For a moment Charlotte didn’t understand her. Then she half shrieked with delight. Startled, Sarah began to wail, so Charlotte had to stop talking and jiggle her babe until she settled back at the breast.

Finally, Charlotte was able to look at Sophie. She threw her arm around Sophie’s shoulders, drawing her close.

“Now you’re my sister,” she said, her face alive with joy.

As an only child, Sophie had longed and longed for a sister … and now she had one. “Sister,” Sophie agreed softly.

Questions were bubbling up inside Charlotte like a wishing well hit by an early spring storm. “But how? And when? Where will you go on your wedding trip? Oh, and did you tell him about your languages? And what does your mother say about it?”

“Mother,” Sophie said wryly, “had approximately three fits of hysterics over my ingratitude yesterday, but today the affront has shifted to my future husband’s stubborn nature, given that Patrick thought to hold the ceremony one fortnight from today. Mama refused to contemplate a ceremony earlier than three months. In the end, it appears we will be married in six weeks. We are being married by his uncle, the Bishop of Winchester.” Sophie looked confused for a second. “Actually, I suppose you know that your uncle-in-law is a bishop.”

As Charlotte smiled, Sophie held her breath. Was Charlotte going to delve into the reason for their scandalously brief engagement? Was there ever such a thing?

She rushed back into speech. “Mama is frantically planning a grand wedding. My father did his best to dissuade her, but she is convinced that flamboyant display is the only way to save me from certain social ruin. All the maids are making horse blankets from pink taffeta. Mama wants the invitations delivered in proper style.”

Charlotte was drawing her own conclusions about Patrick’s demand for a hasty marriage. “My goodness, Sophie.” A smile lurked at the corners of her mouth. “When Henrietta Hindermaster broke her engagement to Baron Siskind, even she allowed three months to go by before she married her parents’ butler!”

Sophie felt an uncomfortable pink rise in her cheeks. She had adapted an exterior sheen of sophistication for so long that it was surprising to find how very much she minded making a scandal. Lord, her scanty dresses had been scandalous ever since she attended her first ball.

Charlotte smiled sympathetically. “Poor Sophie. I shouldn’t tease you. The only wonder is that Patrick didn’t climb up the balcony to your room and sweep you off to Gretna Green!”

As the color in Sophie’s cheeks deepened, Charlotte’s dark eyes widened. “Sophie! He didn’t!”

Crazily, Sophie was caught between an impulse to laugh and one to blush even harder. So she quickly rose and took a few steps back from Charlotte, brushing her curls behind her shoulders.