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“I can’t win with you, can I?” he asked with a grin.
Jo raised a brow. “Depends on what you’re playing.”
Richard let out a laugh. “What if we are playing the king and a peasant?”
Jo looked at him through narrowed eyes. “There is no way you would catch me. Your crown is too heavy.”
“And you would have trouble running away from me. You’re too high in the instep,” he retorted. Jo gasped, and the cad laughed at her reaction. “What? You can insult me, but I cannot insult you?”
Jo turned forward and raised her chin. “I thought you were a gentleman.”
“Truly?” He raised a brow. “What gave you that idea?”
Jo shrugged. “Everyone else in your family seems rather civil.”
Richard scoffed. “I have two sisters and both of them were married out of scandal. Isabel has a dog that ruins everything in its wake and a daughter who screams through the corridor from the early hours of the morning. What in the world gave you the idea that my family is civilized?”
Jo laughed softly. “What of your brothers?”
“Well, Alan, the youngest, has just returned from gallivanting around the Continent. So God knows what he’s been up to there and whether I have to go and clean up after him. While Adam is actually the only decent one of us.”
Jo turned to look at him. She’d thought he’d be smiling, but his face turned somber. “Truly?”
He nodded. “Truly. Sometimes I think he should have been the one to inherit the title.” He shook his head. “What about you? Have you got any siblings?”
“Oh.” She shook her head vigorously. “No. I—No.”
He raised a brow. “You didn’t sound very certain of that.”
She let out a chuckle. She wasn’t certain. She didn’t have any siblings from her mother, that part she knew. But as for her sire… There was no way to be certain. But that wasn’t something she was willing to discuss now. Or ever. “I am certain I do not. When I was younger, I wished I did. But now I am glad I didn’t have anyone to look out for.” Then she bit her lip and threw him a flirtatious gaze. “You make it seem truly challenging.”
He barked a laugh. “Well, I am glad that at least I made you feel better about your situation.”
Jo’s smile didn’t leave her lips. “You have a wonderful family,” she said sincerely.
He nodded. “I can’t take any credit, unfortunately. Our parents raised them well. And after they passed, Isabel was the one who replaced our mother in their eyes.”
“What about you?”
“I do my duty the best way I know how,” he answered with a shrug. “Sometimes it means making tough choices.”
She threw him a side-eye glance. His brows furrowed, and he looked forward with a menacing gaze. What tough choices did he have to make to raise his family? As much as she believed his claim of Lady Vane being a mother to them all—she had such a calming air about her that even Jo sometimes wanted to curl up by her side and share all her worries—the viscount was the head of the family. And she was certain he had to make a sacrifice or two to prove it.
She cleared her throat. “I have to admit that sometimes… I do wish that I had an older brother making tough decisions for me when I was younger.”
He turned to her, looking surprised. “You do?”
She let out a chuckle. “I am good at looking out for myself. But I wasn’t always. Nobody is born good at it, I suppose. One is forced to learn.”
He paused and turned toward her, his expression troubled. “And what circumstances forced you to become good at it?”
She smiled. “That is too heavy of a question for a short affair, my lord. I am afraid it would take all the fun out of it.”
He watched her for one long moment, his gaze intense as if trying to read her mind. Then he tore his eyes away from her and looked around. There was a group of people a few paces ahead, but other than that, the path seemed clear. Richard’s eyes glinted with mischief as he took her by the hand and led her away from the path and deeper into the woods.
Jo giggled as she hopped over branches, trying very hard not to tear her silk gown. Finally, Richard stopped, whirled her facing away from the path, and pressed her against a tree.
“Very well,” he said, once he looked around and was satisfied that nobody was in the vicinity. “If we are here to have fun, then let us proceed.”
