'Indeed, it would, my lord, and I assure you I tried to explain the matter to Othello and Caliban but they didn't listen.'
He straightened and offered his arm. With everyone looking, everyone believing they were betrothed, she could hardly refuse to place her hand upon it.
'Now, my dears, we shall go into the garden and enjoy the company of these contrary dogs.'
'Excuse me, Uncle James, what does contrary mean?'
Sofia answered before him. 'It means, Eloise, a person or an animal that behaves in an unexpected way, a way that might be construed as being inconvenient by those around them.'
'I don't know what inconvenient means but I do know about things being unexpected,' Eloise said.
Once started she was now happy to chat and didn't require any answers which was fortunate as Sofia was finding being in physical contact with James rather unsettling.
'My father died unexpectedly but we aren't at all sad and Mama said we don't have to wear horrible black clothes for a year either. Lord Upminster was unkind to us and to my mama and we had to hide from him.'
'That must have been very difficult for all of you, dearest Eloise, but I think it better if we don't discuss your previous circumstances just now' Sofia said having finally found her tongue.
She glanced at James and he nodded. 'Sweetheart, I'm going to take care of you all and I promise you that your life will be happy from now on.'
Eloise had lost interest in the subject and suddenly snatched her hand from his and skipped across the grass waving her hands in the air. Both dogs raced after her and danced around making the child laugh out loud.
'I believe we're superfluous, Sofia, and there's no necessity for you to miss your breakfast. Will you refuse my request to return and eat just to be contrary, or will you do the sensible thing?'
Her stomach gurgled loudly. 'I apologise most profusely for my ill manners, James, and if you're quite sure you're happy to be on your own with Eloise then I'll go and eat.'
He nodded and turned his attention to his niece. Othello, the more exuberant of the two dogs, had accidentally knocked her from her feet. No harm was done and she scrambled up, hugged the dog and continued skipping about waving both hands in the air in a slightly demented fashion.
Sofia returned to the breakfast parlour and was relieved to see that the chafing dishes had been refilled and there was more than enough even for someone with her prodigious appetite.
Lady Charlotte was talking to Colette and Annabel but the two boys are no longer there. All three of them were looking at her in a most particular way.
'I gather that congratulations are in order, Miss Brotherton,' her ladyship said not sounding particularly pleased about the situation.
'Forgive me, my lady, I must fill my plate and eat before I discuss this with you all.'
A quarter of an hour passed, and Sofia decided she could delay no longer. She'd eaten only a few mouthfuls as the food refused to go down. She nodded to the footman and pointed to the door. He understood he was to depart.
'Your brother and I are engaged to be married but it's not a genuine arrangement, my lady. I had an unpleasant experience with the horses, I was almost trampled, and he had his arm around my waist to support me. Too late we realised that we'd been seen by Rupert and several of the outside men.'
'Thank goodness, I prayed it was something of that sort, Miss Brotherton. My brother is an honourable gentleman and would immediately have made you an offer. Are you telling me that you intend to break the engagement?'
Annabel and Colette had been listening intently and her sister asked another question before Sofia could answer the first.
'You'd be a countess, Sofia, what young lady in her right mind would turn down an offer from the most eligible bachelor in the county if not the country?'
'I know he's eligible, but we scarcely know each other and I've no intention of holding him to his offer. He cannot break the betrothal, but I can. I've no wish to marry anybody right now. He's agreed that when I reach my majority in September, I can return to Hilltop House.'
Lady Charlotte was now smiling. 'What a good girl you are, Miss Brotherton. He's a generous man and bound to provide you all with a modest dowry. I'm sure, you'll make good marriages eventually, but a country miss is not a suitable bride for my brother.' She smiled at Sofia in the same way that one might smile at an inferior person.
'Now that I'm here and will be running the household for him, my first task is to find him someone appropriate. The Earl of Avon must have a wife that matches his own illustrious pedigree.'
Sofia froze for a second too outraged by this remark to answer. Then something stirred inside. It wasn't just James who was contrary – until that moment she'd been determined to break the betrothal for both their sakes. But to be told by his sister that he would be marrying beneath him wasn't something she could allow to pass unchallenged.
'Forgive me, my lady, but I believe you've misunderstood the facts. My great grandfather was the Earl of Avon, my father was your first cousin, my sisters and I are not only Brothertons we're your second cousins. My mother was a French aristocrat; her parents lost their heads in the revolution.'
Lady Charlotte stared, aghast at Sofia's response. She got to her feet so suddenly she swayed and had to clutch the table edge in order to remain upright.
'My lady, do not distress yourself. I was merely stating the actual facts of my birth not saying that I'd changed my mind about breaking the engagement.'
