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“That sounds like a good idea, Lady Westbury,” Mister Shore agreed. “You do have the most magnificent garden, and it’s the perfect backdrop.”
Lady Westbury laughed.
“You are such a flatterer, Mister Shore.” She beckoned both daughters to follow her. “Come along, you two. Let’s go outside. Sophia, would you tell Mrs Ripley that we’ll be on the terrace for tea?”
“Yes, Mother.”
Aimee pouted.
“Do I have to go as well, Mother? Mister Ford was going to be coming this morning, and I’m waiting for him.”
“You can wait for him with us. Then I can keep an eye on both of you.”
Aimee didn’t look happy about that. Mister Shore didn’t appear to have noticed, holding out an arm to Sophia.
“Miss Sophia? Shall we?”
Sophia hesitated. Knowing that Mister Ford would be turning up left her heart fluttering to the point she was feeling a bit light-headed. She swayed for a moment before catching herself. She really needed to stop this; Mister Ford was here for Aimee, not her. Sophia had to behave like she wasn’t the one receiving a visit from him.
Even so, she couldn’t stop wishing she had Mister Ford calling on her instead of Mister Shore.
Now stop it. You have a gentleman calling on you, and you should be grateful. It’s not often someone wants to see just you. Make the most of it.
Sophia knew she had to. It was not fair on Mister Shore. Fixing a smile on her face, she took his arm.
“Yes, let’s go outside.”
Hopefully, she would be able to distract herself from the thoughts of Thomas Ford threatening to seep in and take over.
#
“I’m really glad you visited, Thomas,” Aimee declared as she walked him around the side of the house. “It’s so refreshing to have you here.”
“I didn’t really do much,” Thomas reminded her. “I just sat there while you and your mother talked. I don’t think I actually contributed much.”
“Of course, you contributed! You made me feel less lonely.” Aimee made a face. “And I couldn’t have Sophia have all the attention, could I? She seems to think she’s better than us.”
Thomas stopped walking.
“I beg your pardon? What’s wrong with her having a visitor?”
“She’s too plain. She won’t have his interest for long.” Aimee shrugged. “I know Mister Shore is your friend, but he’ll come down from the events of last night and realise that Sophia isn’t as pretty as he thought she was. He was probably here to be nice as he couldn’t get out of it anymore.”
Thomas didn’t like hearing this. It made him angry that Aimee would speak in such a way about Sophia. But he pushed that back, fixing Aimee with a hard stare.
“Why do you dislike your sister so much? What did she ever do to you?”
“What?”
“You have made comments about her that make me uncomfortable. And I can’t see what she’s done to upset anybody.” Thomas slowly moved his arm away from Aimee’s hand. “Why do you and your family treat her in such a way? There’s nothing wrong with her that I can see.”
Aimee sighed.
“Oh, Thomas, you don’t understand. She’s nothing compared to us. Just quiet and uninteresting. Very boring to me.”
“That’s your sister.”
“I know she is, but I wish I wasn’t.” Aimee gestured at him. “You’ll understand once you marry me. Sophia is just different, and it’s better to leave her alone.”
