Page 35 of His Enemy Duchess

Thomas didn’t.

“Mother. William,” he said in a strict tone.

William waved a dismissive hand. “What? You know it’s true. Everyone in England knows her mother has the fashion taste of a blind court jester?—”

“William, that isenough!” Thomas roared.

William immediately fell silent, blinking in chastened submission.

Sophia could tell this was not the first time Thomas had to act like this with his brother. She remembered his breathy rant in the library about how he felt bitter towards his brother, how he was always the one being loaded with responsibility while William was allowed to do as he pleased, spoiled and undisciplined. He expressed the weight of that experience in his voice.

“Thomas, I’m just—” William tried to say.

“I did not ask for an opinion nor an excuse. Your comments are unacceptable. You are talking to the Duchess of Heathcote. Sheoutranksyou, William. Get that through your head immediately. Both of you—you too, Mother.” Thomas’s wolf-like eyes blazed, stirring something in Sophia’s chest that made her twice as breathless, wringing the napkin to suppress a very different feeling.

Harriet gasped. Not the fake high society gasp when one just witnessed something slightly scandalous. The real gasp of someone who genuinely didn’t expect someone else to talk to them like that.

“She is my wife now.” Thomas’s growl reverberated through Sophia, making her think of a lion protecting his lioness. “We allagreedon this. And we should respect it. I have not marriedmy wife so you can continue the ridiculous feud in a different fashion. Youwillbe civil, or you may consider this the last time you can enter this house—meandmywife’s house.”

William placed his cutlery on his plate and got up with a jarring scrape of his chair, his face a picture of irritation. It looked like he was weighing his options, whether he’d speak again or not. But he remained silent, and then, he left with a childish slam of the dining room door, leaving no doubts behind as to his thoughts on the matter.

After that, Thomas quickly changed the subject and returned to the conversation he was having with Gregory before Harriet interrupted with her ‘advice.’ The older woman remained completely silent, her demeanor sullen, occasionally dabbing her cheek with her napkin. Presumably to draw her eldest son’s sympathy. But he offered none, and eventually, she gave up and ate the rest of her fish.

Sophia also returned to her food, stealing a glance here and there, expecting Thomas to talk to her or give her some attention, but he seemed to be ignoring her too.

Very well. I shall not mind it.

After his fierce defense of her, she needed something more familiar to quiet her racing mind, and his lack of attention was something she knew all too well by now.

After dinner, there were no pleasantries and games in the drawing room, everyone dispersing to separate wings of the manor. Sophia might have thought it unnatural, a world away from her family’s home and habits, but she had something greater on her mind.

Approaching one of the two doorways that remained a mystery to her, she took a steadying breath before knocking lightly.

It is the right thing to do. It is what a duchess would do.

She could not think of what a duke might do—her duke, in particular—with such privacy.

“Come in!” Thomas called gruffly.

She almost lost her nerve, drawing in another deep breath as she stepped into the room.

He looked up from the ostentatious mahogany desk.

“Sophia?” He sounded surprised, but he quickly returned his attention to the stack of papers in front of him. “Is something the matter?”

Probably for the best if you aren’t looking at me.

Sophia steeled herself.“No, everything is quite all right. I just wanted to… well, I just wanted to thank you. Sincerely.”

“What for?”

“For defending me. Against your family.”

“I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Their manners were atrocious. Rules and propriety are the same for everyone. They are not a joke to me.” He only took his eyes off the papers for a moment to stare at her, making sure she understood.

Sophia just nodded slightly.

The rules were above all. Above him and his family. She wouldn’t admit it openly, but she found his adherence to them somewhat comforting. Everyone was equal, although she had to wonder where touching her, kissing her, setting her body on fire with desire and pleasure fell into that staunch code of honor. He hadnotbeen particularly proper in the library, by any social standard.

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