Page 35 of A Stranger’s Gamble

She gave Sophie a quick glance, then a corner of her mouth twitched upward in amusement. “Like mother, like daughter.”

“Madeline,” her father growled.

“Oh, do be quiet, Liam.” She faced him. “What did you expect, keeping her in the country all these years? It is a miracle she didn’t run away from home long ago.”

“We are going home, Sophie,” he said. “Pack your things.”

Sophie opened her mouth to refuse, then remembered that the very reason she had come to Edinburgh was to meet the marquess. She didn’t want to meet the marquess. She did, however, want to meet Adam. But that was now ruined. Would she ever see him again? Her heart unexpectedly twisted at the thought.

“Stop your blustering,” her aunt said. “You sent the girl here to meet a charming marquess.”

“I do not care,” he snapped. “I cannot have her going about at night with strange men.”

“He is not strange,” Sophie protested.

“Dear, you are not helping,” Aunt Maddie said. “Liam, this is not going to end. Do you intend to lock her up in her room for the rest of her life?”

Her father opened his mouth to reply, then hesitated.

“Just as I thought.” Aunt Maddie leaned toward him and said in a whisper clearly meant to be heard by Sophie, “When she marries the marquess, she will no longer be your problem.”

“Madeline!” he burst out.

She waved a hand. “You know what I mean.”

Her father looked at her, and Sophie feared that he did, indeed, know what her aunt meant. Sophie knew exactly what her aunt meant. It was time Sophie marry.