Without comment, she settled beside him so she could read the pages he pointed out to her.
“Start here,” he ordered upon opening the journal.
When she began to read, he reached in his pouch again and drew out an apple. “Would you care to share?”
“Thank you, no,” she said absently, her attention focused on the elegant script that had faded with age. “I had tea only an hour ago.”
“So did I, but my appetite wasn’t completely sated.”
She read in silence for a time and formed a historical picture far different than the story she’d been told, the one that had been passed down over three generations. When she was done, Jack summarized the details for her.
“When our ancestors fought over the same lady, yours had the misfortune to die while mine fled to America with the prize. But Philip Wilde never wanted to duel in the first place; he was forced into it. And he only took the lady with him because he feared for her life, after the Fortins tried to kill her in retaliation for Lord Harbage’s death.”
Sophie shut the journal, her mind racing ahead to what should be done with this new information. “I ought to show this to my father,” she murmured.
“He will wonder how you came by it,” Jack responded. “I should be the one to show it to him, for your own protection. You don’t want him knowing we are in league together.”
“I doubt he will even speak to you.”
“Then I will have to make him listen.”
She was wary of that idea, however. The thought of Lord Jack forcing her father to do anything made her shiver. “If you confront him, you could come to blows.”
“I promise we won’t.”
Sophie sent him an arch glance. “Your promise is hardly reassuring. I am not worried about you as much as him.” She bit her lower lip. “Perhaps I could talk to my mother first to sound her out. She could ask my father to read the journal.”
“Is she likely to convince him?”
“Well … no.”
“Then I will show it to him. I just need to get him alone. I suggest you help me create the opportunity when you arrange tomorrow’s outings for your house guests.”
Sophie was still dubious, however. She could usually persuade her father to her way of thinking, but in this instance she suspected she would fail on a grand scale, and so would anyone else, especially Lord Jack. Yet at least the journal’s revelations gave her a fresh glimmer of hope.
“I’ll see what I can arrange for tomorrow,” she finally said. “But I wouldn’t put too much faith in these new facts changing my father’s mind about your courtship of me.”
“I intend to try all the same. He needs to realize that a decades-old quarrel is no reason to refuse my suit.”
“The feud is not his only objection.”
“But it will be one less obstacle to overcome, and unless we end it, our love affair cannot progress.”
She smiled up at him. “There is no love affair, since we are not in love. It is nothing more than mere lust.”
“Then you admit you lust after me?”
Oh, yes indeed. Just being this close to him set her nerve-endings on fire. To her chagrin, it was more than a little thrilling, lying here in bed with him, garbed in her nightclothes, even though she was completely covered up. What did that say about the dullness of her life if she was so eager to welcome a forbidden visit by her secret lover—or that she was even thinking of him as her secret lover?
“Even if the feud ends, he will still want me to wed the duke,” Sophie added.
“Then you will have to stand up to him.”
Her own expression grew sober. “I have told you before.… I cannot shirk my obligations, as much as I might want to. It is up to me to restore our family fortunes.”
“There are other ways to restore your family fortunes.”
Sophie handed Lord Jack the journal as she retorted. “I don’t understand why you are so opposed to my marrying Dunmore. You aren’t even convinced you wish to court me yourself.”