By the time Peterson called them for dinner, she’d progressed from a log to a battering ram, even as she fought the urge to laugh at his antics. The number of times Christopher had turned to her and called her his love had to be nearing one hundred. Robert was now so pale, he was nearly grey and Marrisa was so excited by the whole thing, she was bouncing on the edge of her seat.
Dinner was a family affair and so the guests wandered to the dining room with no formality. Hanging back, she managed to grab Christopher by the arm and pull him back slightly.
‘What?’ was all she managed to say, when everyone else had moved out of earshot.
‘It is going rather well.’
‘Rather well! You sound idiotic.’
‘I know.’ He looked thrilled by her words. ‘Robert hates me. He cannot understand why you have agreed to tie yourself to such a buffoon. I cannot either.’
‘Firstly, you are not a buffoon, even though you are acting like one. And secondly, I am not tying myself to you.’
His arm flexed beneath her hold. Perhaps she should let go, but if she did, he might run off and act in an even more peculiar fashion.
‘You have changed your tune. I distinctly remember you calling methatbuffoon with the pigs.’
‘That does not sound like me.’
‘You were inebriated on the floor of the Beauvarlet library at the time.’
‘I thought we agreed we were never going to talk about that again.’
‘I do not believe so.’ She was supremely irritated by him, but somehow his infectious grin made her want to smile back at him. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop it from happening. This was a serious situation; one of them had to be sensible.
‘Look at it this way. He does not know what I am really like,’ said Christopher, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the corridor. ‘Right now, the only thing he is sure of is that the woman he always intended to marry is engaged to someone completely unworthy of her.’
‘Stop saying that about yourself. I know you are joking, but I do not like it.’ Something flickered in his eyes, gone before she could analyse it. ‘I do not want you to debase yourself on my behalf.’
His lips softened. ‘Sophia, you…’
‘And, another thing. The end of the Season is six weeks away. If we do nothing to stop her, my mother is going to book that church and you will find yourself with a wife you do not want. So, I suggest youstop saying that you will do anythingIwant, because in my mother’s world, that means anythingshewants.’
‘Sophia, I…’
But she had no intention of stopping until she had said everything that had been on her mind since the moment Christopher had turned into a man she didn’t recognise. ‘And another thing. How do you know Robert was expecting to marry me? And before you speak, there is one final thing, stop calling me, “my love”. It sounds ridiculous and puts me all turned about.’
There was a silence while she waited for him to respond. She wobbled his arm, as if trying to wake him.
His smile was slow and something squirmed in the bottom of her belly. ‘May I speak now?’
‘Please do.’
Christopher’s grin was almost wolfish. ‘You want him to think I am a few eggs short of a dozen. That way he still stands a chance to win your hand from me.’
Goodness, but this man was arrogant. There were plenty of reasons Robert would be able to win her from Christopher. Plenty. She would be able to come up with lots the moment she gave it some real thought. ‘Robert knows I would not tie myself to a man who had fewer wits than a hen. Even if I was compromised and forced into it by busybodies, he would know that I would be working to find a way out of it and he would expect me to tell him if it was a ruse. We have been friends for many years. This choice will be bewildering to him because it is so out of character for me to act in such a way.’
‘Ah, but you have been dazzled by my uncommonly good looks. You have been unable to form a coherent thought ever since that unfortunate moment in the Beauvarlets’ conservatory. You are confounded by me and find it impossible to resist my charm. He ishere to save you from yourself. The whole situation could not be more perfect.’
In the dim light of the hallway, his eyes gleamed with amusement. Hewasabsurdly handsome, but as he was well aware of the fact, she would not pander to him. ‘Again, he is not going to believe I fell under your spell just because you are taller than most.’
Not smiling at his bark of laughter physically hurt.
‘This has to be a fight Robert can win,’ said Christopher. ‘We can confirm that he has thought about marrying you. There is no reason for him to picture your wedding day otherwise. As to your mother booking the church, I can say something about Tobias wanting our union to take place on one of his estates. Nobody defies a duke, not even mothers of the bride. Trust me, the Tobias excuse always works.’
‘Oh, so this is not the first pretend engagement from which you have had to escape.’ Even though she was fairly confident this was the only time he had been engaged, pretend or otherwise, she wasn’t able to explain the sting of jealousy she felt.
‘Of course it is not. I meant… Oh, I see.’ He rocked back on his heels, his eyes gleaming once more. ‘You are trying to put me out of humour. It will not work. I only meant that I have used the Tobias-not-wanting-something-done excuse to get myself out of all sorts of scrapes.’
