Read Online Dear Stranger by Suzanna Medeiros - Free Book Online

that they were rumoured to be lovers.
    She saw no point in hiding after that and agreed to go out the following night. The Season was coming to a close and soon everyone would be leaving town for their country estates. Mr Stanley made a great show of welcoming her when they arrived at the ball, and she knew he was staking his claim. She smiled at him and allowed him to monopolise her time. Her aunt may have won their current battle of wills, but Sophie had not yet ceded the war. She’d agreed to marry Mr Stanley and there would be an announcement soon, but she would use whatever wiles she possessed on him to postpone the marriage until after she had come into her inheritance. When that time came, she’d be able to break the engagement without worrying about losing her aunt’s charity.
    She was returning from the ladies’ retiring room when she heard the whispers.
    “Her behaviour is scandalous. And his is no better.”
    Curious, she looked across the room to see who had so outraged the two matrons. Her heart almost stopped when she saw Richard smiling down at another woman. Lady Wentworth, no doubt. She was older than Sophie, but with age came sexual confidence. Sophie could see it in the way the woman leaned a little too close, giving Richard an unobstructed view of her breasts in her very low-cut bodice. Her hand stroked along his arm. When he laughed at something she said, Sophie thought she was going to be sick.
    Instead of heading back to where her aunt and Mr Stanley waited, she changed direction and slipped out into the garden. With the end of spring, the ballroom was almost insufferably hot and there were a few other couples outside hoping to catch the hint of a breeze. Sophie ignored them and moved farther into the garden, where she would be alone. She wished more than anything that she had stayed home. Seeing Richard with another woman hurt too much.
    “Sophie.”
    She thought she’d imagined hearing her name. She turned and was surprised to see Richard standing a few feet away from her. She looked behind him and he smiled.
    “I’m alone,” he said, adding, “I came to see you.”
    She remembered that she had said those same words to him, when she’d followed him out into the gardens at the masquerade, thinking he was his brother.
    “Won’t Lady Wentworth miss you?”
    He smiled at the peevishness she hadn’t been able to keep from her tone, and she cursed herself for letting him see she cared.
    “Tell me you’re not actually going to marry Stanley.”
    “I’ve accepted his proposal,” she said. It wasn’t a lie.
    He crossed the space that separated them and took her hands in his. She looked down at their joined hands, his larger ones holding hers lightly, and thought back to all those times when he had done the same. Her breath hitched.
    “Tell me the truth,” he said.
    And she did. She told him about how her aunt had discovered their relationship and how she’d had no choice but to give him up.
    “I didn’t want to, Richard, but I can’t do it. I can’t become your mistress and have everyone scorn me. And when you tire of me I will be completely alone.”
    She thought for a moment that her words had caused him pain, but that couldn’t be. She was imagining it.
    “You have so little faith in me?”
    “I’m a realist, Richard.”
    He gave a small bark of laughter.
    She sighed. “Fine, we both know I’m a romantic. With how I was raised, seeing how much my parents loved each other, I can hardly help it. But I know you’d only marry me if you were forced to do so and I don’t want that.”
    He shook her slightly at that. “You’re a fool, Sophie.”
    There was something in his gaze that made her heartbeat speed up.
    “I am?”
    “Yes. And you’re not marrying Stanley.”
    She hesitated only a moment before replying. “You’re right. How could I possibly have considered such a thing?”
    He smiled again and pulled her closer.
    “Someone might see us, Richard. You know what