“Indeed, it is,” Sophia replied, looking enchanted, “I have never seen so many stars in one night sky before. I cannot help but wonder just what sort of things they have witnessed, what stories they hold…”
“Do you think they hold gossip on the scandalous affairs of the ton?” Duncan joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Sophia chuckled in return.
“Oh, they must have something on everyone. A wealth of scandalous tales…”
“Or witnessed a fair number of stolen kisses shared under their skies.” The words slipped out of the Duke’s mouth before he could help himself.
Sophia blushed, looking down.
“I’m sure they must have. Young lovers trying to sneak around.”
Duncan wanted to grab hold of Sophia tightly and kiss her right there, but he stopped himself. Instead, he leaned forward on the balcony.
“There is one thing that I have noticed whenever I am in your company,” he admitted earnestly. “It is that I feel that I can… tell you things. Things that I am never so easily willing to confess to.”
He could feel Sophia’s gaze on him as he spoke.
“Is it because my tragedy makes it easier for you to confess?” she asked.
“What do you mean by that?”
Sophia shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, just that because I have gone through my fair share of awful events, I never pity anyonewhen they tell me about something bad that has happened in their own life. Instead, I try to understand.”
The Duke considered her words for a moment. Perhaps she had a point. He never did feel like she looked down on him, even when he told her about his father.
“It is a dangerous position, though,” he replied, his voice now gruff. “That means that you will come to possess all of my secrets.”
“A keeper of secrets,” Sophia replied, seeming pleased with the appellation. “It is not a bad title to hold. I promise to take them to the grave.”
Duncan felt a smile form on his lips. What a gamble he had taken marrying a woman he knew nothing about, but how life had surprised him by giving him someone who had such a clean heart.
“As I have already mentioned, it is easier for me to talk to you about things,” he noted, “like my father.”
Sophia’s expression was one of understanding and regard. Duncan really had been lucky with her.
“You have only mentioned him briefly.”
“You already know what was most important,” Duncan recounted bitterly. “He was not an ideal father, far from it.”
“It must have been difficult,” Sophia noted. “I cannot even imagine what it must have been like for you.”
Duncan shrugged his shoulders. “I worry that I will turn into him.”
“Your Grace, that is the most preposterous thing that you have uttered thus far,” Sophia reassured him. “What makes you think that you have anything in common with someone who was not good even to his children?”
Duncan shrugged his shoulders.
“I do not think that he was a bad person for all of his life. Quite the contrary, he had many friends, and people that spoke of him in a positive manner. It was only after he had children that things became bad,” Duncan explained. “Who’s to say that the same will not happen to me? That is the reason why I do not wish to produce an heir of my own.”
Sophia gasped at his confession.
“But that is an awfully big sacrifice to make. All for something that will not even happen…”
“And how can you guarantee that?” His tone was full of cynicism.
Sophia pursed her lips as though she was carefully measuring out what to say next.
