Ladies and their Secrets: Regency Romance Collection by Joyce Alec

Author:Joyce Alec [Alec, Joyce]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-08-08T16:00:00+00:00

When the nurse came to sit with Sarah for dinner, Sophia was more than ready to spend some time on her own. Her head was filled with thoughts of the guests and the note the duke had sent, worrying about what it might mean.

Making her way from the nursery to her own room, she paused for a moment, looking down at the papers in her hand. She was due to give the duke a report on Sarah’s progress, and whilst she knew he would be busy with all his guests, she did not want to delay her report.

“But you will be seeing him this evening,” she murmured to herself, knowing that she did not need to go directly to his study at this very moment. Worrying, however, that the duke would wish to talk to her about Sarah’s education, Sophia did not go into her room but rather looked down the empty corridor. The guests would be dining soon enough, for the duke kept country hours, so there was very little chance that she would meet anyone unexpectedly. Biting her lip, Sophia set her shoulders and began to walk swiftly down the corridor, knowing that none of the guests would be anywhere near her quarters. She would find a footman soon enough and would hand the papers to him to leave in the duke’s study.

“Ah,” she exclaimed, seeing a footman walking along the hallway toward her, having just reached the top of the staircase. “Might I ask you to set this in the duke’s study?”

The footman frowned but took the papers from her.

“I would do it myself, but I do not want to meet any of the guests unexpectedly,” she continued, aware that it was something of a poor excuse. “Thank you.”

The footman, still looking somewhat unimpressed, turned his back on her and walked swiftly away from her, leaving Sophia to let out a long breath of relief before making her way back toward her own rooms.

“Sophia?”

The voice was high pitched and filled with astonishment, and with a slow sense of horror filling her, Sophia turned around.

Viscountess Brookridge, her sister-in-law, was staring at her with a slight smirk around her mouth.

“Good evening,” Sophia said, crisply, aware of just how hard her heart was hammering. “You will have to excuse me. I am expected back.”

“I hardly recognized you!” Lady Brookridge exclaimed, ignoring her completely. “I did not know that it was the duke who had taken you in!”

Sophia’s hands grew clammy, as she held herself stiffly, desperate for this conversation to be over.

“It is good that I have found you, however,” Lady Brookridge continued, with a slight sigh. “Your brother has come to regret what happened, Sophia. I think he wishes you to return home.”

Suspicion lodged itself in Sophia’s mind.

“You can come back with us, of course,” Lady Brookridge continued, as though it was all settled. “We are here for the full ten days, and then we leave. Will you be ready by then?”

Sophia looked into her sister-in-law’s cold, calm face and drew in a long breath, calming her frantically beating heart.

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