Christopher grinned. ‘He did not have her killed, if that is what you are thinking.’
‘Of course not.’ The thought had crossed her mind. Damn her for listening to her sisters’ lurid tales. ‘He is a peer of the realm.’
‘I am not sure someone having a title automatically makes them a good person. But even so, Tobias had her moved to one of his country houses. It is large enough for her to keep busy and far enough away that none of us need see her again. After that, Tobias brought in tutors for Edward and me and then we went away to school. There was no time for ices.’
Somehow this larger-than-life man, whose ready smiles lit up a room, had once been a child starved of love. Oh, that was not what he was saying. Perhaps he wasn’t even aware of it himself, but it was the truth. Her family might be loud and sometimes obnoxious, but she had no doubt that her parents loved her, her sisters too, and as exasperating as she occasionally found them, she loved them too. She couldn’t imagine a life without them, and it had nothing to do with sweet treats but with the warmth that always surrounded her. She wondered if Christopher had received anything like it as he’d grown up, because it certainly did not sound as if he had.
She swallowed past an unexpected lump in her throat. Striving to keep the conversation light in the same way he was, she asked, ‘What about when you had your own lodgings?’
‘I never thought about it. I did not know I was missing such deliciousness.’ He scooped up a large spoonful, his eyes rolling back in his head as the ice hit his tongue. ‘Besides, I was not in lodgings long.’
‘You were on your Grand Tour?’
‘Unfortunately, no. I was planning to go, but I wanted to set up my investments first. It seemed prudent to have money growing whileI was away so that I did not have to come back and throw myself on the mercy of my brother.’ He shuddered theatrically. ‘That would be worse than humiliating. Then, when I had finally made plans to go, Lotte arrived and now I must stay.’
For a moment the world tilted, almost as if the room listed to the left. She rested her fingers on the tablecloth; feeling the crisp linen grounded her to the moment, shocking her that she’d had such a visceral reaction to his words. It shouldn’t matter that there was a woman in his life who obviously meant a great deal to him and yet her body wasn’t lying to her. It was more the surprise of her own reaction that had her blurting out, ‘Who is Lotte?’
‘Lotte, or rather Charlotte, is my niece,’ said Christopher calmly as if this were common knowledge. Perhaps it was, but not to Sophia. ‘She is Sebastian’s daughter.’
‘Sebastian is your brother who passed away a few years ago?’ She knew that part of the story vaguely. It had happened just as she was coming out and there had been a lot of talk about it as no one had truly known what had happened to him. But as he’d been out of Society for some years, the talk was more about the other brothers and she realised she knew very little about the events surrounding his death.
He nodded briskly. ‘That is right. It was a few years ago now, but we had not seen him in a long time. After he moved to America, he did not write to us to inform us that he had a child. It was quite the surprise when she appeared in Glanmore’s sitting room. However, not only does she look like a Dashworth, she was also accompanied by a lawyer who informed us that our older brother had left a will giving guardianship of his daughter to the four of us to raise her jointly for the first two years, after which she will live with one of us, althoughwe must all be involved in the important decisions in her life, such as marriage proposals.’
‘Goodness.’ Noticing that her ice was in danger of dripping to the tablecloth below, she scooped up some of the softer edges. ‘What of her mother?’
‘Sebastian’s wife died alongside him. We… we are not sure of the circumstances and we are trying to find out more, but as you can imagine, it is difficult because America is not the easiest place to hunt for details when one lives in London.’
‘How old is your niece now?’
‘She is around three and a half.’ His eyes shone with love. ‘She is the most adored girl in all of Britain. I shall be sorry to leave her when the time comes, but she will be better off with one of my older brothers than me.’
‘Do you really think so?’ If he only loved her half as much as Sophia guessed, then it was going to be far harder for him to part from her than he believed. ‘Does your niece not deserve to be surrounded by people who love her?’
‘Two of my brothers are married to women who treat Lotte as if she were their own. Obviously, she also has Tobias, who would walk through hell for her. All five of them love her as much as I do. She shall not want for affection because I am away for a year or two.’
‘Where do you plan to go?’
‘I should like to visit Paris and Rome, but I have heard such stories of the Aegean Sea, that I should like to see it for myself. I want to take in as many ancient ruins as I can. We learned about such places in books, but I think they will come alive when I see them in front of me. But the main thing I want to do is to meet people from different cultures, to hear other languages spoken and to know, even for afraction of a moment, what it would be like to come from a different place.’
His eyes were alight with excitement as he spoke and she could see his future stretching out in front of him. One long adventure to be enjoyed and experienced. Some people might be lonely, taking such a voyage alone, but not him. Wherever he went, he would make friends and he would come home all the richer for it. She did not want to ruin the mood by pointing out that it would cause him pain to be separated from his beloved niece. If he did not think of that consequence, it was not up to her to draw his attention to it. ‘What if you find a woman with whom you want to settle down? Will you not want Lotte to live with the two of you then?’
His lips pressed into a thin line. ‘Charlotte will be better off with one of my brothers. And I am not concerned about this non-existent wife’s feelings as I have no intention of marrying.’
‘Not ever? Not even when you are older and have done whatever it is you intend to do on your Grand Tour?’
He shook his head. ‘Never.’
Sophia couldn’t imagine having such a strong opinion about anything. ‘How do you know you will not change your mind?’
‘People of the Ton marry for the connections they make, either for money or to provide an heir for their illustrious line. As the youngest son, providing the dukedom with a son does not fall to me. Sebastian died young. He never got to go on a Grand Tour. He never got to have fun with friends, because he was so busy protecting me from Miss Dunn. He went from one responsibility to another. I do not want that for myself.’
‘You want to enjoy life,’ she said softly, keen to make sure he did not think she was criticising him. When viewed from his perspective she could understand what he was saying. Grief over losing his brotherwas colouring his thoughts for the future and she could not blame him. Wanting to marry Robert was partly a reaction to her family. She wanted to be with someone stable, someone who didn’t make rash decisions based on whatever emotion they were experiencing in any particular moment. Obviously, Robert had his own merits, but she was not blind to the fact that this was one of the things that attracted her.
‘I do.’
He nodded several times, but she was not sure if he was reaffirming it to her or to himself. Not that it mattered; she would not try to change his mind.
‘Speaking of enjoying oneself, how is the vanilla flavour? From the way you are scraping the bowl, I am guessing it is a success.’
