“There will be a scandal anyway,” he offered. “Why not be married and on our wedding trip before the ton grasps that you have broken your engagement to Braddon?”

Sophie thought this over. “I shall have to send a message to the Earl of Slaslow.”

Patrick grinned. “It’s generally considered de rigueur to inform your betrothed when you are planning to marry another man. But in this case you needn’t if you don’t want to. I told him myself last night.”

“Last night!” Sophie’s eyes flew to Patrick’s. “Did you tell him everything?”

Patrick’s eyes had a cutting edge. “No, I did not tell him everything. I simply explained that you had decided to marry me instead.”

Sophie was unpleasantly shaken by the sudden chill in the air. “I’m sorry,” she said humbly. “I didn’t mean to imply that you boasted. What did he say?”

Patrick met her strained look and his eyes grew even colder. Could it be that Sophie was sorry not to be marrying Braddon? Could Braddon be right in his ranting and raving about how Sophie adored him?

“He was naturally dismayed that you no longer chose to marry him,” Patrick said carefully.

“The devil of it is, Sophie, that we can’t do a thing about it now.” Suddenly he swung about and picked her up effortlessly from the sofa. “You’re mine, Sophie. I can’t give you back to Braddon. Things will never be the same as they were.”

Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. She was exhausted from lack of sleep and confused by the turn in the conversation. When Patrick swore softly and pulled her into his arms again she raised her mouth for consolation, trying to pretend that the whole conversation had never happened.

“Kiss me, Patrick, please,” she breathed against his lips.

With a small moan, Patrick complied. He managed to back her up against a chair and her body was responding to his rhythmical touch in a way that suggested mindless pleasure. For a moment Patrick took objective stock of the small whimpers coming from Sophie’s lips, the way in which her arms were holding him close with all her strength. Whatever unrequited love she might feel for Braddon didn’t really matter. Patrick had been on the receiving end of quite a few whispered vows of love, and in his view it was only a matter of time before Sophie felt the same thing for him, given the passion that flared between them now. Women seemed to feel it necessary to explain physical pleasure by babbling about love—and Sophie and he were likely to share that pleasure in abundance.