Loving The Lost Duke (Dangerous Deceptions #1)(44)
Sophie Anne Mathilda Thorne, Her Grace the Duchess of Calderbrook. Yes, this is what I want.
The positive mood lasted into the evening, despite Mama worrying at their unconventional arrival. ‘I was not at all happy with the Duke sweeping you off like that.’ She eyed Sophie with what looked like apprehension as they sat in the drawing room waiting for Cal and Lord Elmham to come in from the hall where they were deep in conversation about, of all things, the weaponry of the South Pacific islanders. ‘He is very forceful in a quiet way. Were you at all… flustered?’
What a marvellous euphemism. Yes, Mama, we were both very flustered. ‘Not at all, Mama. The Duchess’s suite of rooms has just been refurbished and Cal asked me to use them so I could identify any changes that I wanted for after the wedding. I did go as far as his sitting room, which apparently he isn’t likely to use, but that is all.’ Her mother looked relieved. Presumably she’d had nightmare visions of Sophie being pursued round the bedchamber by an amorous Duke attempting to anticipate the wedding. ‘The plumbing is amazing, Mama. All the latest innovations. You must come and try the bath for yourself.’
They were discussing how Step Papa might be induced to fit modern pipework into the London house when the men walked in, Step Papa carrying a strange green blade that seemed to be made of some kind of stone and Cal charmingly apologetic for neglecting them. After that, it seemed to Sophie, Cal seduced her parents with as much ease as he had almost seduced her.
He was perfect with Mama. Serious, charming, a little rueful about his long absence from England, very flattering to her as the mother of such a delightful daughter. With Step Papa he was slightly deferential, as to an older man, but they were soon deep into travellers’ tales with all formality gone. During the evening they both kept smiling at her and Sophie realised they were happy, and relieved, and had no qualms that she had found the ideal match. And neither had she.
The happiness that she was doing the right thing survived the night and waking up to the luxury of the Duchess’s suite and Mary’s attentive care.
Cal met her as she descended the sweeping staircase, caught her hand in his and kissed it. ‘You have made up your mind,’ he said as he steered her towards the back of the hall. ‘The breakfast room is through here.’
‘Made up my mind?’
‘To marry me.’
‘Of course I had. I would not have come otherwise.’
The breakfast room was empty except for two footmen. Cal waved them out and opened the tall windows, letting in the cool air and birdsong and the smell of newly-scythed grass. ‘Yes you would. Rather, you would have told me if you had definitely decided against, but you were unsure yesterday, weren’t you?’ He began to lift covers from the dishes on the buffet, then handed her a plate.
‘I…’ Sophie took refuge in the array of breakfast dishes, selected eggs and bacon and crisp rolls and sat down before she answered him. Cal deserved honesty. ‘I did have doubts, yes. We hardly know each other.’
‘But my kisses convinced you?’ He had added devilled kidneys, bacon, sausage, eggs and mushrooms to his plate. He set down his food at the head of the table at right angles to her place and went back to the buffet. ‘Tea, coffee or chocolate?’
‘Tea please. Your kisses were persuasive but your superior bathing arrangements clinched the argument I was having with myself.’ She watched him as he carried her cup over to her, saw the laughter-creases at the corners of his eyes deepen and let out the breath she had been holding. He did have a sense of humour, even about this.
When he sat and began to stir his own coffee he was serious again. ‘I am relieved, both by your decision and the fact you took time to make it. It is good to know that you want me for more than my title, even if it is my bath tub that made up your mind.’ No, not entirely serious, on the surface, but there was truth behind the bantering words.
‘When I made my list of necessary qualities for a husband I included well-bred and well-off because I want to remain in contact with my friends and my family and with the world I know,’ Sophie said carefully. ‘But anyone who was received and who was in easy circumstances would have done, if I had liked them. An earl or a viscount would probably have been more comfortable and considerably less work.’
‘You are telling me that my title is an encumbrance?’ Cal was making good inroads into the kidneys, the sensitive nature of the conversation apparently having no effect on his appetite.
‘Neutral, I would say.’
This time his smile reached his lips as well as his eyes. There was a faint tap at the door which opened to half way. ‘My spies are warning me that we have about two minutes before your parents get here. After breakfast would you like me to show you over the house before our – my – guests start to arrive?’
‘That would be interesting, thank you.’
They were discussing the rival merits of Weymouth and Brighton as seaside resorts when her parents came in, preceded by the footmen who bustled about to such effect that it hid the fact that the two of the had been alone and quite unchaperoned. Cal was certainly a considerable strategist.
The house was so large that it took all morning for them to do nothing more than walk through from room to room, and that omitted the attics, the nursery floor, the stables, the basement and cellars and the staff areas. When they finally reached the Long Gallery Sophie collapsed laughing in one of the cushioned benches in the window bays and refused to go any further.