Page 16 of His Enemy Duchess

“Oh, and why would that be so outlandish?” she said, keeping up the facade of innocence.

“Well, the two of them hate each other with a passion. Marriages of convenience are rarely happy ones, but theirs shall be the most volatile in Society’s history, I would wager,” the woman replied as if it should have been obvious.

Her other companion, a younger woman, nodded eagerly. “I cannotwaitto read about their every public quarrel in the scandal sheets.”

“Miranda…” the man said through his teeth and tried to catch his wife’s attention.

But the older woman would not be stopped, her eyes shining with macabre delight. “It might end up in a spectacular bloodbath, maybe even an annulment. We might even see one of them killing?—”

“Miranda!” the man exclaimed with a cough and managed to stop her before she rambled on.

Sophia was enjoying this, for once grateful to be the kind of wallflower that no one remembered in any detail.

“What?” the woman asked, confused.

“This is… Lady Sophia,” the man wheezed. “Soon to be the Duchess of Heathcote.”

Miranda turned around with a gasp, while the younger woman immediately scurried away, joining a group of ladies who were moving to the other side of the ballroom.

“The one and only, My Lord,” Sophia responded with a curtsy.

“Oh, poor child,” added Miranda.

“Poor? Why would that be, My Lady? Because I heard what you had to say about me?”

Miranda paled. “No… I meant because you are being forced into this union. A fate no young woman wishes for herself.”

“Forced? My Lady, I’m afraid you are mistaken.” Sophia kept a straight smile, her gaze fixed on the older woman. “If you had heard the proper version of the story, you’d know that we are more akin to Romeo and Juliet than Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.”

Miranda raised a dubious eyebrow. “In what aspect?”

“Not only is it not a marriage of convenience, but Thomas and I…” Sophia paused briefly, realizing her meager dinner was about to climb up her throat, but she kept going. “… we love each other. Deeply. We have since we were children, after we met at a garden party and we did not know which family the other belonged to.”

Astonishment widened Miranda’s eyes. “I had not heard of that.”

“We had to keep it secret for years,” Sophia said as casually as she could. “But now, we intend to use this opportunity to bring our families together and put an end to the feud.”

The older couple both looked at her, their mouths agape. Sophia gulped quietly, as she was not used to lying so blatantly, but it looked like they believed her.

“Oh, but this changes everything,” said Miranda urgently. “In that case, I wish you and your husband the best of luck, my dear. Maybe there’s?—”

The Master of Ceremonies’ booming voice ricocheted from the other side of the ballroom, interrupting her. Sophia’s heart sank into her stomach as she heard his crystal-clear announcement.

“His Grace, the Duke of Heathcote.”

Thomas stepped into the room, a magnet of attention, the crowd concentrating on him. His face was the usual mask of stone, rarely betraying his emotions. Even after he had brushed his lips against her neck, stealing a bite and her breath in one fell swoop, there had been no expression on his face as he pulled back. Instead, he had dismissed her rather coldly, leaving her to flee with utter confusion in her head, her skin ablaze with a fever that he had ignited.

Sophia’s eyes widened as panic surged through her veins.

Wretched fool! Why now?! Why did you have to show up now? You are going to ruin everything!

Sophia had to think fast and act faster. She had dug a hole for herself, and the only exit was to dig deeper.

She put on her biggest, fakest smile. “Oh, there is my darling beloved! Excuse me, for knowing we are to be bound together forever tomorrow, I simply can’t stay away from him.”

She dashed off towards him, hiking up her skirts slightly so she could sprint, shouldering a lot of people out of the way in her rush to prevent calamity.

CHAPTER 6

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