Page 2 of Love Unraveled
“Papa?” She sat straighter, all thoughts of seduction flown from her mind. She’d heard nothing from her father in months. “Have you word of him?”
“Non,ma douce, I have heard nothing directly. But the directory was annulled and the fair election overturned. In September. Many were shipped to Guiana. I am trying to find out if your father was among them or if he is still in Paris. Perhaps he is in hiding?”
There had been news of Napoleon’s coup d’état, but she didn’t see how it could affect her father. “But Papa, he is not in the government. He is writing for the paper.”
Gaston turned to face her, cupping her cheek. “The royalist newspapers were shut down. Many journalists were shipped with the deputies.”
“Non.” Sophia shook her head, fighting the tears stinging her eyes.
“I am sorry,mon amour. You must face the possibility. It is why I came.”
“I don’t understand…”
“The last time I saw your father, he made me promise to come to you should something ever happen to him.”
“But why?” Sophia swallowed her agony. Surely Gaston was assuming the worst. Her father was a clever man. He had managed all the atrocities that had come before. An overturn in government could not be harder to navigate than the slaughter they had escaped.
“Because he knows nobody can love you more than he does…except me.” Gaston pressed his forehead against hers. “And he’s right.”
Gaston held Sophia for a few minutes while she grappled with the concept of her father sent somewhere far away. She did not cry easily, and she would not cry now. Not for a maybe. A possibility. It was equally likely he was not among those banished. He might still be somewhere in France or gone somewhere else for safety. She knew for certain he would not come toVenezia. Her aunt might report him.
When her thoughts were composed and her emotions reined in, she pulled away from Gaston. He watched her, his brow furrowed in concern.
“I am not glass. I will not shatter.” She flicked a strand of hair back over her shoulder. “And what does Papa think you might do for me?”
“Take you away with me.”
“Where?” She asked it calmly, but her insides quivered with excitement. Her aunt had become intolerable. Other than trips to the market, Sophia’s life had become one lonely dull day followed by another. And to be with Gaston? It was a dream come true.
“He would see you in England, if I can manage it.”
“England! But it is so far. And I speak the language like abébé.”
Gaston ran his hand over her cheek and lifted her chin. “Then you must learn it,ma chérie. For you will live there until it is safe to return to France.”
It was all so much to grasp. Her father gone. Her leavingVenezia. Gaston. “With you?” she asked.
“For a time. But I must do my part. I will return to therégiment.”
Gaston was going to take her to England and leave her there. Alone. The past three years had taught her everything could change in a moment. She knew what she must do to ensure his commitment to her remained constant. She loved him too much to risk losing him.
“You will marry me.” It was a statement, not a question, and it got a slow smile from Gaston.
“Oui,ma beauté, I will marry you at the first opportunity. Your father has given me his permission.” He leaned in and kissed her, and this time, the kiss was not chaste. She was panting when he pulled away.
“I don’t remember you kissing like that,” Gaston said.
“I was a child. I am a woman now.” She smiled at his scowl, a sense of triumph easing the sorrow of his news about her father.
“You have practiced?”
Sophia laughed at his fierce expression and the growl in his voice. Oh yes, she had power now she had not had before. Although, in truth, she’d not tried to use it until this moment. But she was not going to tell him.
She daintily shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps,un peu.” She pinched her thumb and forefinger together to show him the little bit, and he growled again. She fell onto her back, pulling him with her, and demonstrated again she was more than ready to take on the task of being his partner. When she clawed at his shirt, he pulled back.
“Sophie,non.”
“Oui.” She boldly ran her finger down his shirt and teased the band of his trousers. “We are to be married. Besides, I have always been yours. And you mine.”
