Page 28 of A Wicked Viscount's Stormy Affair
“I will come and find you in a moment,” she told her father. “I think I have just seen Katherine…”
It was not true, but Sophie was hoping that she could make it a truth by locating her.
“Be sure to take your Lily with you.”
This was something that Sophie found a little irritating. She was not used to having an escort with her everywhere she went in London, especially when she was in public, but it was something she knew she had to put up with. She could not be seen alone, or in the company of a gentleman by herself. Not without risking her reputation, which of course was the most important thing here.
She did like her lady’s maid, that was not the issue, and she knew that she would be given her distance and enough privacy if she needed it, but it was still irritating.
Sophie started to walk through the crowds, waving at those she recognized. Many of the gentlemen that she had shared dances with were there, but not the one face she was hoping to see. She had not yet been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of George. The fact that everyone seemed to be here only raised her hope that she would cross paths with him this morning, but without any sign of him that hope was starting to diminish a little.
“Lady Dashwood.”
There he was! Sophie’s heart skipped a beat with excitement the moment she finally caught a glimpse of him. She could not stop her lips from curling up into a smile…
But that smile soon faltered as she drew nearer to him, just to realize that she was mistaken.
This was Gregory, not George.
She did not like the mistake, even if they looked very similar. It made her a little uncomfortable.
“How wonderful it is to see you today. You look ravishing as always.”
Sophie thanked him, although she was all too aware that Gregory had used the same compliment on her again. It was as if he did not know what else to say.
“It is good to see you too, Lord Harrington.”
Her heart sunk, like her whole body was aware that this was the wrong Lord Harrington.
Gregory might look very similar to George, but there was no attraction there. None at all. Her feelings for George went far deeper than surface level.
“Would you like to come for a walk with me, Lady Dashwood?”
Sophie nodded, because there was absolutely no reason to refuse this request. Since George was not around, she thought it wise to use the time getting to know Gregory a little better. Perhaps he would loosen up a little in a less stressful environment.
With her lady’s maid not too far behind them both, she followed Gregory around the park, trying her hardest to listen to what he had to say about business and finances. She really did try to listen to everything that he had to say, because clearly, he was very fascinated with money, but she could not make it work. She could not stop her mind from drifting off to think about something else. Anything else.
“…and so my brother…”
His brother.
Now that he had been mentioned, Sophie could not help herself. She allowed the words to fall out of her mouth before she really thought about the consequences of what she was doing.
“Your brother… the man who was on this ship with us. Where is he today?”
She could not help but notice that Gregory’s face faltered a little. “Well, since my brother has a terrible habit of gambling and drinking too much, I can only imagine that he is sleeping off some terrible hangover in some dive bar somewhere.”
Sophie’s heart sunk.
She had defended George to Katherine, but maybe she was wrong. If Gregory was repeating the same rumor, then maybe there was more to it. Just because Sophie struggled to envision a hung-over George slumped over some sticky bar somewhere, did not mean it was not true. She really did need to get to know George for who he really was, and not who she imagined him to be.
“I see,” she just about managed to mutter back. “Well that is a shame.”
She needed to see him, to ask him herself, to know the truth about who Lord George Harrington really was.
“Yes, he is nothing like me. He has never been able to keep himself on the straight and narrow. He has never much liked rules.”
“Even when you were children?”
