“First you have to swear you will never again do anything so disgraceful to me. If you dare try, I will … I don’t know what I will do, but it will not be pleasant for you.”
“Very well, I swear.”
“And no more deceptions. No more lies between us.”
“Agreed.”
She didn’t seem entirely mollified, judging by the piercing look she sent him. “You behaved like a total heathen, flouting every rule of civilized behavior. You’re enough to drive a saint mad.”
A slow grin breaking over his mouth, he reached for the bread and jam. “Fortunately you’re no saint. You might have been a fortnight ago, but I am finally influencing you to relax your inhibitions.”
Sophie gave a ladylike snort. “Just so you know, I don’t believe we have any chance for a romantic alliance. But I won’t be the one to keep you from facing your father. You need to try to put the past behind you.”
Jack frowned, realizing she was challenging him to confront his darkest issues.
“You cannot make this choice about me,” she added earnestly. “You have to decide about accepting your inheritance and becoming a prince on its own merits.”
Jack sidestepped her argument. “Then you will come?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes, I will.”
Elation made Jack abruptly stand and lean across the table. Catching her off guard, he kissed Sophie fully on the mouth.
As his kiss softened and lingered, she responded with a faint moan and raised her hands to his face, then pulled back after a long moment.
“It isn’t fair, what you do to me,” she muttered. “And that is another condition, by the way. There can be no more carnal play between us, and certainly no carnal relations.”
“As you wish, love.”
The suspicious look she gave him suggested she didn’t trust him at all.
“I promise to be on my best behavior,” Jack insisted.
Her second snort was a bit lighter. “I don’t expect any great reformation. Once a black sheep, always a black sheep. I suppose you can’t help yourself.”
“No, it’s in my blood.”
“Regardless, I intend to keep your knife for the time being,” Sophie announced.
“The blade is quite sharp. Don’t cut yourself with it,” he teased.
When she flashed a wry smile at him, the warmth reached down deep inside him. He was willing to give Sophie a hundred knives to use on him, Jack decided, if it meant she would offer him one of those radiant smiles.
They departed the inn directly after breakfast, and in a short while, Jack fished under the carriage seat for the small leatherbound volume he’d brought for Sophie.
“Shakespeare’s Sonnets?” she asked, perusing the title and first few pages.
“You said you enjoyed poetry,?
?? Jack explained. “I thought reading might help you to pass the time and make your abduction more appealing.”
He saw Sophie quell a spurt of laughter. “I am touched by your thoughtfulness,” she returned dryly.
“I also wanted to show you I can be as romantic as Dunmore in my wooing of you.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “I don’t want sonnets from you, Jack. I would much rather you tell me about your father’s country and what to expect when we arrive.”
With an inward grimace, Jack turned his attention to the subject he tended to avoid at all costs.