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“If you don’t want this scandal to get out, you will marry me. If you do that, and Sophia goes away, then there will be no need for me to say anything, will there?”
“So, you’re going to blackmail me into marrying you now?”
“Well, you don’t want a scandal for your family, do you?”
Sophia squeezed Thomas’ elbow, and he glanced back to see her moving around him. She looked slightly distressed as she reached for her sister.
“Aimee …”
“Don’t touch me!” Aimee slapped her hand away. “You don’t get to touch me after what you’ve done, you whore!”
“Think about this for a moment.”
“Think? I think my sister needs to suffer for her actions. You deserve to have your reputation ruined and put in the gutter. Maybe even lower than that.”
Sophia grimaced.
“It’s not just my reputation that you’ll ruin if you say anything, Aimee. Yours will be ruined as well.”
“Why will mine be ruined? I’m the wronged party here!”
“Aren’t you concerned that you won’t marry well if you tell everyone what happened here?”
Aimee barked out a harsh laugh.
“I think you’ve got that all wrong, Sophia. My reputation won’t take a tumble. Certainly not like yours. I can recover, and I will be able to get what I want.” She gave Thomas a sweet smile that felt more malicious than loving. “I will still take Thomas back, even after what happened here tonight, but he will never be seeing you again.”
“What?” Thomas shook his head. “I’m not going to be marrying you.”
“Oh, trust me, you are. Do as I say, and your precious little lover won’t suffer. Of course, you’ll never be in the same room again.” Aimee shot an angry look at Sophia. “You can be sure that Mother and Father will find out about this. They’re going to be furious with you, Sophia. I should have known you would go back to your old ways.”
“I’ve never stolen from you, Aimee!” Sophia cried. “And I didn’t mean this to happen!”
The distress coming from her made Thomas’ chest hurt. He didn’t like seeing her like this, but Aimee was out for blood. She was not going to back down.
“Aimee, why don’t we go inside and talk about this?” he suggested, but Aimee shook her head.
“We’re not going to talk about it. We’re going to go back inside, and you’ll propose to me when Father arranges for us to have a moment in the ball. Baroness Beauchamp has approved of it.”
Thomas felt a chill go down his spine.
“You force me to do that, and there will be no proposal. I will not be forced into proposing, Aimee.”
“Oh?” Aimee folded her arms. “So, you’re willing to have Sophia’s reputation ruined?”
“I don’t do anything when I’m forced. Your father tries to push my hand, and I will refuse. Then you’ll just be embarrassed for stopping the ball for nothing.”
“You won’t refuse.”
“Do you want to take that chance?”
They glared at each other, Thomas feeling the fury building. Aimee was really pushing things to be her way, and she would ruin Sophia the first chance she got. He regretted doing this when he hadn’t settled things with Aimee. He had made a big mess.
Aimee was the first to break. She huffed and stepped back.
“Fine. I’ll tell Father not to do it. But you had better be prepared for the banns to be announced this Sunday.”
“What? I haven’t proposed to you yet!”
