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There were other countries apart from England.
She kept thinking about the scheme as it blossomed from an idle thought into something more tangible. She was beginning to think it an actual possibility, when a letter arrived from the viscount.
His first since that fateful duel.
Maybe his first ever.
My dearest Josephine,
I know I have not been much of a brother to you, but the sister of Viscount Vidal SHALL NOT, I repeat, SHALL NOT, wander alone the streets of Paris or Germany with only a maid as a companion, as if she had no protector.
Nor will she become a GOVERNESS, of all things.
If you do not desire a husband, then you have no need to get one. But, by Jove, you shall have protection. If all else fails, I shall come accompany you myself.
Do not mistake my silence for carelessness, sister.
I will not lose you, do you understand? For heaven’s sake, be careful. We have distant relations in most parts of the continent. They are probably insufferable, but, if you desire to travel abroad, reach out to one of them so that you will not be set about by fortune hunters, and get murdered in your sleep.
I mean it Jo.
Furiously yours,
Your unfortunate brother
Justin St. Claire
Viscount of Vidal
Jo was enraged, amused and touched at the same time. She reread the whole thing, swearing like a sailor, and sat down to scribble an answer as quickly as she could.
Dearest brother,
What absolute rot.
I am perfectly capable of keeping myself safe, and much else besides, as you would have discovered if you had spent a moment or two in my company these last seventeen years.
I shall very well do as I please.
PS: How on earth did you find out about this?
Yours,
Jo.
The reply she received was swift and exasperated, exactly as she had hoped. It only took three days to arrive, which told her a lot more abouther brother’s whereabouts than his nonexistent returning address did.
Jo,
You are going to give me an apoplexy.
-J
It was unsigned apart from an initial, as if Justin had not been able to wait even for that.
But he sent her a much longer letter full of irate warnings in the coming week. And the letters kept coming for a month or so, angry, panicked, frantic.
After the initial indignation she’d felt at her brother’s high-handed manner, Jo resigned herself to receiving them, and pretty soon, she had a blast reading them. Deep down, she was deeply affected by how much time and effort her brother was spending on her imagined well-being.
