Free The Secret Lover by Julia London Page A

between standing and sitting, eyeing her warily. "Are you quite certain?"
    "I thought to ring for tea," she said, feeling the rush of blood to her cheeks.
She could not do this
. No one was more incompetent at this sort of thing than she; she always had been. "Please, sit," she urged him.
    He cautiously took his seat. "Thank you for receiving me without notice, Lady Sophie. I won't keep you."
    "Oh, think nothing of it." She clasped her hands in her lap, noticed her knuckles were white with the exertion of it.
Get on with it, then. Say it,
say it, say
—
    "I'm not usually so impulsive, but I confess, I have thought a lot about that tea we agreed to, and I've come to the conclusion that perhaps something a bit more enduring is in order. After all, Madame Fortier has said that you traveled extensively and to locales that are not often on the grand tour, so to speak."
    This was certainly
not
what she expected to hear—
what
tea? She had never agreed to any tea! Just what did Honorine think she was doing!?
    "I was hoping that you would agree to be my guest at supper, Wednesday next," he continued. When she did not immediately answer, he cocked his head to one side and patiently awaited her answer.
    "Supper?" Was it her imagination, or had she shouted the word?
    "If it pleases you."
    "I… well, I—"
    "My father would like it very much."
    His
father
? All right, no man of his stature in the
ton
would want to associate with a woman who had eloped and then divorced her husband!
    This was some sort of trickery—
    "Unless, of course, you are previously engaged, in which case I would be happy to offer the supper at a time when it might be more convenient for you to attend."
    Sophie swallowed, unable to move.
    "Are you previously engaged, then?"
    "No. No, I am not previously engaged…" What was she
saying
? She could not sup at the home of Mr. Hamilton!
    "Splendid! Then shall we say eight o'clock?"
    "Mr. Hamilton, I—"
    "Naturally, the invitation extends to Madame Fortier."
    "That is very kind, but I hope you—"
    "I am very pleased you will come. Well then, I shan't keep you from your book a moment longer. Thank you, Lady Sophie. I look forward to our evening with great anticipation." He stood, shoved his hands into his pocket, and was already walking to the door before her mind could comprehend that she had, somehow, accepted his invitation. Her mind was spinning now, thinking furiously how to call him back when he paused at the door and turned toward her, smiling.
    "I had in mind a rather intimate gathering. Not more than a dozen, I assure you." Sophie gripped the arms of the chair to keep from slipping out of it in sheer mortification. The suggestion of meeting a room full of the
haut ton
was enough to make her ill—astounded, petrified, and completely discomfited, she frantically sought to put an end to this ridiculous situation. "Mr. Hamilton, I truly appreciate your offer, but I—"
    "It is my pleasure. Thank you again, Lady Sophie. Until Wednesday next," he said cheerfully, and walked out of the room.

Chapter Five
    Honorine was no help at all.
    The woman was ecstatic when Sophie told her about Trevor Hamilton's call, observing first that Sophie would need to quickly replace all her undergarments, which Honorine considered too plain—"the frilly little things, the men, they enjoy them"—then secondly that her little peanut of a heart might at last fill up with
amour
.
    And she topped it all off by proclaiming that the supper party was a grand opportunity for Will Hamilton to continue to court
her
.
    When Sophie offered her own, less enthusiastic opinion about the supper, Honorine waxed romantically about her Will, then promptly quit the room, humming an old French love ballad to drown out any protest from Sophie.
    It was enough to make a person positively deranged.
    Frankly, Sophie had never seen Honorine quite so enamored of a man before. She could only attribute it to being several weeks in London now without dozens of