Margaret just shook her head. But then she sobered and looked at Sophia with all seriousness. “Be careful, miss,” she said.
Sophia started down the corridor toward the common rooms downstairs. Her grandmother would still be in bed, since she’d spent most of the evening gambling with the dowager duchess. But if she hurried, Sophia might be able to catch Lady Anne once her father left. She felt a bit like a thief lingering in the shadows as she waited for some sign that the duke had left the area.
The clearing of a throat caught her attention. “If you’d like lessons on how to lurk about without being seen, I’ll see if my brother is available,” the voice said. Sophia spun to face it, only to find a tall man with sandy hair, who looked remarkably like the duke but much lighter complexioned. His brother, if she had to wager.
Sophia patted the hair over her ears, ensuring the tips were still hidden. This man would notice, otherwise. “I won an award once for lurking. I’m just a little out of practice.”
His amber gaze walked lazily up and down her body, which made her feel decidedly uncomfortable. She shifted her stance. “You look like you might be good at subterfuge,” he acknowledged, his voice full of skepticism. People usually liked her. From the start. They never doubted her motives.
“Perhaps there’s a future for me in professional lurking. It seems to be working for you.” She arched a playful brow at him. It probably would be best if the duke’s brother liked her, at least a little.
“I took you for a professional. But a professional what is the question.” He let his voice trail off.
Sophia squared her shoulders, fully prepared to give him a piece of her mind. Things happened when she got angry. And they weren’t always good things. In fact, they rarely were.
“You don’t like me, do you?” he asked as he leaned casually against a doorjamb.
“I wouldn’t say that.” She could easily loathe him, particularly if he stood between her and completing her mission.
“Shall I go ahead and point out the elephant in the room? Or shall we continue to dance around him and pretend he’s not here?”
“You needn’t compare me to an elephant, my lord. An ode to my beauty would please me so much more.” She smiled broadly at his taken-aback expression.
“Score one for Miss Thorne,” he said with a low whistle.
She made a big circle with her thumb and forefinger. “Score zero for the duke’s… brother?” she hesitated and then asked. She held out her hand to him. Perhaps she should make more of an effort. “Sophia Thorne, my lord.”
He didn’t bother to give her his name as he took her hand and bowed over it.
“I would say it has been nice to meet you,” Sophia began. And she couldn’t stop herself. “But I’d be lying.” Goodness, that was probably the wrong thing to say.
“Practice makes perfect, Miss Thorne?” he asked.
“Practice makes proficient,” she corrected. “Yet I didn’t carry that one off very well, did I?”
“No, you quite adequately let me know how you feel about me.”
“As did you,” she replied. “Though I’ve no idea why you disliked me at first sight.”
“It’s not that I don’t like you. It’s that I don’t trust you.”
“Are you so distrustful of everyone you meet? Or just ladies?”
“Is that what you are, Miss Thorne? A lady?”
“I do try,” she replied drily.
He leaned toward her as though to tell her a conspirator’s secret. “I do not allow anyone to hurt him, Miss Thorne. So, if your intentions with my brother are not honorable, I’d suggest you stop them now.”
Sophia whispered dramatically back at him. “And what if he likes my dishonorable intentions? Shall we have him tell me that he doesn’t appreciate them?” She pointed toward the breakfast room where she knew he was behind the closed door. “We can ask him if he likes my attention or your protectiveness more.” She took a step toward the door. “Are you coming?” She turned back to look at him. “Or are you afraid of what he’ll say?”
When he didn’t answer, she continued, fully irate and worried that her face was flushed scarlet. But she didn’t truly care. Real ladies didn’t get angry, did they? Good grief, she was messing this all up. She rubbed at her forehead.
“I will find out all about you, Miss Thorne. I’m very good at it.”
He would only find out her past if he could find the land of the fae, and that was blasted near impossible. Even she couldn’t find the portal without her dust. Much less get past the fish.
“Good luck with that, my lord,” she said and she inserted herself directly into the room where the duke dined alone with his daughter. His footmen moved to block her path, but she paid them no heed.