“Last week?” Lord Gulliver frowned. “I thought –”
“My soon-to-be is confused,” the Duke hurried to interrupt. “It was last week when we decided to wed at last.” He laughed a little too loudly. “We met far earlier in the Season. At the theatre.”
“Oh, I love the theatre,” Lady Gulliver said. “What show were you seeing?”
The Duke hesitated and Sophia saw worry pass across his face. “I don’t remember exactly.” Again, he laughed a little too loudly. “In truth, I was far too enamored by Miss Sophia’s beauty to pay the show any attention.”
“Isn’t that lovely,” Lady Gulliver sighed.
“Are you a fan of the theatre?” Lord Gulliver asked Sophia.
“She is,” the Duke answered for her. “We both are. One of our many shared interests, in fact. What is love with commonality?”
“What are your favorite shows?” Lord Gulliver asked simply. “Surely, you have similar tastes?”
Sophia glanced at the Duke who looked startled and unsure. His grip on her tightened, and she considered answering for him, which she could not do because she wouldn’t know what to say.
Suddenly, the folly of their attempted subterfuge became clear. How were they supposed to fake love and romance if they knew absolutely nothing about one another? And what if Sophia lied, only to be found out?
She started to sweat…and this is why I never step out of line. Freedom is nice sounding, but the danger inherent makes me wonder if I have made a terrible mistake.
“Sorry to leave you,” the Duke said finally, pulling Sophia into him, while side-stepping the question entirely. “But I have just seen a friend of mine. I really must give them my best.”
“Of course, of course,” Lord and Lady Gulliver both said. “We just wished to give you our best.”
“And we thank you for it.”
The Duke led her away quickly. “Don’t look back,” he said to her. “And smile as if everything is fine.”
“That did not go how you said it would,” Sophia said.
“I am aware.”
“We should have been better prepared,” she said.
“Most likely.”
“Perhaps we should take a minute to –”
“No, no,” he cut her off. “That sounds suspiciously like planning ahead. Isn’t the entire point of this to free you from that nonsense?”
Sophia side-eyed him, pursing her lips.
She knew the Duke liked to do things differently. She knew that he enjoyed testing the limits of what he could get away with, having no care for what people thought or said of him. Now, she was starting to see the downside to such a way of living.
Is it possible my parents have been right this whole time? And if they were, that this is a most terrible mistake from which I cannot escape?
Things only got worse from there.
It became a theme of the night, questions asked that both Sophia and the Duke should have known, being caught flat footed because they were practically strangers, and then being forced to lie their way out of it. And the longer it went on for, the more Sophia began to question this decision she had made.
It was asked of the Duke what Sophia liked to do in her spare time. He knew she played the pianoforte, but when pressed on what her favorite composition was, he had no idea.
It was asked of Sophia what were the Duke’s hobbies, and all she could do was smile and blink stupidly until the Duke hurried with a response.
It was asked where they planned to go for their honeymoon, what their ceremony would be like, how many children they wanted, and all manner of personal questions that if they knew even one thing about the other would not have been hard to answer at all.
Two hours into the evening, and Sophia was starting to panic.
