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CHAPTER17
“My goodness, you sure know how to tell a tale, Sophia,” Rachel said with a dramatic sigh as Sophia sat down on the settee beside her.
Sophia was now dry after having a warm bath that Rachel had practically pressed her into. She had also borrowed one of Rachel’s gowns, that was a little long for her, so she kept tripping on the hem, yet at least it was dry compared to her own.
“I can scarcely believe it.” Rachel shook her head in bemusement as the maid brought in tea. She subtly pressed a finger to her lip, urging Sophia to be quiet whilst the maid was in the room. The moment the maid was gone, Rachel leaned forward, resting her arm on the back of the settee to talk conspiratorially with Sophia. “Did you have any idea this was how Nick felt?”
“For a long time, no.” Sophia shook her head, equally baffled. “It has only been these last few weeks that he has said things.” She shuddered. It was so notable that Rachel leaned forward to pour a cup of tea.
“You still need warming up. Here, drink this.”
“I am not sure I am shaking out of the cold, Rachel.”
“Fear?”
“He didn’t do anything, there were no threats. So why am I so frightened?”
“The insinuation is enough. Well, I cannot blame you for that. Best drink the tea. It’s one of the few things that brings solace at a time like this.” Rachel pressed the teacup into Sophia’s hands, and Sophia thanked her heartily for it. Just by being with Rachel, Sophia felt instantly lighter, as if the woes of the day were not so hard to contend with now. “If the maid had not come when she did… what do you think Nick would have done?”
“I don’t know,” Sophia said, shaking her head firmly. “He’s a man of reserve. Well, he is usually. Such propriety, always concerned with how he looks. Surely, he would never do anything to compromise his own reputation?”
“We are talking of a man who has already barged into your chamber,” Rachel pointed out with risen eyebrows.
“Oh, I do not know what to think anymore.” Sophia sipped her tea and flung herself back on the settee, needing to relax her spine and not hold herself so still for a while. “There is another reason for why I have come to you.”
“Two stories in one day? Aren’t I lucky?” Rachel’s smile and positive manner helped Sophia in that moment. She found she reached out for her friend’s hand and took it, needing that support. Rachel clung tightly back to her palm. “Go on, I’m listening.”
“Last night… you know I went to the theater with Jeremy.”
“Yes, and you did not come back again until this morning,” Rachel summarized with a smirk. “Did you spend the night together?” Sophia nodded, prompting Rachel’s smile to grow wider. “Oh, tell me everything! Was he as good a lover as last time?”
“Better.” Yet Sophia could not join in with the gushing excitement. Instead, she held tighter to her friend’s hand. “I realized something last night, Rachel. You once told me that a lover could be exciting for a night. Nothing more than that.” She shrugged with the words, as if to emphasize the fact a night with a man shouldn’t matter. “Yet it was more than that. Much more!”
Rachel’s smile faltered, in clear understanding.
“You feel something for him?”
“Not just something.” Sophia breathed deeply, building the courage to speak her thoughts. “I am in love with him.”
“Well, such good news calls for celebration, does it not?” Rachel said, suddenly giddy as she leaned toward Sophia. “Cake! We should have cake with our tea. Oh, perhaps champagne too?” Rachel was on her feet, but Sophia clutched at her hand, forcing Rachel to swing back round to face her.
“What? No. No cake, no champagne. Rachel, this is not something to celebrate.”
“Whyever not? You are in love, Sophia!” Rachel dropped to her knees beside the settee. “Do you know what a rare thing this is in our world? To find a man that you truly love? What is more, you are both unmarried. You can be together. What could be more perfect?”
“If he loved me too,” Sophia murmured slowly. Rachel jerked on her knees, her smile vanishing as she grew to understand. “I said that I love him, Rachel, not that he loves me.”
Sophia released her friend’s hand and lifted her teacup to her lips, finding she needed to quench her thirst and the sudden dryness of her mouth. Something about uttering the words aloud had created that dryness.
“In fact, I think I am a fool.”
“A fool? Whatever for?” Rachel asked, her voice soft.
“Because we made a deal, Jeremy and I. We agreed we’d have one more night together, just that, and yet my heart has still…” Sophia petered off, unable to say the words. She planted her palm to her chest, feeling the thud of that heartbeat. “I have fallen in love when I should not have done. That is plain to see. All I have done is let myself in for heartbreak. Oh, Rachel, what a fool I am!”
“Are you a fool?” Rachel said with one perfectly raised eyebrow as she turned on her knees to the tea tray to pour her own tea.
“What do you mean?”
