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“I’ve been back a fortnight.”
A fortnight? An entire fortnight and he hadn’t sought her out even once? Sophie’s heart stung at hearing that truth. Though why should her heart still sting? He’d left her four years ago when she’d begged him to take her with him. And look how that had turned out. He probably hadn’t even thought about her once in the last four years, and he clearly hadn’t thought about her over the last fortnight.
“And now you’re back, shopping for lace these days, are you?”
He laughed at the suggestion as he gestured across the way to Lord Kelling who was discussing something with one of the store’s clerks. “My friend dragged me along to help him look for something and then discounted my advice once we arrived. A complete waste of time, actually.”
“That seems to be the way of things today,” she grumbled slightly as her argument with Cassie echoed once more in her ears.
“Does it?”
She certainly wasn’t going to go into the particulars of her sister always making a cake of herself with Gabriel Prideaux. “It’s of no matter. Feel free to ignore me.”
“I couldneverignore you, Miss Hampton.”
Except that he had done that very thing, hadn’t he? And for a very long time. “And, yet, you are better at it than most, Major.”
“Is that what you think?”
Was he going to suggest otherwise? Perhaps someone else might believe him, someone who hadn’t been there. “It is what I know.” Even still, the very last thing Sophie was going to do was get into some sort of argument over the fact with him in pubic. Luckily, Lord Kelling seemed to be done with the store clerk. So she gestured to his friend once more. “It appears his lordship has finished his transaction. Do not let me keep you.”
A muscle ticked in Gabe’s jaw as though he was annoyed, but what right did he have to be annoyed at anything? Did he expect her to have fallen at his feet when he returned to England? Beg him to pick up where they’d left off? He’d been home a fortnight and had made no attempt to see her or to even let her know he’d safely returned. If one of them had a right to be annoyed, it was her.
“He can wait,” Gabe said, his brow creasing just a bit. “After all these many years, Sophie, aren’t you glad to see me at all?”
“I am glad to see you’re well,” she said, her voice a little more than a whisper. And she truly was happy that he hadn’t been injured or killed during his many campaigns.
“I am glad to see you’re well too.” Gabe seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “And seeing you is the most pleasant of diversions.”
She was a diversion now, was she? There was something quite insulting about that, as though she was only worth his notice when she was nearby. Sophie tipped her chin back and met his hazel gaze directly. “Indeed? Then it’s a wonder that you let an entire fortnight pass, Major.” Then she shook her head, wishing she hadn’t said that, hoping he wouldn’t realize how deeply it hurt that he hadn’t sought her out. “I really must find my sister. Do excuse me.”
And then she turned on her heel before he could see even one traitorous tear could slip down her cheek.
CHAPTER 9
“You’re being foolish,” Christian said as his coach turned on to Down Street.
“Says the thug who thinks it’s a brilliant idea to hand out daggers as gifts,” Gabe grumbled.
“Precisely.” His friend agreed with a nod, not insulted in the least. “Which should tell you exactly how foolish you’re being in regards to Miss Hampton, if evenIcan see it.”
“Indeed?” No one in the world had ever mistaken Christian Hawke as a romantic, and Gabe narrowed his eyes on his friend, across the coach. “You seem to be full of advice this afternoon. Haveyousome girl you’ve been pining after that I’m unaware of?”
Christian shook his head as his carriage rambled to a stop in front of Weybourne House. “But should I ever stumble upon a girl I care for as deeply as you do Sophia Hampton, I would never let a little thing like her father’s hatred of me stand in my way.” He stepped from the conveyance and glanced back at Gabe over his shoulder. “Life is too short, as you are well aware.”
Gabe scoffed in response. “That is easier said than done, Christian. Besides—” he climbed from the coach after his friend “—I can’t imagine any girl’s father hatingyouenough to keep his daughter from being the future Duchess of Weybourne. That is not the situation I find myself in these days.” And Beckbury’s hatred of Gabe went well beyond his lack of lands and a lofty title. The shame behind that particular truth was one he still hadn’t quite come to terms with himself and he’d never divulge it, not as long as there was breath in his lungs. If anyone learned the truth, he and Clayton would lose what little there was to be had or salvaged from the Northwold earldom.
“And so your foolishness continues.” Christian sighed. He started up the stoop to his grandfather’s home, and the old ducal butler opened the front door for his entrance. “All the time you spent on the continent, all those men you saw die beside you in Spain, and now watching Clayton’s mental and physical capacities fade away…. Life is too short, Gabe. It simply is. Should you pine away after Miss Hampton all of the rest of your days? Watch her accept an offer from Greywood because you won’t step up? Live out the years you have left, miserable and alone? What is the bloody point of that?”
“You don’t know the first thing about any of it,” Gabe growled, following his friend into the front foyer.
But Christian, as always, paid no one else any mind at all. “You should march right on over to Beckbury House and tell her you’ve been a fool and beg her to forgive you.”
Except he hadn’t been a fool. He’d done the only reasonable thing he could have done four years ago. There hadn’t been any other choice he could make. “I wouldn’t be allowed past the threshold.”
The butler closed the door behind them.
“A lot has changed since Beckbury refused your offer,” Christian began.
