Page 15 of A Beauty for a Duke

“George and Fia left. They are gone.”

“Gone? Where? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I have to agree. I doubt I’ve ever been witness to such a cork-brained decision as the one I’m about to share with you.”

Sofie’s free hand brushed along the book she carried in her pocket. It seemed to offer minimal comfort. Somehow, the hand on Egan’s forearm was grounding her.

“They eloped.”

How she managed to mirror the word with as little a reaction as she did would never make sense to Sofie, but her response was a simple, “Eloped?”

“Yes.”

And then the reality came crashing down and a flood of questions erupted. “What? When? How? Where would they go? When did they leave? Can we catch them? If we did, could we even stop them? What is she thinking? What should we do now? What can we do?”

“They probably took off to Scotland. It’s not too far from here.”

“She must be mad.”

“Now wait a minute, George is a good man.”

“Not that. George is great. I suppose…from what I’ve seen.” And to be friends with you, she thought but didn’t say.

They stood lost in thought.

Where they had run off to, Sofie had no clue. Why they had run off, Sofie put the pieces together. George must have been the man Fia mentioned earlier. And Fia had said that if he asked her to marry him, she would say yes. Nothing could be done about the situation now.

She looked up into Egan’s face and saw keen, brown eyes. Slightly darker than her own, but crafted the same way. Her body quivered thinking that she would be alone with him for the evening and the carriage ride home. She wasn’t quite ready for such close quarters yet though.

“We need to eat,” And with that, she dragged him toward the reception hall.

***

EGAN COULDN’T DENY THE relief he felt upon eating a good meal. It had been a long day. It was about to become even longer.

He didn’t know how to break it to Sofie, but they wouldn’t be traveling back home tonight. Darkness had fallen, and more snow was on its way. He rubbed his jaw.

“That’s about the hundredth time you’ve rubbed your jaw today.”

“So?”

“Do you have a toothache?”

“No, I don’t have a toothache,” he said, as he rubbed his jaw again.

“See! I don’t believe you. I’m going to find a dentist or a physician. Or someone with pliers.”

“No, you’re not. Sit down.”

“You cannot stop me. And I will not watch you rub a hole in your jaw tonight.”

Egan grabbed her forearm.

“Don’t make a scene, Egan. Let me go.”

He let her go. Then thought better of it. She was the only female in attendance. There was no way in hell he was about to let her go and have every able bodied male in the place ogle his wife. Not his wife. His pretend wife. Whatever she was. He wasn’t about to let it happen.

Now he need only watch for the landmines of mistletoe everywhere. But Sofie was off, about to enter a second room when he caught her under the doorframe.

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