Free My Dear Sophy by Kimberly Truesdale

have changed. Or was it only a put on to try and escape the trouble he was in?
    She put these thoughts aside for a moment while she also thanked the townspeople and sent them on their way back to the town, requesting that someone hurry to find her father. They shuffled off, talking to each other about the reunion and apology they had witnessed. Sophy watched them go, silently thanking them and yet again in her life sending up blessings for the wonderful people of their town who always cared for them as their own.
    When they had turned a corner out of sight, Sophy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steeling herself to deal with her willful brother and the as yet unanswered questions of where he had been and what he was doing with a horse.
    “ Frederick Wentworth, you cannot get off that easily ---” Sophy turned to address her brother. And promptly forgot what she had been about to say.
    Standing where her brother had formerly been was the most handsome man she had ever seen. And he seemed to be smiling broadly at her. Sophy blinked a few times, trying to clear her mind and resolve the picture in front of her. This was certainly not her brother.
    The first thing Sophy noticed of him was his height. He stood on a level with his horse. At least Sophy assumed that it was his horse. The man wore no hat and so she observed that he had dark brown hair tied back into a queue at his neck. It was a style not quite fashionable anymore, but it became him well. He had a square jaw and regular features. But his smile… Sophy caught her breath, dazzled and startled by its mischief and hints of intimacy, as if they were sharing a joke. She desperately wanted to know what that joke was, to share it with him. She couldn’t help but answer him with a smile of her own.
    Even as Sophy grinned at him, she noticed the starched collar of his shirt and the well-fitting blue naval coat bedecked with gold buttons that caught the late-morning sunlight. The coat covered a broad shoulders and a chest that didn’t narrow much as it reached his hips. His legs were solid underneath the white cloth of his uniform breeches. He would have been a frightening bulk of a man, actually, if it had not been for that smile that currently held her in thrall.
    It felt like hours that she’d stood there and looked him over. A blush crept slowly over her neck and face as she realized how boldly she was staring. It was unlike Sophy to act with so little thought for decency. In the excitement of the morning so far, a dashing naval officer who seemed to have befriended her brother and somehow convinced him to come home, this had certainly not been anywhere near the realm of possibilities. She could not stop smiling. And she still had not found any words to say. Luckily, her brother stepped in.
    “ Sophy, this is my new friend, Captain Conrad Croft of His Majesty’s Royal Navy.”
    “ Pleased to meet you,” the officer spoke in a rich baritone full of good humor that only extended the goodwill of his smile.
    “ Captain, this is my older sister Miss Sophia Wentworth.”
    * * *
    Sophia, Frederick called her. A regal name. Connie wanted to roll it around on his tongue like a delicious sweet. Sophia. Sophia. He repeated her name in his head. The name, he thought, meant wisdom. As this young scamp’s older sister, she probably had to be the wise one in the family. If young Frederick knew what was good for him, he’d listen to her.
    She was certainly a commanding woman. Connie had come upon the scene right as Miss Wentworth had begun her animated tirade. Connie had sped up at the sight of her, eager to find out who she was and why she was so delightfully haranguing the young man.
    As Connie approached, he closely observed her. Miss Wentworth was a woman of average height, but she had had no qualms about addressing her brother while he was still mounted on the horse and at least four feet taller than herself. She’d addressed him as if she’d been looking down at