“Then it is only a rumor?”
Andrew grimaced. “Not entirely. Iamgoing to be married. And she… well, she is staying with me.”
Leonard’s eyebrows climbed to his hairline, and the rest of the men wore similar expressions.
Andrew rushed to explain, standing as he did, as if a bit of movement would make it easier. “It is Sophie Renard, you know.” Nods met his declaration. They all knew Sophie. Had seen his crude sketches of her at school and heard his boyish dreams of marrying her. A part of him felt a twinge of pride to now tell his friends he had managed those dreams… But then he remembered how wholly uninterested in a true marriage Sophie was.
“But she is married, is she not?” Leonard asked.
Andrew shook his head. “No. No,thatwas a rumor.” He made short work of the explanation, and at the end, Charles offered a low whistle, his legs swinging out from his spot on the arm of a chair.
“She needs a husband, and I need a wife, but we must wait until Saturday to return to Weybridge to marry with the license I’ve obtained. Until then… it is only a farce.”
“It sounds like torture,” Rowan remarked. “With how greatly you care for her. To… well, to live as man and wife but not truly?”
Heat suffused Andrew’s neck. “But she does not feel the same. To her, this is only a business arrangement. She will leave at the end of next week for her job.” Saying it out loud pained him. It was so soon.
“Blast, man,” someone remarked. Andrew was pacing away and did not see the face, but it sounded rather like Tristan.
He spun. “I am attempting to fix that, you understand. I am trying to court her.”
Ambrose nodded. “The theater then? Opera?”
“No. No, she does not like—that is—” The door opened again, cutting Andrew off. Rather than Spencer returned, it was Sophie. They all came to their feet in one.
Or nearly in one, Charles was a bit late.
Her gaze took in the six men, eyes popping. “Oh. I do apologize.” Her stare landed on Andrew.
He crossed to her. “Do not be sorry. Are you feeling better?”
She nodded. “Yes, much. I had thought to grab a book to accompany my no-longer-pounding head.”
But instead of looking at the shelves lining the room, she stared again at his friends. He turned, including them with a sweep of his hand. “This ragtag lot is nearly the entirety of my school friends.” He pointed them each out with a finger, naming them in turn. “Charles and Tristan Shepherd, Rowan Ashworth, Ambrose Hartley, and Leonard Stanton. Only Thomas Denby is absent.”
She bobbed a little curtsy. “How do you do?”
A smattering of responses came from his friends, but she turned questioning eyes on him. He thought he knew her silent query. “They know.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Oh, good, I do hate the lying. School friends? I used to be quite jealous of you all, you know,” she said to the men, stepping from Andrew. “Taking my one and only friend from my side for the majority of the year.”
“Have no fear,” Rowan assured her. “We were a poor substitute for you, and he let us know it.”
Sophie’s smile grew, and she turned it on Andrew.
“It is true,” he admitted. “I far prefer your company to theirs. In fact, I believe they were just leaving.”
A few of his friends laughed, and Leonard even stepped to the door, but Sophie put up a hand. “No, no, of course they should stay. Have you all had something to eat?” Her eyes landed on the port. “Oh, it seems you have moved to something rather stronger.”
“We were celebrating our marriage,” Andrew offered, and his expression must be just sheepish enough that the men would mock him for it later.
“As you should,” she said decisively. “Though I cannot see why you would celebrate, it is one step closer to losing the wager for the rest of you, is it not?”
At least half his friends barked surprised laughter.
“She is right, Andrew,” Charles said, piercing him with a look. “This is no celebration for the rest of us. We should be upset with you, not happy on your behalf.”
Andrew shook his head, chuckling, and Tristan stepped forward, grasping Sophie’s hand in his own. “If it is not yet settled, any one of us would be happy to take Andrew’s place, you know,” he said with a bow over her fingers.
