“My love,” Sophie walks to him and holds his arm with a smile. “I have been looking for you.”
Why is she still here? He expected her to be on her way by now. “Why are you still here?” Oliver asks.
“You don’t expect me to leave without talking to you,” Sophie says with charming smiles.
“We already did. Moreover, there is nothing here to discuss.”
“There is always something to talk about, and we will do that over a meal. Come, let’s have breakfast together.”
She drags him by the arm to the dining area.
Still, in her chamber, Amelia wonders how Oliver is doing. Since leaving in anger yesterday in after seeing Sophie, he had locked himself up in his room. She had checked up on him yesterday evening and early this morning, but the door was locked within. Has he been drinking himself to a stupor inside his chambers, even on an empty stomach?
She vividly remembered that he didn’t eat anything for dinner, and the maids reported that he refused to open the door for them to bring in his food. Is this how much damage seeing Sophie brings to him? Amelia might not know much about their relationship, but she can tell that Oliver honestly had genuine feelings for Sophie. Judging from her journey she made in regards to his father, he is the type of man who loves with all his life and heart. And won’t mind standing at risk with a woman who he claims he loves.
Amelia saw the sadness in his eyes and voice when he spoke to Sophie, and it hurts her to see that Sophie, of all people, is the one that brings him this pain. She walks out of her chamber again to Oliver’s, hoping he will open the door this time. However, on getting there and swinging the door open, Amelia notices that the door is unlocked. She walks into the chamber and calls out his name, but there is no response. Amelia then walks to the bathroom, thinking he might be having his bath, but he isn’t there.
Where could he be? Has he left for a business meeting without telling her? Amelia walks out of the chamber down the hallway. Sophie claimed she would be going this morning, but Amelia can still hear her voice from the dining room. Sophie’s voice wasn’t one that sounds like she is in a merry mood but one that speaks calmly, with reassurances. What game is Sophie trying to play again? Amelia asks herself this as she walks to the dining room to join them.
As Amelia walks into the dining area, Oliver looks up at her. She could see in his eyes another version of pain, not the ones she had seen before. What is Sophie doing to him again?
“Oh, there you are,”
Sophie says to Amelia.
“I have been calling one of you, but got no response. Get me more milk.”
Ignoring her words, Amelia sits on a chair facing Oliver’s. Sophie looks at her in a daze, then at Oliver.
“You are too nice to your employees. They have no respect. How dare she dine at the same table with you?” Sophie says in anger.
“I don’t remember telling you she is one of my servants. If you need a proper introduction, ask for it.” Oliver says in a low voice.
Sophie looks from Oliver to Amelia in confusion, and Amelia could tell that she never expected Oliver’s response. However, why she kept regarding her as a maid is what Amelia doesn’t fathom.
“What is she doing here if not serving you?”
Sophie asks.
“I have known your father to be one that takes in poor girls out of charity...” She stopped speaking and raised her eyes as if something struck her, “Or is she seeking asylum here while running from her problems?”
“Running from her problems?” Oliver murmurs in confusion but then shakes it off as if he is trying to prevent Sophie's words from crowding his mind. He stands and goes to Amelia, leaning down to place a simple kiss on her mouth.
“When you are through with breakfast, come over, there is something we need to discuss.” Amelia nods, and Oliver places another kiss on her lips. He heads toward the door but stops and turns to Sophie, who has been looking at them in utter astonishment.
“You have overstayed your visit. I expect you to leave now.” He then exits the door.
Amelia looks from Oliver to Sophie with a bit of smile at the corner of her lips. Oh, how much she loves the expression she sees sitting on Sophie's face now. The question Sophie asked about why Amelia is here has been silently answered, and she didn’t like the answer.
“What did my eyes just witness?” Sophie asks with a breaking voice.
“Just what you see.”
“You slut!” Sophie snaps at her. She is on her feet now. “You left Clach to slut around with my man?!”
“Your man?” Amelia chuckles, “When I left Arbroath, you were equally a married woman like me, and it makes me wonder what you are doing here now.”
Amelia can see that Sophie is almost close to tears and trying so hard to keep herself from bursting into tears.
“I am presuming you didn’t tell Oliver that you are a legally married woman,” Sophie sniggers in disgust and walks closer to her. Amelia hesitates. “Poor you, do you think you can swing around two husbands like that?" Do you know it’s against the law?”
“Then why haven’t you told Oliver?” Amelia asks her, “I expected you to have told him I am married back in Arbroath as the Sophie I know. What is preventing you?” Amelia looks closely at her. “What secret are you hiding, and what is your intention here under the pretense of a condolence visit?”
After a few intense minutes, Sophie breaks the silence, but not with an answer.
“Listen to me, Oliver is mine, and I can do anything to have him. Don’t you think that you can dare stand in my way because I will crush you.”
With this, Sophie walks out of the dining room.
Tension flushes within Amelia, that was a pure treat, and she knows she means it. Sophie is the type of woman who can do anything to have what she wants. However, one thing gladdens her heart; she confronted Sophie, and she could see the panic in her voice.
On the other hand, she needs to do one crucial thing, tell Oliver the truth she has held for long.
Chapter 4
Oliver walks into the castle study feeling queasy. He wasn’t sure of what is making him feel this way. Was it because of what Sophie said to him in the dining hall or just merely her presence? Earlier this morning, he left his room hoping to talk to Amelia about yesterday’s event, tell her about Sophie and who she is to him, and render his apologies before they had breakfast together. Then Sophie resurfaces again.
He had hoped she would be gone before the morning brightness comes alive, but he was surprised to see her roaming the castle in the name of wanting to talk to him. Throughout the breakfast, which he didn’t remember eating, she kept saying she missed him and wished to come back to him. He heard her saying things about how her marriage has been a scam, and her husband treating her poorly.
It baffles him how she thinks that after those years of scattering his life to pieces without even a second thought of the happiness they shared, she wants to crawl back into it. She had left him just because he said he wouldn’t want to inherit his father’s business or path but wanted to create his way. Now she wants to have it back, just when he had finally erased everything about her and replaced it with Amelia’s.
“I thought I would find you here.” A voice breaks Oliver out of his thoughts. Oliver turns to see Sophie smiling as she walks into the study toward him. “You sure know how to slip away whenever I want you around.”
Not again. Oliver murmurs to himself. Why does she keep on sneaking around him, and most importantly, why hasn’t she left?
“Fur heaven’s sake, Sophie! Why are you still here?”
“My love...,” she begins
“Stop calling me that!” Oliver snaps.
“I am sorry. I will keep on apologizing till you hear me out,” Sophie says in a voice that looks like she is about to blub. “You can’t keep avoiding me, and it hurts my heart when you do so.”
Is she about to cry? Oliver asks within him, is the soberness he is hearing in
her voice real, or is she putting up a facade. It could probably be a front she uses to make him come back in a relationship with her.
“I have taken your apology, Sophie, you can leave now,” Oliver says.
“If you deh have me, then it means you haven’t accepted my apology.” She closes the gap between them and places her palm on his face. “Let’s go back to the way things were before when we had a pure love for each other.
And leave Amelia? Never. He pulls her hand away from him. “I already have someone in my life, and I love her.”
“The slut I saw in the dining room?!” Sophie snaps, which startles Oliver, and he looks closely at her. Trying to compose herself to the sweet lady pleading to him before, she says calmly, “Do you think her love for you is genuine?”
“And how is yours?” Oliver returns the question.
She holds his face again. “My love, no matter what happened, my love for you never died. Even when I left, I regretted every mistake I made, and it took me years to make this decision of coming back to you.”
Something in her voice makes Oliver want to believe her. She sounded like the sweet Sophie he had known long ago; the Sophie who had once professed undying love for him from her heart.
“You broke my heart,” Oliver says with a sad voice. “You left me even when I pleaded with you. My mother pleaded with you.”
“I’m sorry,” She says quietly, then leans over and kisses him.
This takes Oliver out of a sudden surprise, he wants to push her away and yell at her to not do it again, but at the same time, he found himself succumbing to her. He could feel her lips and tongue, parting its way into his mouth. He attempts to resist it, but her tongue moves like she is determined to have him. Slowly his lips part and she dives right in with hers. Feeling the taste of her lips in his it brings back forgotten memories and, at the same time, anger.
No, he shouldn’t be doing this; it isn’t right for him and to Amelia. Just as he is about to push her away, a sound of shattering plates brings him and Sophie to a startle. They both turn toward the study entrance to see Amelia standing there, and on the floor were dishes that seem to have contained some meals.
“I...I... Ah'm sorry, I should have announced my presence,” Amelia says with a stammer while trying to look away but again looking at them.
“Amelia....,” Oliver calls out in an apologetic voice and attempts to rush to her, but Sophie holds him tightly and blocks him off. Oliver resists, but Sophie holds on firmly. On Amelia’s face, Oliver can see sadness and disappointment written all over it.
“I came to bring you some food and talk to you,” Amelia says, this time her voice is steady, unlike before. “But the food is a waste already,” she says, looking at the floor, then draws in a sigh and looks up at him. “There is something I need to tell you.”
“Leave us,” Oliver says to Sophie quickly; he wants to see her gone; her presence has already caused enough damage. Sophie intends to hesitate, and Oliver is about to snap at her when Amelia cuts in.
“Let her stay,” she says with a straight and firm expression, and Oliver can’t interpret what it means, including that of her words. He is about to insist she leave, but Amelia adds again, “Please.”
There is an awkward silence between the three for a minute before Amelia breaks the silence.
“Has she told you?” Amelia asks, looking at Oliver, who has a confused look on his face.
“Told me what?” Oliver asks.
Amelia nods to this with a smile. “I guess I was right. The Sophie I know wouldn’t have hesitated in opening her mouth, or else she has something to protect equally.”
“I thought it would be nice for you to tell your secrets, I have no business with that,”
Sophie replies mockingly.
Now Oliver has confusion written all over his face. First, how did these two know each other? Secondly, what secret are they talking about?
“Did you two know each other before now?” He asks.
Amelia sighs, but she is determined. She had wanted to tell him about her marriage with Clach. She didn’t want it to be in this manner, but unfortunately, the scene she saw them in gave her courage not to withhold.
“I have wanted to tell you this before now; I am a married woman.”
“Whit!” Oliver hears himself bellows. He hears Sophie chuckle too. What in the world is she saying? “I don’t understand you, what do you mean you are a married woman?”
“Before I met you, I was married and still am because I haven’t divorced.” She feels her voice shaking, but she has to continue. “I was fleeing from my husband when you met me on the road.”
There is an awkward stillness. “None of this makes sense,” Oliver murmurs in a sad voice. “You told me you were fleeing from your father because he wanted to force you into marriage.”
“There is a bit of truth in that, only that I am married already, but to a monster. Fleeing was my only option to save myself from that disaster in the scam of marriage.”
Oliver didn’t say anything; he is silently calculating and, at the same time, trying to digest all that she had said. “You lied to me,” he says with a bitter voice. “Again,” he adds, and Amelia understands what he means by that. Was this what Sophie meant when she told Amelia that she was only running away from her problem?
Sophie chuckles and puffs out her mouth.
“I told you the love she claims to have for you are all lies. I know her type, the blatant ones that disguise love to wealthy lairds just to gain their interest.”
She eyes Amelia and turns to touch Oliver on the cheek.
“It is so unfortunate that you fell for her, dear.”
“And did you marry Dunn for love? It's all about his money, isn’t it?” Amelia snaps at Sophie.
Amelia can see the more confused look on Oliver's face and a similar one on Sophie; she didn’t expect it from her.
“Almost everyone in Arbroath knows you married Laird Dunn because of his wealth. Even when you try to fake love, it is written all over you.”
“Oh! Shut up, you shameless slut!” Sophie barks at her.
Amelia chuckles. Her words truly got Sophie, and she has to hit her more. “You know I should have asked you if my husband Clach is faring well. You were technically his mistress, more like his wife.”
“What nonsense are you saying?” Sophie hesitates.
“Oh, dear, you don’t think I know? I know you were sleeping around with Clach. I have seen you both having sex several times in his chamber and study, including the night I fled from Arbroath. What type of married woman does that?!”
“Whit,” Oliver says in disgust as he scrutinizes Sophie and then quietly creates a distance between them. There is so much furtiveness between these two ladies. This time Sophie is slowly shaking in anger and infamy.
“So, when next you call me a slut, ah'm sure you know you are equally one.”
“You eejit!” Sophie swears. She means to rush to Amelia to attack her, but Oliver is quick to hold her back. “How dare you!” Sophie screeches, but Amelia ignores her and turns to Oliver.
“Ah’m sorry I lied to you,” she says calmly. “I am glad I said this before I leave.”
“Leave?”
“Aye, I am going back to Arbroath,” she says and walks out of the study.
Chapter 5
The evening of the same day, while the carriage passes through Montrose's street and dangles along the rough road, Amelia knew that this would be the last time she would ever see this village. And importantly, this might be the last time she would also see the man who has brought her to this village, Oliver.
She had felt happiness the day she arrived here with him, hoping that things will finally be perfect. But now she is leaving alone while being in an awkward situation with him—a problem which she never thought would go this way.
After their discussion, she has no idea if he has forgiven her or is still angry with her, and she hadn’t bothered to ask him. Initially, she
never had it in mind to open up about her marriage to him in such a manner. Yesterday morning, when he was leaving for a business meeting, she had told him she would discuss certain things with him. In her mind, it was all about her marriage.
However, Sophie's arrival changed everything completely. She has seen the way Sophie throws herself at Oliver, and she believed that it wouldn’t change anything because of how she had treated him in the past. However, seeing them kissing in the study changed everything she believed in completely. Her intention when she walked into the study was to bring Oliver some food; he didn’t eat yesterday, and equally didn’t touch his meal that morning.
However, walking into the study, she was disappointed by what she saw. If Sophie throws herself at him, she expected him to be a man of dignity by resisting her seduction, but it was the opposite. Thus, she had no other option than to speak her mind and leave that castle.
She will never fight or share any man with Sophie for anything in this world. Even though she highly dislikes Clach and never wishes to have anything to do with him, it was totally wrong for her to sex him behind her back. Anyway, she still does not care about whatever she did with him. She had always wished he had ended up marrying her when she left.
If he had done so, Sophie probably wouldn’t have been here, nor would she be throwing herself at Oliver wanting a relationship with her again. The thought of this brings a question to her mind: where is Dunn? Did he even know his wife is here in Montrose?
It must have been so hard for him to live, let alone married to a woman like Sophie. With her, there is no end to her manipulation when she wants something. If only Oliver had withstood her, it would have been different. The image she saw in the study of two of them keeps recurring and playing like a flashback in her mind, and it makes her heart race in anger. The same anger Amelia had when she suddenly announced she was leaving. An action she never planned to take. Well, her journey has gone far now; she can’t turn back.
Moreover, it hurts her that Oliver didn’t come to say farewell to her. Only what he did was to instruct his rider to take her to Arbroath safely. An offer Amelia won’t think twice in accepting. If there were no carriage, she would be heading to Arbroath on foot or unsafe; an experience she doesn’t want to have again.
Highlander's Triangle Of Passion: A Highlander Steamy Romance Short Read (Highland Lover Series Book 3) Page 2
