Page 82 of The Vintage Dress Shop in Primrose Hill
‘You haven’tquitefallen,’ Charles pointed out and that was a reminder of what they’d planned for when this party was over and they left to go to their own party, just the two of them on the guest list.
Sophy didn’t know how it was that Charles could just look at her, his blue eyes dark, his voice dark too and full of intent, and it had the same effect on her as if he’d just kissed her.
She hoped that he’d still look at her the same way when she told him that—
‘Charles! What are you doing hiding over here? Keeping the most beautiful woman all to yourself, are you?’
Sophy looked up into the weatherbeaten face yet twinkling eyes of an ageing roué in a crumpled white suit who was the first person in a never-ending stream of people who drifted by to say hello to Charles so it didn’t feel as if they’d have a moment to themselves.
Of course Charles introduced Sophy to every single one of his many acquaintances (it was no surprise that Charles seemed to know pretty much everyone in attendance) and made sure she was included in the conversation. He even kept hold of her hand, his thumb brushing over the same spot again and again, which was doing everything to keep Sophy keyed up and impatient for what came next.
Except she really had to have A Serious Conversation with him first.
At last there was a small lull in the procession and Sophy turned to Charles. She took a deep, anticipatory breath.
‘I don’t like the look of those clouds,’ Charles said and she tore her gaze away from his face to look up at the skies.
It was just gone eight thirty, not quite dark, so that Sophy could see the banks of clouds rolling ominously above them. Now, she also noticed the sudden chill in the air.
‘Do you think it might rain?’ she asked, but her words were drowned out by a huge, belly-deep rumble of thunder. The dusk lit up with a jagged streak of lightning at the same time as the first fat drops of rain began to fall.
‘I hope you can run in those things,’ Charles laughed, pulling Sophy to her feet. He tugged off the jacket of his cream suit to hold it over their heads as they dashed across the lawn, Sophy giggling as she clung on to Charles because no, she really couldn’t run in her silver wedge platforms.
They made it through the open doors back into the sculpture gallery just as there was another crack of thunder. They weren’t the only shelterers from the storm. More and more people were piling in behind them and creating a bottleneck.
Sophy took hold of Charles’s hand again so she could pull him further into the long, long gallery full of statues from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. At the end just before the fashion galleries, she tugged him into one of the arched alcoves that ran the length of the space, so they were hidden from view by the Three Graces.
‘There’s something I have to say to you.’
‘I know,’ Charles said and for one moment Sophy knew sweet relief. Somebody, probably Freddy, maybe Phoebe, had already told him. Which made it a little bit easier. ‘I’ve been desperate to get you on your own all evening too.’
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but also it was exactly what she wanted to hear. Almost as much as she wanted Charles’s arms to close around her,as he backed her up against the wall, and then his mouth was on hers and it was impossible to form a coherent thought.
All Sophy could think about was the firm pressure of Charles’s beautiful lips, his tongue darting out to touch, to taste, one of his hands tangled in her hair, the other at her waist to pull her closer so she wouldn’t have cared if they’d sunk to the floor and made love to each other right there and turned the other guests into stone so they matched the statues.
Then Charles’s thigh was between hers and he kissed her so hard that everything in Sophy quivered and she couldn’t bear it any longer.
She tore herself out of his arms, a hand on his chest where his heart was thundering away to hold him back. ‘We have to stop… I have to tell you…’
Charles tried to reach for her again. ‘What’s so important that it can’t wait? Sophy…’
Sophy shut her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at the tender, exasperated expression on his face. She could only say it if she didn’t have to look in his eyes. ‘Everything’s changed. Johnno bought me a plane ticket… I’m flying to Australia in ten days.’
Chapter Thirty-Three
There wasn’t just a storm raging outside. There was a storm rolling across Charles’s face. His soft gaze changed into something darker, harder.
‘Ten days?’
Sophy nodded. ‘I only found out yesterday. I thought we still had at least two months together.’
‘But you said… I thought we had about three and a half months,’ he said with a slightly accusatory tone.
‘Jean, my grandmother, she needs a hip replacement operation and it got moved forward…’
Charles stepped away from her. ‘You never said.’
‘Well, I didn’t have an exact date and everything was up in the air; I didn’t even know if I’d get my citizenship through in time,’ she said, her voice soft and pleading. ‘Then everything happened so fast. They processed my citizenship application in record time once Johnno supplied his paperwork and then he surprised me yesterday with plane tickets. He thought that it would be great if I could spend some time with my grandparents, just getting to know them, before Jean has her double hip replacement.’
