Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,92
through her, Sophie felt desperation, even anger, welling up inside her. “You are utterly infuriating, do you know that? What happened to the rogue who climbed through my bedroom window, intending to seduce me? The rebel who abducted me and carted me halfway across France? The one who faced his despised father so that he could offer my father a distinguished title?”
Jack’s silence made her want to scream. She’d been certain that her parents would be the greatest obstacle, but it now seemed that Jack intended to quit fighting for her. She would never know love and passion with him.
Watching the struggle on her face, Jack felt a powerful wave of remorse and longed to console her. But he forced himself to ignore the urge. Only an hour ago, when he’d seen Sophie with her parents, the realization had struck him with unrelenting force, what she would be giving up for him if he insisted on following their plan.
“So you are refusing to marry me?” she asked hoarsely.
“Sophie … yes.” If they wed, her whole life would change, much for the worse. He wouldn’t be the cause of a break with her parents. Being cast out from her family would hurt her too much. In fact, knowing Sophie, it would devastate her.
He wouldn’t let her make that sacrifice. Because he loved her. Because he cared so much.
Evidently Sophie wasn’t giving up trying to persuade him, however, for she took another tack. “Jack … please, we are meant for each other. You know we are.”
“Like the lovers in a Shakespearean tragedy?” he replied, purposely hardening his tone.
“Yes.”
He gave a humorless smile. “This is the point in the play where Romeo gets killed and Juliet takes poison, you realize.”
Her expression held hurt. “This is no laughing matter, Jack.”
“I didn’t intend it to be.”
She looked despairing.
“Sophie … love …” He started to take her face in his hands, but she stepped back, out of reach.
“Please don’t call me your love,” she reproached him more in grief than anger. “You clearly don’t mean it.”
On the contrary, he loved her deeply, Jack countered silently. And he was overjoyed to think she felt the same love for him. The emotion flooding his heart just now was as powerful as he’d ever felt before. The incontrovertible truth was that wanting to be with Sophie had become a basic tenet of his life, like needing to breathe.
But his mother had followed her heart and look what it had cost her. He wasn’t going to subject Sophie to that uncertain fate, despite the despairing way she was looking at him now. She held his gaze, practically trembling, as if her heart were breaking.
They were at an impossible impasse, but he wouldn’t give way, Jack vowed. All this time he’d been selfishly focused on what he wanted, solely concerned about what he felt. But he had to do what was best for Sophie. He had to put her welfare first.
“Let me escort you out to your carriage,” he said, taking her elbow to steer her toward the study door.
Her chin stiffened. “I am not returning home, Jack.”
“You cannot remain here.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is a bachelor’s establishment. You well know the scandal that would cause—”
“Now you have suddenly developed a sense of propriety?” she demanded.
“—and the pain it would give your mother.”
He could tell the reminder had struck a nerve, just as he’d intended, for Sophie’s eyes suddenly went bright with tears.
She felt the same ache he did, Jack knew. This was the kind of pain he’d wanted to avoid at all costs. Why he had never wanted to pursue Sophie in the first place.
He could see dismay, even anguish, in her lovely eyes. But then she swallowed hard and forced a smile, as if acknowledging there was no resolution to their dilemma.
“You need to go home, Sophie,” he urged more gently. When she stood there, not moving, he added for good measure, “Don’t make me carry you.”
His threat had the desired effect, for she gave him a caustic look, then turned on her heel and left the room, head held high. Following, Jack fell into step with Sophie as she entered the front hall.
She let him escort her out to her carriage and open the door for her, but paused before getting inside. “I refuse to admit defeat,” she muttered in a fierce undertone. “I won’t accept that this is over. And I am not returning home!”
With that defiant declaration, she called out to her coachman to change her direction.