“Yes,” he replied, echoing his earlier confirmation.
She smiled, and it was a quieter expression than what he was used to seeing on her vibrant face. Sweet and a little shy. He liked it.
“Then we will marry,” she said simply. “We’ll find a way to do it that won’t destroy your family.”
Nicholas’s chest ached. He wasn’t sure it was possible, but he wanted to believe it more than anything. “How?”
She pressed herself alongside him and wrapped her arm around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She felt so right tucked against him, and he wanted to keep her there forever.
“What are the options?” she asked.
He held up one finger. “We have a big society wedding, my mother loses her mind, and we hope she doesn’t hold it against us forever.”
“And also that no one notices your resemblance,” Sophie added. “Option two: We have a small wedding and hope that it doesn’t make thetoneven more curious.”
“What else can we do?” Nicholas mused, racking his brain about what course of action others in his position might take.
Sophie’s quick intake of breath told him she had an idea.
“What is it?” he asked, smoothing his hand down her arm and savoring their closeness.
“We could do what Violet did.” She raised her eyes to meet his. “Run away to Gretna Green.”
He snorted. She had to be joking.
When she didn’t laugh, his eyes widened, and he scowled. Surely she knew that eloping wasn’t the answer.
“That would create an even bigger scandal!” he hissed, ducking his head closer to hers as if afraid of being overheard. “If we ran off now, then we’d be the talk of the house party, and by the time we returned to London, all eyes would be on us.”
Sophie bit her lip, her eyes flicking from side to side as she thought. “Then we wait. We don’t leave early. We don’t announce our engagement. I’ll distance myself from the baron so it’s clear he no longer has my favor. When we depart on the final day of the party, it will be for Gretna Green rather than London.”
“But don’t you see—”
“We’ll send letters to your mother and brother and leave a note for my mother so no one worries. After all, Mother would hardly leave here without me. We’ll have to depart early in the morning and ensure she found the letter quickly so that she doesn’t sound the alarm and instead quietly returns home.”
He stopped protesting, a furrow forming between his brows. “There would still be talk when we got back to London.”
Talk that would upset his mother more than he cared to think about.
“Then we don’t do that.” She smiled, clearly beginning to believe that this plan might actually work. “We go from Gretna directly to Blackwell Hall and retire for the season.By the time next season comes around, there will be a new scandal, and no one will care about us.”
That… might actually work.
He drew her close, touching the tip of his nose to hers. “How did I end up with such a clever woman?”
She kissed him. “You think it might work?”
“It might,” he agreed, nuzzling her again. “I’m afraid to hope but I think it could.”
For once in his life, didn’t he deserve for things to go his way?
“Then let’s do it.”
“It’s a plan.” He pulled away. “I wish this weren’t all so complicated and that I could lie with you all night. Unfortunately, I’d best leave before we get caught.”
“Be careful, Nicholas. If Mother finds you, our plan will be for nothing.”
He nodded. He wouldn’t let that happen.
