“Right, then, let’s get you all sorted to go out with the handsome gentleman.”
It was inevitable, it seemed, that she was to go driving with Patrick. The apology she likely owed him would have to be delivered sooner rather than later.If I’m wrong.
What did she say to him if she was right? But then why would he take a woman who was not to be his future wife driving?
“Society is extremely confusing, Jenny,” Sophie muttered.
“It certainly makes a woman glad she’s not part of it sometimes,” Jenny added.
Dressed in the coat Letty had insisted she needed and a matching bonnet, Sophie was soon ready. Nerves fluttered in her belly as she pulled on gloves.
“Off you go, then,” Jenny said, making a shooing motion with her hands.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“It’s a phaeton with a lad on the back, so there is no room for me.”
Did that mean she’d be sitting close to Patrick? Sophie guessed she’d soon find out.
When she reached the stairs that led down to the entranceway, she saw Letty there with Patrick. As if sensing her, his eyes shot up and locked on Sophie.
Raising the hem of her skirts so she didn’t trip and land at his feet, she went down to join him.
“My lady.” He bowed. “If you are ready, we will leave.” His expression was polite. None of the anger he’d shown when she’d accused him of a future with another woman was visible now.
Nodding, Sophie gave Letty a kiss on one cheek and then walked out the front door to the waiting phaeton. Before she could climb up, hands lifted her onto the seat.
“Thank you.”
He walked around the horses and joined her, his thigh brushing hers as he sat.
So much lay between them now. He knew of her past and also knew her intimately, as she did him, and yet, in that moment, she felt like there was an ocean between them.
She could see the tan leather of his driving gloves and the sleeve of his dark gray overcoat out the corner of her eye as the horses started moving. Sophie had never been in a carriage like this, and she soon thought it was a great deal better than being inside one because you saw so much more.
“Stephen would love that,” Patrick said, pointing to a sweet shop. The window had jars of brightly colored treats. “He loves sugar in any form.”
“You and he are close,” Sophie said, happy to discuss anything but what they should talk about for now.
“Very. I have known him for many years.”
“Lady Sumner told me about her first meeting with you as a child. You told her that her son had no manners.”
Patrick snorted. “Actually, I remember that. Going to Stephen’s estate had been a revelation to me after my own family life,” he said slowly. “I had not believed a family could actually love one another as the Sumner family did.”
“Was your life so horrid, then?” She wasn’t sure he’d answer her because he fell silent.
“Not horrid,” he said finally. “I had my sisters, but other than them, there was not a lot of love and laughter. I was the heir, you see, and all that mattered to my father was that I learned to be like him.”
She touched his hand. “Thank you for speaking openly with me, and I’m sorry you suffered.” He shrugged, and Sophie thought that was the end of the subject. “I was lucky. My mother loved me as best she could,” she added.
“I’m glad you had one parent to love you,” he said.
“Was your mother not kind either?” Sophie asked.
Patrick’s snort of laughter held no humor. “My mother’s method of child-rearing included lecturing me on how to become an earl from sunrise to sunset alongside my father.”
“I am not offering an excuse for her behavior. However, I’m sure she raised you exactly as she was raised and therefore knew no better.”
