Page 13 of His Enemy Duchess

The room froze. She felt it. If she could have opened her eyes, she would have seen everyone’s mouths hanging open at her statement. She would have also seen James looking at her with a smile of admiration and pride.

The first one to break the silence was her mother, and she did not sound happy.

“What is this? You visited a gentleman alone,at night,without a chaperone? What were you thinking?”

“A Pratt, at that,” Samuel added sourly.

Sophia gulped. “I was thinking that I did not want Papa to end up in a duel, nor anyone else. I was thinking that this is what you asked of me. This is what you had all already agreed to until the unpleasantness of yesterday, and it should be followed through because itisthe only way to end this… this foolishness!”

“I had not agreed,” Frederick muttered, swirling a spoon violently in his teacup.

Samuel, ever ready to follow his uncle’s lead, scoffed. “Neither did I. I’d duel them all before I let you marry one of those beasts.”

“Then might I entreat the more reasonable end of the table?” Sophia opened her eyes, taking in the shocked faces of her parents for the first time.

Her mother had turned as red as the dyed ostrich feather shoved into her hair, her cutlery trembling in her hands, while her father sat there in stony silence, barely lowering his morning newspaper.

“I do not like this any more than anyone else,” she continued, her voice wavering. “James will tell you himself—I tried to run from this, but if I can get down from the saddle and screw my courage to the sticking place to stop one more Kendall from dying before their time, then you ought to be able to do the same.”

Her fingertips touched her neck unconsciously, pressing on the small bruise. A tiny pulse of pain throbbed.

“Run?” Lydia blurted out. “What do you mean, run? What else have you not been telling us, Sophia?”

James pulled a face. “I think there are bigger things to concentrate on, Mother.”

“This marriage has to succeed, whether we like it or not,” Sophia continued at a clip. “I want nothing to do with the Duke—a cold, strange, rude man with no manners whatsoever and a sense of self-importance so grand that it is astonishing that he is able to fit in any room—but I will do my duty. I will be content with this match, so you all better do the same.”

And I will pretend to be happy, for all your sakes.

Her stomach clenched at the realization of what she was doing.

The events of the previous day had given her an escape from the marriage she did not want. It had been right there for the taking, all expectation and duty shuffled off her shoulders, but if it was a choice between happy spinsterhood and having to bury her brothers and father, then there was no choice at all.

Still, that did not mean it sat well with her, understanding that she would become the wife of a madman who bit women on the neck. The way in which her body had responded to that nip was merely circumstantial—an effect of the shock, nothing more. She would keep telling herself that for as long as she had to, certain that when she saw Thomas again, she would know it was the truth.

Her father finally lowered his paper. “I am still a keen shot. I could duel him if I had to.”

“That is the last thing I want,” Sophia replied.

“And you would do this? You are sure?” Her father’s voice softened.

She nodded, swallowing past the lump in her throat.

Samuel got to his feet. “No. This is madness. Youknowthis will end badly, and if no one else is going to speak up, then I shall!”

“Sam… you have no ground to stand on about things ending badly, not after what you did,” James said with quiet authority, remaining in his seat.

“What do you mean whatIdid? Lord William was the one who challenged me to a duel. AndIwon!”

James took a casual bite of his toast, chewing and swallowing before continuing. “You started it, Sam. I spoke with Jean-Baptiste. You tricked Lord William into the duel by using a stick of butter to lubricate the bottleneck of his favorite whiskey. When he grabbed it, it immediately slipped and smashed on the floor. William somehow knew it was you and wanted to restore his honor, probably. Or he had just had enough of you.”

Astonishment widened Sophia’s eyes, while frustration curled her hands into fists. Of all the idiotic things to do,of courseSamuel would go lookingfor trouble, disturbing what had been a fragile but standing peace with a stick of bloody butter.

She could not help feeling irked, realizing that he was to blame for the predicament they were now in.

Though I suppose something else would have happened, sooner or later.

“Well,so what?!” Samuel shot back. “So what, I say? He deserved it!”

---