The moment Klaus walked into the room, Lady Melfield turned on him. “My sister is so upset she won’t even leave her bed. Why do I think you have something to do with this?”
Klaus’s mouth dropped open, but he snapped it shut again, his own anger rising. “I assure you, my lady, this is something she brought entirely on herself.”
“What happened?” she ground out, glaring at him.
Klaus strode over to the windows and stared out into the snow-covered garden, trying to regain control of himself. Finally, he turned back around to face the lady, saying as calmly as he could, “After forcing me to chase her around the ballroom the entire night, I finally managed to speak with Sophia in private. I asked her to marry me. She said no and then walked away. If she is upset, I assure you it is not because of anything I did. All I said to her was that I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.” He crossed his arms over his chest as if daring her to say that he’d done anything wrong.
Instead, her eyes went wide and then narrowed in thought. “You told her that you love her? I assume you were speaking the truth?”
“Of course!”
She nodded and began to pace back and forth across the center of the room. “Then what has her so upset?” she said quietly, more to herself than him. He assumed she wasn’t actually speaking to him and so didn’t answer. “Why would she be unhappy that you love her?” She paused in her pacing. “You didn’t say anything else to her?”
“I explained why I hadn’t spoken up when you and my father objected to our engagement after we returned from the cabin.” He shrugged helplessly.
“Why was that?”
“Because, at that time, I was still confined to my father’s estate. I couldn’t, in clear conscience, marry Sophia and force her to be confined as well,” he admitted.
She nodded. “That makes sense. It wouldn’t have been fair to her. But the Prince has lifted his edict and now you’re free to go where you please and therefore to marry Sophia,” she said, understanding. She must have heard of his new position with the Prince. It didn’t surprise him.
She resumed her pacing for only a moment before asking him, “And she agreed readily to your proposal the first time when you were in the cabin? She didn’t feel pressured at that point to accept you because of her reputation?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking that perhaps she had. Perhaps she didn’t actually want to marry me. But then why did she become so upset when you objected, and I didn’t speak up? I assure you, Lady Melfield, I’ve been going round and round every possible argument since she walked away from me last night.” Goodness, he wished he didn’t sound so much like a hurt puppy.
Lady Melfield looked at him with pity in her eyes. It didn’t help. “Of course. I am sorry. I only wish I knew what was going through my sister’s head.”
“Is there a reason why she would not want to marry me? I mean aside from the fact that she doesn’t love me?” Klaus asked. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished them back. He wasn’t at all certain he wanted to know the answer.
But Lady Melfield just shook her head. “Not unless she thinks it would hurt me. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“How would it hurt you?” he asked, confused.
“Well, after the events of two years ago…”
“But—”
“I understand why you did what you did, and I have forgiven you for it,” she said, forestalling him with a raised hand. “But Sophia hadn’t.”
“No, I know. That was one thing we spoke of at length when we were in that cabin.”
Lady Melfield nodded. “So, is it possible that she thinks I still harbor hard feelings toward you? Is it possible she is refusing you out of an effort to spare me pain?”
“It does sound as if it’s something she would do,” he admitted, as he thought about it. “She is very sweet and thoughtful in that way.”
Lady Melfield nodded. “Very empathetic.” She sighed and turned to him. “Well, if that’s the case, I know precisely what you need to do.” She gave him a little smile.
He just narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you certain it isn’t something you need to do? Shouldn’t it be you reassuring her that you approve of this marriage—assuming you do?”
“I’ll make sure she knows I approve, but it is you who needs to go and speak with her.”
“We could both go,” he suggested. He didn’t know if Sophia would believe him or just think he was putting words in her sister’s mouth to get what he wanted.
“We could,” she agreed. “But I have faith you’ll be able to handle this on your own. If you truly love my sister…”
She paused meaningfully, so he immediately jumped in. “I do!”
“Good, then you must go and tell her so—in no uncertain terms that you do and that I approve of your suit.”
Sophia hadn’t even bothered to get up that day. She could hardly bear to face a day without Klaus, without Lou. Alone, as she would be for the rest of her life. Well, she supposed she could become the beloved, indulgent auntie who was always there. She would be a cross between aunt and nanny. What else could she do?
By midmorning, she was sitting in the window seat staring out at the snow-laden little garden behind the house when there was a soft knock on her door. Her maid came in. “I beg your pardon, Miss North, but there is a gentleman here to see you.”
Sophia turned around. “A gentleman?”
The maid handed her a visiting card. “Klaus, Graf Adenheim” was scratched out and “Lord Klaus Kottenfurst” handwritten onto the card. She gave a bitter little laugh. He hadn’t even had new cards printed up after he’d lost his title. She supposed he figured it wasn’t worth it since he couldn’t actually visit anyone.
“I put him in the formal drawing room. Can I assist you to dress?”
“No. Tell him… tell him I am unwell and unable to speak with him. Give my regrets.” She turned back to continue staring out the window while the maid went off to deliver her message.
Ten minutes hadn’t even passed before she heard the door open again. “Unwell or sulking?” said Klaus’s voice from behind her.
She spun around. “Klaus! I am not dressed. You cannot simply barge into my bedchamber like that.”
He stood there just inside the door with his hands on his hips. “Apparently, I can. I thought I would be polite about this and even sent up my card, but you have forced me to take stronger measures.”
He strode forward until he was standing directly in front of her. “Your sister sends her regards and has asked me to bring you back to Everston.”
“No, she hasn’t! If she’d wanted me there, she would have insisted I return with her yesterday.”
“She sent her maid to assist you to dress and with any packing you might have,” he continued as if she hadn’t said anything.
“She, she sent her maid?” Sophia looked behind Klaus and found Watson standing there looking displeased, but then she always did so.
“I do not approve of gentlemen in the bedchambers of young ladies,” the lady’s maid said succinctly. “My lord, now that you have informed Miss North of your presence more forcefully, please leave so that she may dress and meet with you in a proper manner.”
He glanced behind him and nodded. “I shall see you in the drawing room in a quarter of an hour,” he informed Sophia. He turned and left.
“The nerve!” Sophia breathed.
“I cannot approve of such behavior, Miss North, but there was no stopping him when Mary came down with that message,” the woman said, turning to Sophia’s wardrobe and beginning to pull out clothing for Sophia to wear.
“I can’t say I approve either, but he is certainly persistent, isn’t he?” Sophia agreed. She allowed the woman to help her dress and was in the drawing room a mere twenty minutes later.