”
Jeremy paused, aware that Sophia was smiling rather admiringly as she stared at him. “What did I say?” he asked as he took another sip of his wine.
“I think you have just described perfectly why I wish to travel so much. Another world, yes, I like that idea very much.”
“Then you must do it.” He looked at her glass. Seeing she had already drunk most of it out of her thirst, he took the glass from her and refilled it. “I think life is too short to sit here and wonder what could happen if we did this or that. We must take the opportunity to live to the full, whilst we can. I learned that when I was abroad.”
“What prompted you to go on your Grand Tour?” Sophia’s words were conversational, but she could have no real idea what discomfort they caused Jeremy.
He paused with the wine carafe in his hands, thinking back to the decision that had taken him away from England and to the Continent.
