A bitter laugh bubbled up before she could stop it. “Why not? My people would thank you for the service. Half of them don’t want a duke or duchess at all, and the other half don’t want me.”

“You don’t know that. Hell, they don’t even know that because they don’t know you. The bulk of them have never been given a chance to see who you really are. They never saw the woman you were in the pub last night when those lifeboats went out, and they’ve never met the person you were this morning, the one who refused to lie to them or hide from them even when you had every right to.”

“They want someone who wouldn’t have any occasion to hide or lie in the first place. They need someone who doesn’t—”

Sophia waved her off. “People rarely know what they need.”

Vic stared at her, searching those dark eyes and wondering if that comment was delivered in the abstract or if it had been meant to apply to one of them. While she didn’t pretend to know what Sophia wanted or needed, right now she was certain she both wanted and needed Sophia beside her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Sophia pleaded softly.

“Like what?”

“Like I matter.”

Vic squeezed her hand. “You matter to me.”

Sophia looked away. “You’ve got to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Being so perfect, so maddeningly good.”

She laughed.

“I’m serious.” Sophia rose, breaking all contact between them. “I’ve poked and prodded and scratched trying to find your dark side, and it’s just not there. I teased you and froze you out, revved you up and exhausted you. I endangered the life you’ve fought for, but even at your worst, you are fundamentally good.”

“I believe most people are. I’m sure you are.”

“I am not,” Sophia snapped. “In my heart I know I’ve done bad things, things that would make you cringe.”

“I’m sorry about how I reacted to your films.”

Sophia snorted. “The things I’ve done onscreen don’t even scratch the surface of the things I’ve done in my real life. The people I’ve walked away from. The deals I’ve made. The actions I’ve ignored or buried.”

“You did what you had to for your career, your dreams.”

“Exactly. Not the greater good, but for myself and my career. And those things have taken a toll on me and on my moral compass.” The anguish in Sophia’s voice stirred a similar emotion in Vic. “I didn’t even believe people like you still existed.”

“I can imagine how hard—”