Page 26 of Love Unraveled
“Sophie,” he said quietly in her ear. “I am here now. As I was then.” A tremor ran through her, but she did not turn to him.
“Yes,” she said, “you are.”
He stood beside her, watching her as she stared at the painting. Her nostrils flared, and she let out a long breath. As she calmed, Sophia Tessaro returned as though a mask was slipped over Sophie Auclair. Or perhaps it was armor she donned?
Sophie turned away from him and waved at Lady Thornwood, smiling beatifically as though she’d not been thrown into the maelstrom of the past. He didn’t follow her. He’d let her escape both him and her memories for now. But he’d seen her facade drop and glimpsedhisSophie in her pain. He was more determined than ever to find out which woman she really was now, and what he was to her.
*
“Oh, I dolike this landscape,” Elizabeth said, standing nearer the entrance.
Sophia wanted to flee past her friend and down those stairs, but she did nothing of the sort. She’d stopped running years ago, and she would run no more. Gaston’s presence was resurrecting the past. That was all. Nothing had changed. She was still Sophia Tessaro, and Sophia Tessaro was spirited and full of laughter, as Sophie Auclair had once been.Mon Dieu! She must let the past be.
“Do you think Richard would enjoy it? I have not bought him anything for such a long time.” Elizabeth looked at Sophia. “It captures the fields on the way to Thornwood Manor; don’t you agree?”
“It is lovely in a barren, cold, abject, lonely way,” Sophia said and grinned.
“It’s titledFrosty Morning,” Elizabeth said and giggled. “It is rather austere, isn’t it?”
Sophia scooped Elizabeth’s arm. “Let us wander into a smaller room and see if we can find something livelier. You want color in your life, no?”
Elizabeth glanced around the room.
“Miss Langdon is in Bentley’s good hands,” she said as she steered Elizabeth through the door.
“But what about your Mr. Durand?”
“He is not mine,mia amica,” Sophia said lightly. She wondered if he ever had been. For surely a man so committed and in love would not have taken so many years to return to her, never mind arrive with his horrible accusation.
“Oh, but I’m certain he’d like to be.” Elizabeth bumped against Sophia playfully, and Sophia forced another smile.
“I will let the man dream for a while,” she said, “but alas, it is far more likely I am destined for the duke.”
“We shall see,” Elizabeth said, dropping to a bench and pulling Sophia along with her. “One never knows how life will unfold.”
Her friend did not realize how true her words were, but Sophia did. Nothing in her life had unfolded as she’d imagined. Nothing.
Chapter Eighteen
I know her by her angry air,
Her bright black eyes, her bright black hair.
—Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Kate”
“He refuses toleave,signora mia,” Cara said, closing the door. “Raimondo would like permission to escort him from the house,” she added, biting back a smile.
Sophia set her brush on the dressing table. She’d left Gaston in the courtyard at Somerset, informing him she had a prior engagement for the evening. He’d not said a word, but she could see frustration in his face, and she’d been pleased to put it there. She’d promised him a month, and she would not tempt him to break his side of the bargain, so it would not do to let Raimondo put him in his place. She sighed heavily. She’d wanted to rest before getting ready for the ball, but it would seem she would have to deal with Gaston herself.
“Put him in the library. I will be down soon.”
She had changed into a simple, unadorned day dress, with the intention of lounging alone at the back of the house. The small garden outside the morning room always brought her a measure of peace, which was what she was craving after the rush of emotions at the exhibition. She debated piling her hair back up but decided to leave it as it was. Gaston would survive her state of dishabille.
Raimondo hovered outside the library. “Signora mia, he is a stubborn one. I can unbend his will easily, should you want it.”
“Grazie, Raimondo. But patience,per favore. He will be around for a few weeks only.”
The door clicked closed behind her, and Gaston spun around from where he stood by the empty grate. Sophia squeezed her lips together to stop a smile. Oh yes, she had truly annoyed him.
