“The chateau? Your grandmother was with you.” Jean Pierre replied, looking at his daughter to explain.
“Yes, she was. But one night there was a mistaken—”
“Yes?” Her father prompted her.
“I was sleeping and Sebastian came into the room.” There was no easy way to explain that night and she was mor
tified to have to do so in front of her father and Sebastian’s parents. But she had started this. She would finish it.
“My God! He forced himself on you!?” Jean Pierre spat out.
“Of course not!” Sebastian cried.
“Absolutely not!” Sophie responded. “He arrived very late one night. My room was a room he had stayed at several times before. He did not realize I had taken the room. He came to the room and fell asleep not realizing I was there.” Her cheeks were flushed red as she told the story.
“What happened then?” Her father asked.
“I woke to find him next to me.”
“Nothing happened?” Mohammed asked the question. The whole description was beyond belief. Could it be true? Had his son been in bed with the beautiful Sophie and not consummated the act? He doubted it.
“Well, there was—” Sophie whispered. This was harder than she had imagined. He had only wanted a mistress. He had never wanted to marry her. But she knew this was the only way.
“Yes?” Sebastian asked, waiting to see where this was leading.
“There was a moment when we were in the bed together alone.” She blushed.
Jean Pierre watched the two exchange words. No matter what she said, he knew his daughter was attracted to the foreigner. He had always known that Sophie would need a strong man to be her equal and not be afraid of her intelligence. Sebastian was such a man.
“As you have been compromised, Sophie, I believe the marriage should take place,” Jean Pierre told her.
She looked at the small group before her. Katharine had a puzzled look on her face while her husband’s face was closed. Her father was the opposite looking uncomfortable and Sebastian seemed bewildered and confused.
“A servant could have seen you leave my room that morning,” she argued to them, but mostly to Sebastian.
“No one saw anything and no one has said anything,” he countered logically.
He watched her face for several seconds and then said coldly, “Excuse us.”
He practically pulled Sophie out of the library and into the hall. When they came to the front salon he pulled her inside the empty room.
“What exactly is going on here?” Sebastian asked the moment the door closed behind them.
“I’m sorry, Sebastian. I didn’t mean for that to happen, exactly,” she pleaded with him.
“What are you trying to accomplish?” He eyed her.
She took a deep, shaky breath. “I lied to you before about the inspector. His visit to our home this morning frightened me more than I wanted to admit. I have been reckless and foolish.”
“I agree.”
She paced in front of him and eyed the door. “I don’t know if my father can keep me safe. But with your ties to the duke, I trust you. You are an honorable man.”
“And?” He probed.
“As your wife, I would be safe from the inspector.” There, she had said it. Marriage.
Sebastian watched the rise and fall of her breasts as she inhaled deeply in her distress. He knew already what she was thinking.