One Night Scandal

“I am assuming she has no idea that you are good friends with Jennette,” Nicholas said, trailing behind her.

“I should think that was apparent.” She stopped at the threshold and giggled. “I do wonder how she will react when she sees me there tomorrow night.”

Nicholas chuckled. “I would so like to watch.”

“Come along, Nicholas.” Sophie took her seat and placed her hands face up on the table. Ignoring the shock of awareness that skipped up her arms when he placed his hands on hers, she said, “Now I need you to really concentrate on love. Don’t think about anything else.”

She waited until Nicholas closed his eyes before she did the same. There was the normal sense of dizziness but once more, she saw nothing for him. She had never felt so ineffectual in her life. It was as if there was a dark unmovable wall blocking access to his thoughts. There had to be a reason she could not see a woman for him.

Unless she could not read him at all. But that made no sense. She had read his thoughts when they were intimate. So why couldn’t she see his true love? Why did she see nothing with him as she’d seen with Lady Cantwell?

“Nicholas, do me a favor and think about your daughter.”

“Why?”

“I am just testing a theor

y.”

“Very well.”

The moment he started to think about Emma, images flooded Sophie’s mind. “Does she have light brown hair?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“And your beautiful brown eyes.”

“Yes,” he answered slowly with a hint of amusement.

“She is beautiful, Nicholas.” Sophie had seen her from a distance that day at Gunter’s but the image she had in her head was of a very pretty young girl.

“Yes, she is. But what does this have to do with my true love?”

Sophie opened her eyes to see him staring at her with his amber eyes. She pressed her lips together trying to develop a reason she could not see a woman for him.

“You didn’t see anyone again, did you?” he asked softly.

“I’m sorry, Nicholas. I just do not understand it.”

“It seems obvious to me.” He stood and walked to the window that faced the small courtyard. “There is no woman who will ever love me.”

Her heart went out to him. “We do not know that for certain.”

“Yes, I do,” he said, staring out the window. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this. There hasn’t been a single woman who loved me.”

“I would bet your mother did,” she whispered.

“Well, I don’t remember her.”

“Nicholas, come sit down and talk with me.” Sophie looked at the two chairs near the fireplace and opted for the one they hadn’t made love in.

He grimaced as he noticed the chair she’d left for him. “What do you want to talk about, Sophie?”

“You. I believe if you tell me more about yourself then I might be able to get through whatever pain your mind is holding on to.”

“What pain?”

“It is perfectly obvious that you do not feel any woman has ever loved you. Because of that, it may be difficult to read you. So the question is why do you feel no woman has ever loved you?”