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Thomas disagreed with that very strongly. He didn’t like how Aimee was talking about her sister. To him, Sophia was a fascinating woman. Very interesting, very bright, and very beautiful. Compared to Aimee, she was certainly the better sister, especially when she tried to speak so highly of Aimee whenever they were together.
Of course, he wouldn’t be able to say that out loud. Not unless he wanted to tell Aimee that he had met Sophia in private; she would take that the wrong way and Thomas didn’t want to give Sophia any problems with her family.
He took a deep breath.
“Be that as it may, she’s still your sister. And it would do you a favour to be kinder to her, especially when I’m around.”
“What?”
“I’m sure Sophia is better than you make her out to be. Being rude about her isn’t endearing to me at all.”
Aimee blinked. Had she not expected him to speak back to her like this? Then she spluttered a response.
“I … I suppose. But …”
“No, Aimee. I don’t want to hear a protest. If you want me to marry you, you should respect your family a bit more.”
Aimee’s mouth opened and closed.
“But my parents said you couldn’t end the engagement. It’s a done thing, as far as they’re concerned.”
“I can still express my concerns. And I don’t want to hear you being disrespectful towards your sister after this.”
Thomas knew he was making an odd demand of his future bride, but he didn’t want to hear Aimee speak in such a way about Sophia. It was not nice to hear, especially with the turmoil in his stomach regarding her right now.
A movement out of the corner of his eye had Thomas looking around. That was when he saw Pierce walking Sophia across the grass towards a water feature. Pierce looked like he was regaling Sophia with a story, while Sophia was simply smiling and listening. She looked cool and serene, not like Pierce at all. It appeared that he was very taken with Sophia despite what Aimee said.
Seeing the two of them together made Thomas feel disgusted. He had to get out of there.
“I’ll take my leave now.” Thomas took Aimee’s hand and bowed over it. “Good day, Miss Burke.”
“I thought we were more informal now. What happened to Aimee?”
Thomas didn’t respond. He didn’t want to start snapping at her. Already, he had pushed it, telling Aimee off for how she treated her sister. He needed to leave before he said something more that he shouldn’t. Aimee was probably going to be suspicious about why he was speaking in this way.
“Good day, Miss Burke,” he said again before heading onto the drive, trying not to look back at Pierce and Sophia. They seemed to be having a good time, and Thomas didn’t want to upset himself further.
His carriage was already in the drive, and Thomas got in without looking to see if Aimee was watching him. She was probably thinking he was strange now after standing up for someone he had supposedly never spoken to before, but Thomas didn’t really care.
Aimee had been making subtle jabs at Sophia in the two hours Thomas had been present, a lot of them in Sophia’s earshot. She had been sitting a little away with Pierce, but Thomas could tell she could hear what was being said. Her composure barely wavered, but he saw the frustration in her eyes. Sophia didn’t like it.
And Lady Westbury hadn’t told her daughter to stop. It was like she agreed. Thomas didn’t like how Sophia was treated by her family. Whenever the siblings were mentioned, their achievements and what was happening in their lives were talked about in great detail by both the viscount and the viscountess.
But there was nothing about Sophia, and if there was, it was in an off-hand manner. Thomas had no idea what Sophia had done to make her family treat her in such a way, but he didn’t like it.
It was almost as if she was invisible and a nuisance when she was there.
Thomas was glad that his parents had treated him and Edwin equally. They hadn’t neglected one for the other. He couldn’t imagine how it must feel for Sophia.
But he knew how he felt seeing Pierce entertaining her. When Thomas arrived, he had hoped to snatch a moment alone with Sophia, even if it was just a few minutes. But Pierce was there. Thomas hadn’t realised he was here; his friend had said he was going out, but not to where. And he was turning on his charm to endear Sophia to him.
From what Thomas could see, Sophia was calm and collected. Pierce’s charm didn’t seem to be doing anything right now, but Thomas wasn’t good at reading people. Sophia could be completely charmed but very good at holding her composure. Pierce was very good at getting through people like that.
He was in an absolute mess. His emotions regarding Sophia were all over the place. They had been alone a handful of times, and while they knew a little about each other, they were essentially strangers. And yet Thomas felt like he had known Sophia for a long time. There was something sweet and refreshing about her, and Thomas wanted to keep hold of it. That was not good, considering he was meant to be marrying Aimee.
But Thomas couldn’t bring himself to feel anything for Aimee as he did with Sophia. It felt like a chore to even remotely like her. Thomas wanted to like Aimee, but her attitude was off-putting. She was beautiful and wealthy and would be the consummate hostess and wife. But Thomas would prefer to marry someone he could like, and right now, it was hard to like Aimee with how she spoke about Sophia.
It would have been much easier if she had been as sweet-natured and gentle as Sophia.
