Page 51 of A Wicked Viscount's Stormy Affair
It had almost been a week since the Kershaw ball and every day had been more agonizing than the last. The ball had been disastrous, she had only laid eyes on George once and had truly not been given the chance to talk to him about the night they shared together, and Sophie was desperate to rectify that. Even if she had to do it without her lovely ball gown on this time.
But how could she when she did not know where he was? When he seemed to have vanished into thin air?
If he did not talk to her at the ball, she thought she might get a surprise visit from him again. He had done it before, so why would he not do it another time? Especially with so much hanging in the air, so much for them to talk about. Surely, he was just as keen to see her as she was him.
But every time a Lord Harrington came to the door to speak with her, and her heart raced with anticipation… it turned out to be Gregory once more. Gregory with yet another bunch of flowers in his arms to give her, with another story about how George’s failing businesses were giving him troubles, making him a terrible man.
She did not want to see Gregory again. She was honestly sick of listening to him. His bitterness against George made her want to scream.
Perhaps she should have been feeling the same bitterness herself, since George had been avoiding her ever since they spent the night together. She should have hated him, the same way that Gregory did, but she could not make that happen.
Sophie could not forget the lovely man that she met on the boat from Sweden. Her hero who had made her heart race like crazy.
She was still holding out waiting for this man to reappear.
He did for a moment in Matthew’s home, so Sophie was sure that he could come back once more.
The good moments were so wonderful that these negative moments could easily fade into the background. When George looked at her with adoration in her eyes, nothing else mattered.
Sophie walked towards the parlor, running her fingers through the flowers sitting on the counter as she walked. They were lovely flowers, obviously very expensive. There was no denying that Gregory had good taste, but Sophie could tell that it was all for show. He wanted to make it look like he cared about her, but she did notfeelit. She could tell that Gregory was not truly interested in anything she had to say.
These days, the visits merely felt like an excuse for him to bash his brother, to make sure she understood that he did not like George. It was starting to seem like it was becoming more of a competition for him than anything else, and Sophie was not about to be someone’s prize.
“Sophie, are you alright?” her mother asked the moment she entered the parlor. “You do not look very happy at all.”
Her mother was being careful with her words, Sophie could feel it, and she knew why. She should not have gotten carried away with herself, bragging that she thought George was going to propose to her soon, because now she was here stuck in this embarrassment.
“I am fine,” Sophie replied with a heavy sigh. “I am just…”
Uh oh.
Before she could get any more words out, a lump formed in the base of her throat. She did not wish to cry, but she could feel the tears balling up in her eyes.
“It is alright, Sophie,” her mother said kindly as she reached out and held her daughter’s hand. “You can talk to me about anything.”
She did not wish to confess this, but she also could not sit around with it weighing down on her chest any longer. It was starting to crush her. So as one singular tear leaked down her cheek, she let the words come spilling out.
“I thought that things were going so well with me and George,” she wept. “I really did think that he was about to propose to me, but now he is pulling away and I do not know what I have done wrong. I am not sure why he is all of a sudden not interested in me anymore.”
Of course, deep down she did know.
She knew exactly what she had done wrong, but there was no way she could say it to her mother. There was no way she could admit that she had spent the night with George, ruining her virtue. Perhaps her parents did not hold the same staunch views as the London ton, but she still did not need a lecture about anything when she was already feeling terrible enough.
“Love is never straight forward, Sophie, you do know that, right?”
Sophie met her gaze, but it was not easy to see him through the tears. Now that she let the emotion come out, she could not seem to stop them. “What do you mean?”
“Love is never easy. Many people, especially men, find love scary. It is hardly a surprise that George is pulling away.”
Those words immediately up lifted her a little. She thought her mother might tell her to forget all about George because he was simply not good enough for her. If he had turned his back on her, then she should do the same thing. Which was something she simply could not do. She had been trying to switch her feelings off all week long and it had not worked. She just could not do it.
“Your father took a very long time to propose, Sophie. So much time, I honestly almost gave up on him.” Her mother laughed at that, but Sophie could not bring herself to join in. “He was too nervous to take that step with me.”
“Why do you think that was?” Sophie asked with a light sniff as she tried to wipe the tears away.
“Because he was nervous about marrying above his station. He might have been a future duke in England, but I was related to royalty in Sweden. He did not think he was good enough for me.”
Is that what was happening with George?
