“Sophie, it’s all right,” Ashley soothed, bending down to her level to look her in the eye. A drop of blood hit the rug they stood on and Sophia looked down at it. They’d come to blows. Over what? She came back upright and he straightened his body along with her.
“You told him I could be with child?” she asked in her most pleasant voice. It sounded a little choked because of all the laughter, and she wiped at her left eye with her knuckle.
“There’s no need to cry,” Ashley continued. “I’ll make this better.” She turned to Marcus. Good God, Marcus looked like a wounded man, and he wasn’t even the one was bleeding.
“You lied to me, Soph?” Marcus asked. He very slowly tested his grip by opening and closing his fingers.
“I didn’t lie,” she started, swiping at mirth that overran her other eye.
“There’s no need to cry, Sophie,” Ashley crooned.
Crying? He thought she was crying.
“Her name is Sophia. Miss Thorne to you. And she’s not crying, you idiot,” Marcus bit out. “She finds this extremely amusing.” His gaze moved to Ashley’s hand, which still drew light little circles on her back. It felt quite good, actually. “And I would suggest you stop touching my sister.” Marcus kept his sight on that hand, which slowed and then stopped. Ashley pulled it back as though it had something vile on it, then let it drop at his side.
“You think this is amusing?” Ashley asked.
Sophia drew her upper lip between her teeth for a moment to keep a loud burst of laughter from escaping. Then she said, “I find it supremely amusing that you think what we did could get me with child. I thought you were a man of the world. Lady Anne was not left under a yew hedge.”
Color crept up Ashley’s cheeks. He opened his mouth to speak. But no sound came out. He closed it. Then he opened it again. Still nothing.
“Exactly what did you do?” Marcus growled.
Sophia spun to face him. “Nothing that could get me with child, I assure you.” She rolled her eyes.
“Be more specific,” Marcus said from between gritted teeth.
Marcus would torture himself with this until she told him the truth. “He was playing music,” she muttered.
“Beg your pardon, I couldn’t hear you,” Marcus said, coaxing her with a hand that moved toward him. As though by sheer will alone, he could break her heart open and spill all her secrets. Not likely. “Soph,” he warned.
Like a dog with a bone, she thought. He would never let this drop.
“Music!” she yelled. Then she began to pace. “He was playing music. And you know how much I love music.”
“He mentioned that. The music is what drew you to his bedchamber?” Marcus asked.
Well, kind of. Ashley himself drew her like a moth to a flame. But the music was what woke her from a dead sleep, a sleep where she dreamed of His Grace doing wicked things to her. But Marcus didn’t need to know about that.
“It was very compelling music. More compelling than a
ny I’ve ever heard. When he stopped playing, I borrowed his robe and went back to my chambers.”
Marcus faced Ashley. “Is that the truth?”
Ashley probably hadn’t answered to anyone in a very long time. Sophia hoped he wouldn’t be too vexed about it. “Yes,” he finally bit out. “That’s what happened.”
“That’s why you were dancing in circles when you came back to your room? That’s why you looked giddy?”
A grin slid across Ashley’s lips. He swiped at it with the back of his hand, but it was still there. He leaned closer to her. “You were happy when you returned to your chambers?” he whispered, a devilish glint in his eye.
She bumped her shoulder into his as heat crept up her face. “Hush,” she said, a grin tugging at her own lips. “The point is that,” she turned to glare at Marcus, “I am not with child. Nor will I be.” She turned to Ashley and said, “Do you need a refresher on how babes are made? Because I assure you that nothing we did would cause it.”
“A refresher would be fabulous,” the duke said with a wide grin. Blast his hide. He was so easy to like.
“Assure my brother that nothing happened,” she coaxed. She should send Ashley’s grandmother to him for the education about where babies came from. That was what he deserved.
“Nothing happened,” Ashley muttered.