Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,56
but in my weakened state, I don’t believe I can manage it. However, he can escort you without me.”
Sophie issued an immediate protest. “You are forgetting that I am betrothed, Aunt.”
“Pah, it is perfectly proper for him to attend you if I give my permission.”
Sophie shook her head, filled with dismay at the thought of being alone with Jack. With only his brief call this morning, he’d rekindled all the blind yearning she felt for him. How much worse would it be if she spent the entire evening with him—or, heaven forbid, the entire week?
Furthermore, she had started to suspect her aunt of feigning fatigue in order to throw her together with Jack. How could she defend herself when they were both actively scheming against her?
“That is an extremely poor idea—” Sophie began before being interrupted.
“You cannot languish at a hotel with an old lady,” her aunt insisted. “Paris is a magnificent city, even if the Frogs built it.” She paused and pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Make certain to lay out my writing implements on the parlor desk. As soon as I finish breakfast, I shall write to Lord Jack and beg off from the trip to Navartania, but ask that he take you to the opera tonight as planned.”
At Sophie’s grimace of distress, Mrs. Pennant waved a dismissive hand. “Ring for Carhill, my dear. I won’t have you missing your appointment. That modiste was outrageously expensive and nearly impossible to engage on such short notice.”
Sophie bit back a retort, yet as she exited the bedchamber, she showed her frustration by shutting the door with a deal more force than was strictly necessary.
In actuality, however, she was not as much vexed by her impotence as unnerved by her vulnerability. She would do everything possible tonight to keep Jack at arm’s length and discourage his attempts at seduction, but she had absolutely no faith in her ability to resist him or her own foolish longings.
Jack’s own frustration at having all his carefully laid plans demolished was compounded tenfold by Sophie’s outright rejection of his strategy. She clearly didn’t comprehend the enormity of his decision to travel to Navartania, or understand that for him, reconciling with his father was tantamount to bargaining with the devil.
He loathed the very thought of embracing the coward he blamed for his mother’s death. In the past, his only reason for approaching the prince would have been to exact revenge. Confronting Raoul de Villars for his shameful desertion had been a deep-seated ambition of Jack’s for almost as long as he could remember.
But he realized he might have to set aside his longtime hatred for the man, so he could appease Sophie’s father with a royal title if necessary. He wasn’t willing to let her go without a fight.
He was also driven by a sense of urgency, since time was a critical factor. And with her aunt bedridden, he had no choice now. Sophie would never travel with him on her own; her love for her parents wouldn’t allow her to defy propriety so brazenly and jeopardize her noble marriage.
No, he had to change course immediately.
Sophie would not be happy with his new plan, Jack knew. In fact she might well be outraged. As he left his own hotel room and headed for the livery stables, though, he ignored the prodding of his own conscience.
Desperate situations called for desperate measures, and this one was beginning to qualify as desperate.
When Jack arrived at the Hôtel Portois that evening, Mrs. Pennant was still too weary to attend the opera, but her fatigue played directly into his hands.
Sophie appeared reluctant to accompany him alone, giving him a cool greeting. Clearly she was still chagrined by his conspiracy with her elderly relative.
When he handed her into his coach, Sophie voiced her unhappiness. “It is callous of you to continue pursuing me when you know I cannot break my betrothal.”
She said little else as the coach got underway. Jack could tell she had no suspicion of his intentions until nearly half an hour later, when she noted that it was taking a very long time to reach the Paris Opera. When she glanced out the window, her growing confusion was obvious, for the cobblestone streets had turned to highway and the city environs had given way to rural countryside.
“Where are we?” Sophie asked.
Jack hesitated to answer, wanting to postpone the expected explosion as long as possible. “We have left Paris.”