Herthoughts hardened.
Lord Rotherby may have had a terrible father, but he still hadn’t divulged the real reason he left London, and no matter how much he protested his honour, his reputation suggested very differently.
She drew in a deep breath and forced all traitorous thoughts to the back of her mind. She had no more desire to marry a respectable gentleman for escape, than she did a rake for the appearance of respectability– and both would mean Lord Rotherby had won his wager. Furthermore, she had even less desire to be the cause of a duel that resulted in her new brother-in-law’s untimely demise.
Which left her squarely with her own plan.
Sophie eyed herself severely in the looking-glass. Now was not the time to be addle-pated.
* * *
‘Mais non,ma chérie!’ Madame Marie Louisa Dupres squeaked when Sophie explained, in halting sentences, why she could no longer presume upon her goodwill. ‘This is a madness, certainly! You have no family, no connections, no wardrobe to call your own… I will not allow it! And besides, my Dominic would never forgive me.’ She paused as a frown passed across her pretty face. ‘If I let you go jaunting across Paris looking for… how is it you say…a position…without so much as a backward glance, he won’t just be angry, he’ll be furious.Enormouslyfurious,’ she emphasised in a stricken tone. ‘He?—’
‘Believes a little music and dancing should be sufficient to distract a newly betrothed debutante?’ Sophie quizzed in Lord Rotherby’s own words from the Tuileries.
‘Mais, ma cherie, it was just to distract you from your situation,’ Madame Dupres flushed.
‘But that’s just it!’ Sophie urged.
‘I don’t want to be distracted from my situation, I need to do what I can to salvage it! And even if my reputation is in tatters, I don’t accept that amariage de convenanceis my only option. I wagered I’d not settle for anything less than a love match, and I’d rather have none at all than compromise.’
Lu Lu regarded her as though she’d finally taken leave of her senses.
‘Mon dieu!So is it you wish to designles pelissesor teachles mathématiques?’ she asked, fanning herself as she sank down on her favourite peach damask chaise.
‘Pelisses,’ Sophie assured, suppressing a smile. ‘Truly, I would pity anyone who had to learnles mathématiquesat my hand.’
‘But is it really true you do not hold anytendrefor my Dominicat all,ma chérie?’ Lu Lu coaxed again in disbelief.
‘Can you not see yourself married, even one little bit? I must confess to having beentempted by the prospect again of late, and while Dominic can be headstrong, he is certainly a very fine catch,n’est ce pas?’
Sophie gazed into her friend’s large opal eyes, wondering if her new temptation was responsible for their sparkle. Briefly, she recalled Phoebe’s doing the same, despite all her protests about the viscount, beforeLord Rotherby’s dark and unsettled gaze crept back into her thoughts. She frowned and was momentarily tempted to tell Lu Lu everything; to confess she could barely hold a thought around him, that he was the most frustrating, stubborn and tantalising person she’d ever known; that she longed to be free of him and yet could think of nothing worse too.
But none of those words came out. Instead, there was only a heavy silence, before Sophie cleared her throat.
‘You know Lord Rotherby is running from a scandal himself, don’t you?’ she asked quietly, Horace’s words reaching through her thoughts:
‘Tis a serious matter, but suffice to say the guvnor weren’t responsible of course. He was jus’ coming to Paris for time to sort ’t out.’
‘Mais oui, though Dominic does not tell me quite everything,’ Lu Lu replied with a frown. ‘But whatever this scandal is, he is not guilty! My Dominic is a gentleman– a wild one, to be sure, but honourable and very kind too.’
Sophie stared at the troubled Lu Lu, wondering how well she truly knew her Dominic. She pictured him teasing her in Almack’s, his fury on board his yacht, his treatment of Sir Weston at L’Auberge de Notre Dame and the way her refused to tell her anything about his own scandal. And then finally, the moment in the Tuileries Garden which had very nearly weakened her…
Sophie’s thoughts whirled. The truth was, she had no idea who he was, except perhaps a master of disguise.
‘Ma chérie?’ Lu Lu entreated, reaching through Sophie’s thoughts. ‘At least stay until Le Grand Bal Masqué de Versailles? It will betheball of the Parisian season. All the best families will be there. And who knows, perhaps even a surprise for a young lady looking for amariage d’amour?’she coaxed.
‘Versailles?’ Sophie frowned, ‘I thought the King resided at the Palais des Tuileries?’
‘Oh, he does!’ Lu Lu nodded enthusiastically. ‘It is just that the south wing ofLe Cour Royalehas recently been finished, and there hasn’t been a ball sinceyou know whowas banished, so it will be quite the spectacle! It could be just the thing to help you salvageyour situation,ma chérie,’ she pleaded winningly, ‘and besides, do you not wish to see Versailles?’
Sophie could think of few royal palaces she yearned to see more. Unlikeles mathématiques, she’d always enjoyed history, and had spent considerable time studying the Palace of Versailles as a centre of art and culture, as well as royal power. However, the revolution had changed so much, and despite the restoration of the King, she was well aware that Versailles had fallen from favour.
‘It is also a masked ball,’ Lu Lu added with a mischievous smile, ‘so you need not be known, unless you wish it, and there will be music and fountains and fireworks. It really will bela soirée de l’année!’
Sophie smiled faintly, wondering if Lu Lu’s excitement was driven purely by the promise of entertainment. She’d mentioned her temptation a few times in passing, and wondered if she intended to try and persuade the neat-stepping Sir Weston to attend the ball. A faint wave of guilt reached through her as she recalled his letter; she had no desire to shatter any illusion her whimsical friend might have, particularly when she’d been nothing but kind. Yet in truth, it was also just the sort of prestigious ball Sophie would have moved mountains to attend in her old life– and could well be her last before she disappeared.
She closed her eyes briefly at the thought. How she, the most sensible of the Fairfaxes, had arrived at such a place was almost comical; and yet here she was all the same, with her life in tatters but her dreams still intact– and no one was more surprised than she by how fiercely she would protect them.
