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Chapter 26
Jarvisshuffledfromonefoot to another, still in quite a bit of a shock that his sweet Olivia had just told him off. He hadn’t anticipated that at all. But was she right? Was he acting worse than Greyson?
Jarvis furrowed his brows and left the room. He walked to the viscount’s study and knocked on the door.
“Come!” the viscount’s voice boomed, and Jarvis entered.
Landen stood, his face thunderous. “What has delayed your visit, pray tell?”
Jarvis scratched his jaw. Olivia had just put him in his place, and now he had to endure scolding from her father.Well, I suppose I deserve that.
“I’ve been… indisposed.”
“Foxed?”
“Not… exactly.”
The viscount harrumphed. “If you are here to ask for my daughter’s hand, you better come up with a sounder explanation.” He paused. “You did ask her for her hand, didn’t you?”
“No, not exactly.”
The viscount directed his eyes to the heavens. “Sit.”
Jarvis sat and scrubbed his face. “Lord Landen, the truth of the matter is I love your daughter. Have loved her for a long time, in fact. There is nothing I want more than to make her my wife, except for wanting her to be happy. But I am not certain she will be absolutely happy with me.”
Landen eyed Jarvis under his furrowed, bushy brows. “Jarvis, son. I love you like you’re my own, you know this. When your parents died, I vowed I would look after you and treat you like you were my own. Which is why I have to tell you that you’re full of horse crap.”
Jarvis jerked back in surprise.
“It is natural for us men to feel like we are unworthy or beyond redemption. We fail in numerous endeavors. I know I have. But the only person who can grant us said redemption is the woman who loves us. And if you truly love my daughter, then give her a choice. Because at the moment, she has another choice. A choice, I would say, that is better than you.”
Jarvis opened his mouth to protest, but the viscount put up a staying hand.
“You are a fine young man, but you’re too distracted with other pursuits. Your head is in the clouds most of the time. I would not trust my daughter to you over Bradshaw, except that she seems to prefer you.”
“Bradshaw? You’d prefer Bradshaw’s suit over me?” Jarvis felt suddenly offended.
“I would. But the choice is—and should be—Olivia’s. Or at least that’s what my wife tells me.”
Jarvis chuckled, and the viscount smiled in response.
“I shall be waiting for you to formally ask for my daughter’s hand as soon as she accepts your suit.”
“Thank you, sir.” Jarvis stood, sketched a bow, and left the room.
Jarvis looked out the window of his carriage all the way home, lost in thought. Something about this entire situation didn’t feel right. And by this situation, he meant Bradshaw courting Olivia.
Olivia had been out in society for a few years now, and Bradshaw had never paid her any attention. He knew Jarvis and Viscount Landen, so he knew who Olivia was.
Did it truly only take a few feigned smiles from her and Jarvis’s inept coaching to catch his interest?
Jarvis didn’t doubt that she was able to charm a man. She’d charmed him, after all. However, there were a few nagging thoughts in his brain screaming for him to pay attention.
Jarvis might not have thought anything of it before, but too many things didn’t add up in his life to simply overlook this detail too.
Jarvis remembered the attack on Olivia’s carriage. The way Bradshaw stood by the curb, waiting for the carriage to leave. The two people disengaging from the shadows and following after the carriage. Could it have been Bradshaw from the start?
Then there had been an attack on Jarvis at Lord Roth’s estate. That house was full of aristocrats, but only one was with him and Blake the night Blake was snatched away.Bradshaw.
