“Good afternoon, Jennette.”
She glanced up with a look of fury in her sapphire eyes. “You are here to see her?”
“Yes, why?”
“Good luck. She is positively mad. Perhaps her skills as a medium have addled her mind.” Jennette retrieved her bonnet from the footman and quickly tied the hat under her chin.
“What is this all about?” Nicholas asked softly in an attempt to calm Jennette.
“She actually thinks you are the father of the baby I carry.”
Nicholas tried not to laugh but failed miserably. “She thinks that you and I . . .”
“Yes.” Jennette walked toward the door. “Good day, Nicholas.”
He mumbled something but took the opportunity to run up the stairs as Hendricks opened the door for Jennette.
“My lord!” Hendricks called from the hall. “You cannot go up there unannounced.”
Nicholas heard Hendricks shout for some footmen but nothing would stop him from seeing Sophie today. He walked into the salon and halted. She stood in front of the window with tears streaming down her cheeks. He had never seen anyone look so forlorn in his life.
“Sophie?” he whispered.
She turned toward him with fire in her wet eyes. “Get out of here right now, Nicholas. You caused all this mess.”
Instead of doing as she requested, he slowly approached her. “Sophie, what have I done?”
“You have ruined everything!”
“I don’t understand,” he said softly. “What have I ruined and how?”
“Jennette’s marriage and my life,” she cried.
“What are you talking about?” He heard the hard footfalls of footmen running up the stairs. If he didn’t get her calmed soon, she would force him to leave.
“You had an affair with Jennette. She is carrying your baby.”
“What?” he shouted.
Two footmen raced into the room. “Would you like us to evict the man, ma’am?”
“Yes.” She stared at Nicholas. “You know what you have done. Now get out of my house and my life forever.”
“How could you think for one moment I would dishonor Jennette that way?” Nicholas attempted to shrug off the footmen’s hands on his arms to no avail. They started to drag him out of the room. “Don’t think for one moment that this is over, Sophie. I will be back.”
“Do not bother,” she said, furiously wiping tears off her cheeks. “I will not allow you entry into my home again.”
Once out of the salon, he yanked his arms out of the footmen’s grip and strode down the steps and out of her house. He stopped before entering his carriage, wondering how she could have come to this odd conclusion. There was one person who just might know.
“Sir?” his groomsman asked. “Would you prefer to return home?”
“No, Lord Blackburn’s home, if you please.”
“Yes, my lord.”
While the carriage rolled down the cobbled streets, he examined the situation from Sophie’s point of view. She knew he’d loved Jennette. But why would that cause Sophie to make such an obtuse supposition?
It made no sense to him.