Andrew’s eyes cut to his friend. He appreciated the listening ear, but bitterness still tinged his thoughts. “I cannot wait until you’re mired in love. I will be full of useful advice like ‘just propose, what could go wrong?’”
His friend did not take the jab, his eyes following Sophie, where she’d just appeared at the edge of a row of shelves, immersed in a leatherbound offering. “Perhaps I will just lose the bet. It seems the safest route.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bess helped Sophie prepare for bed, and the moment she left, Sophie crossed to the window. Her arms snaked around her middle. Hookham’s had not been as successful a distraction as she had hoped. Her mind was still a muddle, and she did not like it. She was unused to floundering—had always known her next step, whether by choice or the dictation of others, and this sort of havey-cavey existence did not suit her.
A light tap on her door startled her from her ever-plummeting thoughts. Had Bess forgotten something?
“Come in,” she called.
Andrew appeared, slipping around the door that he’d opened the barest amount. As if he were a thief in the night.
Sophie was frozen to the spot. “Back in my rooms again, husband?” she asked, forcing her head to cock playfully. The humor behind her words was lacking. Now, she felt the quip hid a nervousness she’d not felt back in Weybridge.
A shadow of a grin appeared on his face as he moved to her. “I promise I am not making a habit of it. I wanted to speak with you, though.”
She nodded, not certain what exactly to say.
“Firstly, I wish to apologize for this afternoon. It was not fair of me to spring that on you without warning, and to forget myself in the ensuing conversation. I will not foist my presence on you in Durham if you don’t wish it.”
Drat, but that made her feel worse. He was all that was kind and solicitous; it was not his fault that she was such a mental mess at the moment. “There is truly no need to apologize, Andrew.” She wanted to say more—to explain why she’d reacted the way she had, but she hadn’t fully deciphered it herself.
“Thank you,” he said with a smile. He backed to the bed, sitting at the foot of it. How was he so relaxed? She felt about to jump from her skin. “Secondly, I wish to invite you to the theater tomorrow, with my friend Ambrose Hartley.”
“Oh. Yes, of course, that sounds enjoyable.”
He nodded. “Good. Good.”
She glanced at the door. “Is that all?” It was highly unlike Andrew to cross the bounds of propriety for a mere conversation, especially one so seemingly unimportant as this one.
“Well, not entirely. Spencer informed me that the staff has been whispering belowstairs about… well, us.”
“Us?”
He nodded, grabbing the back of his neck. “No one has seen me visit your rooms, and so naturally… Reliable though ours are, servants gossip and, well, now that I am here, it feels rather as if I’ve jumped the gun. But I did not wish to give fodder for their beliefs, on the chance it might leave this home.”
Sophie stared. He was here so that the servants would think they were married in truth? “Does that mean you need to stay for some time?”
His mouth pulled down. “I admit, I hadn’t thought of that. Likely not?”
“That sounds like a question.”
“It is.”
Surprised, laughter spilled from her lips, and she clamped her hand over her mouth.
A returning smile twitched at Andrew’s mouth.
“Well,” she said, tamping down her entertainment with great effort. “Maybe we can play a card game? Did your brother keep anything here when he left?” She crossed to the armoire, in which her dresses now hung, but she knew a few mementos of Edmund’s still resided. She pulled a face. “Only a chess set,” she said, turning back to Andrew.
His grin was broad now. “And here you are, with no patience.”
She pressed her lips together to hold back another laugh. “Perhaps I will just go to bed, and you can leave whenever you see fit.” She stepped to the bed, pulling back the blanket.
He sprang from its base with alacrity. “You are certain I cannot entice you with chess?”
She dropped the bedding, scrunching her nose at him. “Maybe. I truly detest it.”
