Chapter Ten #2
Some of the light in Christopher’s eyes dimmed. ‘You think that I should not?’
She couldn’t understand why he looked surprised; surely, he must know as well as she did what it would mean to the lad if this went on.
‘If it progresses further, they will lose their employment. What will happen to them then?’ Love was all well and good, but it did not put food on people’s tables.
Christopher may be wealthy, but she would have thought he’d have understood that.
While Sophia would not starve if she did not marry, life would not be all that pleasant for an unmarried spinster either.
Love was a luxury that few could afford and that all-encompassing love that some claimed to feel was a motivation for destruction in most cases.
You only had to look at her sisters, who fell in and out of love on a weekly basis, to know that it was a fallacy and certainly not something this young man should risk.
Christopher nodded slowly. ‘I see what you are saying, but perhaps he thinks his love is worth it.’
‘I doubt he will think so when he and his wife are starving because they no longer have a place to work.’
‘Tobias would not let it come to that,’ Christopher said as he helped Sophia’s maid down from the carriage too.
She found that hard to believe. She doubted His Grace, the Duke of Glanmore, ever showed anyone a soft side.
He had the stern look of a man who would rip your head off if you dared to breathe in the wrong way.
But she was not about to voice that opinion to anyone, let alone his brother.
It would be social suicide to suggest that a duke was anything less than perfect and it would be beyond rude to criticise a man when you were about to walk into his home.
‘I can see from your face that you do not believe me.’ Christopher’s lips were curled in a slight smile.
‘If I had not come to know my brother better over the last year or so, I would agree with everything you are too polite to say. But, now that I have, I think it is possible there is a soft-hearted man beneath his hard exterior. Even if that were not true, neither myself nor my older brothers would let two people starve. Indeed, Freddie and Edward are sickeningly in love with their own wives and have become positively sentimental about romance since that started.’
‘That is—’ she searched around for a word that described the surprising revelation and settled on ‘—unusual.’
‘Quite.’ He turned and called over to the groom in question, requesting that the man show Sophia’s maid where the kitchens were so that she could have some refreshments.
Once the servants were walking away, he said, ‘I know I mentioned taking tea with Emily and Kate, but would you like to take a turn around the garden? It is lovely at this time of year. We can discuss our lists in private there. Or would you prefer to have tea? I cannot guarantee that we will be granted respite from my brothers, however. For a large house, it is astounding how many of them one can stumble across when one is trying to discuss something private.’
‘A walk in the garden sounds lovely.’
Instead of entering Glanmore House by a side door, Christopher led her on a path that took them through a gate and into a section of perfectly manicured lawn.
It was almost as if someone had got down on their hands and knees and measured each blade of grass to ensure they were all exactly the same height.
Little wickets were set at various stages, obviously laid out for a game of pall-mall.
‘Are you any good?’ she asked, gesturing to the wickets.
‘I am the undefeated champion.’
‘Against whom?’
‘Against Lotte.’
‘Who is how old again?’
‘Three and a half.’
‘I see.’ She tried to stop the smile from spreading across her face, but it really was difficult when he was fighting one of his own, his eyes sparkling with laughter, whatever mood he’d been in earlier, forgotten. ‘And against adults?’
He raised one large shoulder. ‘I achieve more mixed results against those older than the nursery set. But…’ he raised one finger ‘…that is more because my brothers cheat, rather than through lack of skill on my part.’
‘And how do they cheat?’
‘They distract me by being much better at it than I am and then pointing out how much better they are. I am afraid it gets on my nerves and then I find it even harder to play. So, you see, it really is their fault.’
‘They are scoundrels and blackguards.’
‘I knew there was a reason I liked you, Sophia. You are all that is wise and truthful.’
She laughed as her heart seemed to grow wings and take flight.
‘Do you play?’
‘Ah, I must be honest. I am truly exceptional, and I really am an undefeated champion.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘And you play against…?’
‘My sisters. And I win every time.’ This was, in fact, true. She was rather good at it, even if she was the one singing her own praises.
‘I bet that is because you take it very seriously, follow all the rules and have a well-thought-out strategy.’
‘It is precisely that.’ She nodded sagely. ‘Also, they are conveniently distracted by arguing with one another, so it becomes quite easy.’
‘We should add a game to our list of things we are going to do for fun.’
‘Does the list include things that we are going to do outside of the Ton seeing us together?’ As soon as she’d asked the question, she wished she had not. She would have liked to play against him now.
Christopher studied his shoes for a long moment, making it impossible to tell how he was feeling at her words.
‘You are quite right. The whole point of this is to show people that we do not suit. Perhaps I can persuade my sisters-in-law to host a garden party, and we can compete against one another then.’
Feeling rather like she had killed the mood, she tried to bring it back by saying, ‘I shall look forward to destroying you.’
‘Then prepare yourself to be disappointed.’
‘I…’
But before she could finish her sentence, Christopher held up his hand. ‘I am sorry to interrupt, but I can hear the hideous sound of male voices, which sound distinctly like at least two of my brothers. Let us move on from here before they catch up with us.’
Having spent all her adult life avoiding being alone with a man, it was strange to follow Christopher down a narrow path that led to an archway cut into a privet hedge, his wide shoulders seeming to take up the space.
She pressed her palms together, reminding herself that she must not notice such details about him. He was not truly hers to inspect.