AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Richard stepped closer. “You can stay however long you wish. Both of you.”
Selena weaved her hand through Jo’s. “Thank you for helping me. But we truly should go.”
“I am going toward Covent Garden,” the doctor offered. “I can escort you if you do not have the means of getting home.”
“That would be lovely,” Jo agreed.
They all walked through the servants’ exit and toward the doctor’s carriage. It was a simple black coach, and it was perfect in that it didn’t draw any attention to itself. The viscount’s glittering carriage would be out of place in the wee hours of the morning in the city.
The doctor handed the still weak Selena into the carriage and offered his hand to Jo.
“Wait a moment,” Richard said and led her a few steps away from the carriage. His jaw was set in a hard line, his brows were furrowed. “Tell me,” he said as he took her hands in his. “What do I need to do to get you back?”
Jo’s eyes widened, and her heart started beating violently against her chest.
“That’s impossible,” she whispered, although her heart cried for him.
“Nothing is impossible,” he said vehemently. “If you could ask for anything, what would it be?”
“You are still betrothed,” she protested.
“Just tell me,” he begged. “What do I need to do to get you back into my life?”
Jo let out a breath and looked away, but he pressed his finger to her chin, forcing her to look at him. She licked her lips. “I only ever asked two things of you. First is to accept me the way I am, no stipulations and no requirements.”
“Fine,” was his immediate answer.
She let out a chuckle. “Fine? You shall accept me as a working actress, with my schedule, travel, and everything that comes with it?”
“What’s the second thing?” he asked without answering her question.
Jo took a deep breath. “You have to be unattached to another woman. In any way.”
A small, secret smile appeared on his lips as he nodded. “Very well.”
She gave him a pitying look. “You can’t promise me that. You are a viscount. You need heirs.”
He shrugged. “I can have my heirs with you.” His gaze turned hard. “Unless your first stipulation means you never want to have children.”
Never?No. She did want children. But this argument was useless.
He was a viscount, she an actress. He couldn’t marry her without causing a huge scandal and that’s besides the fact that he was still betrothed to another.
She licked her lips again. They went extremely dry. “When you can confidently say that those two things are true, we can talk about our possible future.”
He straightened, his eyes glittering with something unfathomable, then escorted her to the carriage and handed her inside. “I shall see you soon, then.”
* * *
Mick’s nose had healed nicely, albeit crookedly. A few days after Selena’s incident, he appeared at the theater for the first time after Richard had broken his nose.
Now that he was back, he was watching Jo with a menacing scowl.
He hadn’t approached her all day. And even when they had scenes together, he simply interacted with her as a character in a play and not in any other way. But that look in his eye had never left his face.
Jo tried not to care. She tried to act as though nothing was amiss, but in truth, Mick inspired fear.
Just remembering the grip he’d had on her hair as he pushed her down, and the fact that she would never be able to fight him off no matter how hard she tried, had her shaking.
