Kane, Samantha - Brothers In Arms 4 (39 page)

Sophie laughed. Very looked much better now than she had when Sophie came out

to find her. She was getting her color back and her eyes were regaining their sparkle.

Sophie was glad—she didn’t like to see her friend so unhappy.

“Yes, yes, you are to make your bow at my ball, Very. Isn’t that wonderful?”

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Very wrinkled her nose. “I suppose so, but I shall be expected to dance with all those mythical suitors, I’m sure.” She gasped and looked at Sophie in awe. “Oh Sophie, you and Ian will probably be expected to dance a waltz together. How divine!”

Sophie’s eyes widened and she felt her earlier illness return over that thought.

“Very, you must help me,” she begged the quite recovered girl as she gripped her hands.

Very looked at her in concern. “Of course, Sophie, whatever you need. Tell me how I can help.”

Sophie bit her lip and then blurted out her secret. “I can’t dance.”

Very scoffed. “You can’t be that bad, Sophie. I myself tend to stumble a bit because I’m a little taller than most men are used to.”

Sophie looked at her measuringly. “But you can dance?”

Very looked affronted. “Of course I can dance! I may not be out in society yet, but we occasionally dance here at the house when we have guests, and as there’s usually a shortage of women, I have my pick of partners.”

Sophie took a deeply relieved breath. “Then you can teach me.”

Very’s eyes grew round as saucers. “You mean you don’t know how?” Sophie

shook her head.

Very grabbed her hand and dragged her down the steps of the folly and across the garden toward the house. “Come on, no time like the present. We’ve a drawing room full of available partners. You shall dance like a princess by the end of the day.”

Sophie tried to tug her arm free with a protest. “Very, no! Can we not do this

quietly, so no one knows? Please?”

Very snorted. “Absolutely not. The sooner we start, the better you shall be in three weeks time.” She spared a glance behind her. “Don’t worry, Sophie, no one here will make sport of you simply because you don’t know how to dance.” Very suddenly

snapped her fingers. “Of course! Derek. Derek dances divinely. I’m sure he won’t mind teaching you.”

Sophie was shaking her head frantically. “No, Very, not Derek. Anyone but Derek, please.”

Very furrowed her brows in irritation. “Is he still being unpleasant? I shall box his ears, Sophie, and make him behave.”

Sophie closed her eyes. “We are friends, are we not, Very?” she asked quietly and a little desperately. “Please do not make me dance with Derek.”

Very sounded exasperated. “Sophie, don’t be a ninny. Derek isn’t so bad.”

“I made love with Derek two nights ago, Very.” Sophie blurted out the confession, her eyes flying open in shock even as the words came from her mouth.

“What?” Very squealed loudly. “Oh my God, Sophie!” She pulled Sophie over to

the nearest bench and shoved her down. “How was it?” she asked with avid curiosity.

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Sophie blinked at her and couldn’t seem to stop the flow of words. “It was

wonderful, Very, incredible. And I think I may be in love with him.” She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from saying anything more.

“Very? Are you all right?” Wolf appeared on the path a few feet away, his

expression guarded as he watched the two women.

“Go away,” Very snapped at him. “We are having a private conversation.” Wolf

looked startled at her words, but immediately turned to comply. “And make sure no one else disturbs us, darling,” she called out blithely, and Wolf’s back stiffened before he turned to flash a smile at Very and then disappeared as he went back toward the house.

Very looked at Sophie with narrowed eyes. “You will tell me everything, Sophie.

Every little detail.” And Sophie pulled her hand away from her mouth and let

everything pour out of her.

“Well, is everything all right?” Derek asked Wolf impatiently when he stepped back onto the terrace.

Wolf grinned at him. “Girl talk.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with Very?”

Fortunately Wolf was used to his blunt ways and didn’t even bat an eye before

answering. They had both retreated to the terrace, tired of the speculative looks being cast their way by well-meaning friends. “Kensington’s gone again.”

“Bloody hell. I’m sorry, Wolf.” Inwardly Derek had a few more choice words for

Kensington’s desertion. Wolf just shrugged, but Derek had known him long enough to sense the pain behind his nonchalance.

“It’s not the first time, nor the last, I suspect. But it has hurt Very.”

“It’s hard to love someone who doesn’t want you to.” Derek turned to see that

Freddy had stepped out on the terrace in time to hear their conversation. Derek knew he was talking about Brett. Freddy’s devotion to the taciturn older man was well-known, and they had all spent endless hours speculating on why Brett denied Freddy when he so obviously cared for him.

Derek sighed. He was not without his own problems in that area, so he didn’t feel qualified to offer advice. Without thinking he spoke aloud. “It’s hard to let people love you.”

Freddy gave him a measuring look. “Yes, but it’s their choice, isn’t it? You can’t make it for them.”

Derek looked away. He really didn’t want Freddy crawling around inside his head, trying to find out what made him tick. He didn’t like crawling around inside his own head, thank you very much.

“How are you and Sophie getting along?” Freddy asked casually, and Derek

winced.

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“Fine,” he ground out without looking back at Freddy.

“Just fine,” Ian agreed jovially from behind him, and Derek spun around.

“Bloody hell, is anyone else going to creep out here and eavesdrop on my

conversations?” He glared at the other three men on the terrace.

Wolf just raised his eyebrow and smiled politely. “I was here first.”

Ian laughed. “It’s not as if I’m skulking about in dark corridors, Derek. I walked out an open door onto an equally open terrace in broad daylight. Very stealthy of me, to be sure.” Ian spoke dramatically and waggled his eyebrows and Freddy and Wolf laughed, which irrationally pissed Derek off more.

“Derek and Sophie are getting on extremely well these days, wouldn’t you say,

Derek?” Ian continued conversationally.

“Ian,” Derek warned with a growl.

Brett limped casually out the door onto the terrace. “Oh, are we talking about

Sophie? I quite like her.”

“Fuck,” Derek said flatly. He knew Freddy and Brett together were nearly

impossible to shake off once they got their teeth into something. It seemed that today he was the bone.

Ian laughed again, having a marvelous time it seemed to Derek. “Oh, Derek likes her just fine now too, don’t you, Derek?”

“Ian, don’t make me silence you,” Derek said menacingly.

Ian was all innocence. “What? I can’t tell our friends how much you like my wife?”

“Why are you doing this?” Derek was torn between anger and exasperation. What

was Ian doing? Why was he pushing Derek like this?

“Doing what? Talking about how well you and Sophie get on? It’s the truth, isn’t it?

You talk to her and about her endlessly. You watch her when she’s in the garden. You almost let her win at chess. You bought her a puppy. You let her comfort you. You were ready to pummel Jason because she was upset. Don’t you like her, Derek?”

Derek grabbed Ian’s arm and roughly pushed him back against the brick wall. He

stepped forward, close enough to growl into Ian’s ear. “Why are you doing this?” he repeated.

“Is there a problem?” Tony asked slowly from the open door behind Derek. Derek

turned to regard him for a moment, but before he could answer, Ian spoke.

“Is there a problem, Derek?” His tone was mocking, and Derek had had all he could take. He pushed away from Ian in disgust.

“I don’t know, Ian. You’re the one who all but told our friends here that I slept with your wife. Is there a problem?”

Tony quickly closed the door behind him against the curious stares they were

receiving. “Keep your voices down.” Tony was glowering. “Sophie deserves better than to be talked about as if she were a common tavern wench.”

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Ian looked at Derek and sadly shook his head, all his earlier bonhomie gone. “I’m trying to tell you that there aren’t any problems, Derek, except the ones in your head.”

He took a step toward Derek and Derek retreated. Ian frowned and followed. Derek stood his ground and Ian wrapped a hand around the back of his head and pulled him down until their foreheads were touching. “Damn it, Derek, why can’t you admit

you’re in love with her? Why?”

“I am not in love with her, Ian. You just wish I were.” Even as he said it, he knew it for the lie it was. By the look on everyone’s faces they knew it too.

“Ian?” Sophie’s voice came from the bottom of the stairs that led to the garden.

Derek spun around, horrified that she may have heard their argument. Sophie saw the look on his face and she raised her skirt to rush up the stairs. “Derek? Are you all right?

Is something wrong?”

Derek and Ian stood frozen, but all the other men on the terrace stepped forward at once to reassure her.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong,” Tony told her as he met her at the top of the steps and tucked her hand into the crook of his arm.

Tony gave Derek a look that commanded without words, and Derek smiled

crookedly at Sophie. “No, nothing’s wrong. I was just being my usual disagreeable self.”

Sophie grinned back in disbelief. “You’re admitting you’re disagreeable? Now I

know something’s wrong.”

Derek heard Ian snort in amusement behind him. “Well, if you are all done

amusing yourselves at my expense…” Derek drawled as he made a movement toward

the doors to the drawing room. He needed to get away from Sophie before he gave up and gave in to the desire to snatch her hand away from Tony and press it to his side.

Ian laughed. After years of sharing Ian’s every mood, Derek was able to hear the unhappiness hidden in that laugh. “No, nothing’s wrong except the usual.” Derek saw immediately that Sophie recognized Ian’s mood too, but as she started to say

something, she was interrupted by Very.

Very was climbing the stairs much slower than Sophie. “There certainly is

something wrong,” she announced dramatically as she reached the top of the stairs.

“Sophie cannot dance.”

“Very!” Sophie cried, spinning around to confront her. “I thought you weren’t

going to say anything!”

“Well, I certainly never promised that,” Very said smugly. “And even if I did, why ever would you believe me?” She marched over to Derek and pointed a finger at his chest. “You are going to teach her.”

“Sophie darling, why didn’t you say anything?” Ian asked. He stepped up to

Derek’s side. “Is that why you’ve been so upset about the ball?”

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Sophie nodded miserably. Derek had been about to refuse Very’s command, but at

the distress on Sophie’s face he just couldn’t do it. He grabbed Sophie’s hand. “I’ll be damned if you’re going to embarrass us in front the entire
ton
. If they’re going to talk about us behind our backs, it won’t be because of your dancing.” He started to drag her inside. “Where can we go?” he called over his shoulder as he threw open the doors. He marched inside the drawing room.

“Derek,” Ian said menacingly from behind him.

“Don’t worry, Ian, it’s only dancing. I promise to be sweet and patient. By the end of the day she’ll dance, or my name isn’t Derek Knightly.” He tried to be amusing, but he could hear the desperation in his voice.

Sophie sputtered behind him, trying to tug her hand free. “Clearly you are not

Derek Knightly because he doesn’t know how to be sweet and patient. Oh!” she cried out as she slammed into Derek’s back when he stopped abruptly.

“We need music.” Derek didn’t know why he was so determined to teach Sophie to

dance. His heart was still pounding from the scene with Ian, and his fear that Sophie may have heard what he said. Buried deep inside, where he refused to examine it, was the awareness of the lie he’d told. He kept layering them one on top of the other, lie upon lie, as if he could pile enough of them on top of the truth until they smothered it.

“Music for what?” Kate asked with wide eyes as she watched the grim procession

troop in from the terrace.

“Derek is going to teach Sophie how to dance,” Very informed the room in general.

“Come along. The piano is in the library. Who’s going to accompany the dancing? You know I frighten birds and small animals with my playing. And I want to dance. So who’s going to play?” She blithely blew through the room past Derek and Sophie as if she expected everyone to follow her, and they did.

“I shall play,” Ian said solemnly. Derek jerked to a stop and looked at him. Ian smiled at him tenderly. “He is teaching my wife to dance, after all. It’s the least I can do.”

Derek’s heart seemed to stop for a minute, and then resumed at twice its normal rate, making him struggle for breath. Did Ian know what he was doing to him? Did he know what he was offering? The idea was tempting, to be loved by Ian and Sophie, to love them, to lie with them—to live a dream. But dreams weren’t reality. He blinked to clear his vision. The reality was that loving people was a gamble. When they died they took a little of you with them. Some took more than others. He was already at risk, loving Ian. He wouldn’t gamble with his heart again. He didn’t have that many pieces left to lose.

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Sophie stood breathlessly next to Derek in the library while some footmen cleared the furniture out of the way and Ian chose some music from the sheets Very brought him. Derek was as still as a statue next to her, refusing to look at her and clutching her hand so tightly it hurt. She was confused and frightened. What was wrong with Derek?