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“I do not.”
“What if you never see him again?”
Ah-ha, asking the right questions.Olivia lowered her face so he couldn’t see the smile threatening to break out. “Then, I suppose I shall have to marry Bradshaw.”
Jarvis let out a breath. “Then, I think you should rather marry Bradshaw.”
Olivia’s heart sank. She raised her head and looked at Jarvis’s somber eyes. Did he mean it? Was he not going to come clean to her? To reveal that it was him? Do anything?
Why did you kiss me then?She wanted to shout, but her lips remained sealed.
He wasn’t going to tell her. He wasn’t going to fight for her. A couple of kisses and a night under the guise of shadows—that’s all he wanted from her. He didn’t care.
Her mother came in at that moment, a few maids following her with tea and biscuits.
“Who is ready for tea?” she asked with a radiant smile.
Jarvis cursed his own weakness as he climbed the trellis to Olivia’s room later that night. He’d told her to marry Bradshaw. He told himself to let her go and let her be happy, be safe. But her words were stuck in his mind. She was ready to give Bradshaw up.
For him.
Of course, she didn’t know it was him, but it was. She’d enjoyed their brief conversation. She was awed by his heroics, and she’d relished in their kiss. He wanted to repeat that kiss. Sure, it was a quick peck, but it had awakened all the deep desires within him, and he couldn’t get out of his mind the possibilities of where it could lead.
Yes, he wanted more. A lot more. One more touch, one more kiss, one more night in the darkness with her.
He’d risked a lot by coming there. He risked getting caught; he risked igniting Erebus’s ire, and, most of all, he risked Olivia finding out that this was him all along.
What if she did? Would she be glad or upset?
His heart gave a painful twist.
He reached her window only to see that it was open.
Hadn’t he explicitly told her never to leave her window open? Not only was it chilly, but all kinds of people could also enter her bedroom without her ever knowing.
He crawled through the window opening and straightened in the dimly lit room. The fire cracked in the hearth, bathing the room in a red glow. He surveyed the chamber, and his gaze fell upon the bed.
Olivia saw him at that exact moment and scrambled to the floor. She stood there, in front of him, in her overly large nightgown with billowing skirts, her ruffled nightcap covering half her face, and she still was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“You came,” she said and padded toward him.
“Didn’t I tell you never to leave your window open?” he whispered, hoping it would disguise his voice enough for her not to recognize it.
“I was waiting for you.”
Jarvis shook his head in disbelief. “And didn’t I tell you never to approach a stranger without a weapon?”
Olivia looked down and raised her hand. “I have a book,” she said, waving it in her hand. “It’s rather heavy. I think it would do as a weapon if I needed it to.”
Jarvis let out a hoarse laugh. “Why were you waiting for me?”
“Pardon?” Olivia raised a brow.
“You said you left the window open because you waited for me. Why?”
Olivia lowered her head, then turned and walked back toward the bed.
Damn me. Jarvis followed.
