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Thomas tried not to show that he was looking around as he scanned the room. He hadn’t seen Sophia for a little bit now. A short while ago, she had been dancing with Pierce, and it was clear that he was turning on the charm. Sophia didn’t seem to be affected by it, but it made Thomas upset that Pierce was even turning his attention onto her. She was far too sweet for Pierce, but his friend didn’t seem to care. He just saw someone he could potentially conquer.
Thomas didn’t want that to happen.
It shouldn’t be any of his business. Sophia was unmarried with, apparently, no suitor in sight, and Pierce was in a similar position. And yet Thomas really didn’t want that to happen.
“Are you alright, Mister Ford?”
Thomas turned and saw Aimee giving him a hard stare. He managed a smile.
“I’m perfectly fine, Miss Burke.”
“You looked like you were looking for someone.” Aimee’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”
“Why would I be doing anything?”
“Because you’re meant to be paying attention to me, not looking for someone else.”
Thomas wanted to point out that he had been standing at her side while Aimee talked to her parents, and he had mostly tuned out what they were saying while he looked for Pierce and Sophia. But from how Aimee was behaving towards him, Thomas felt she would be looking for him to fight back to scold him.
Not for the first time, he wondered why he had even agreed to this.
“I was just looking for my friend, Mister Shore. I didn’t want him to cause any trouble.” He frowned as he tried to catch sight of his friend again. “I saw him dancing with your sister a moment ago. I want to be sure that she’s not in any difficulties.”
Aimee snorted.
“If you’re talking about Sophia, you don’t need to worry about her. She can take care of herself.”
“Mister Shore is known to be very … charming towards women. You’re not concerned about her.”
“Sophia’s made it very clear over the years that she does things differently to us. She might find Mister Shore attractive, but she’s too timid to try and do anything about it.”
Thomas wasn’t sure if that was a compliment towards Sophia or not. He peered at Aimee.
“You have a lot of confidence in your sister, Miss Burke.”
“It’s not confidence. I just know it’s not going to happen.” Aimee shook her head and turned away. “Sophia’s boring. Your friend will understand that shortly. Look, isn’t that him?”
Thomas looked and saw Pierce coming into the ballroom alone. There was no sign of Sophia.
“See? He’s got bored of her already.” Aimee took Thomas’ arm. “Let’s go and get something to eat. I’m getting hungry.”
“Would you mind if you give me a moment?”
“What for?”
Thomas raised his eyebrows at her. It took a moment before Aimee understood, her cheeks pinkening. She stumbled over her words.
“Oh … of course … I’ll be waiting for you, Mister Ford.”
“I hope you do,” Thomas realised he didn’t sound as convincing as he should. He took Aimee’s hand and kissed her gloved fingers. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Trying not to hurry, Thomas headed across the room towards the dining room. Pierce gave him a nod and a smirk.
“You were right about Miss Sophia Burke. She’s something else.”
“Where is she, Pierce?”
