Page 22 of Meet A Rogue At Midnight
“To whom?” Jonas blurted the question.
Three pairs of feminine eyes turned on him as if they’d forgotten he was there. At least two of them had. Livvy’s chin dipped. No, she hadn’t forgotten he was there. Jonas never pretended to have full knowledge of women. Far from it. He’d had many a conversation with his previous employer and friend, the Earl of Greenwich, about the mysteries of women. Their bodies were a map he could master. But a woman’s heart? Her mind? These were riddles better men than he should master.
Until Livvy.
Her brown eyes shuttered within the black lace as if she’d not answer. But, Miss Emma Hastings would. She supplied the answer to Jonas like a shark smelling blood in the water.
“Oh, didn’t you know? Miss Halsey is betrothed to a Mr. Alistair Haggerty of London.” Miss Hastings neatly pinned her rival for the blacksmith’s affection. Jonas’s gut clenched. The words delivered a hard blow. His fist curled on his thigh. He had no hold on her, but Livvy had the grace to wince.
“Here we are.” Will Hastings set five cups of mulled wine on the table.
Four hands grabbed a mug and each person took their fill.
“Mr. Bainbridge tells me they’ll clear the floor for dancing in five minutes.” Will made to sit down.
“Wait.” Jonas slid off the bench. He emptied his mug and set it down with a firmthunk. “I’ll leave you to your fun.”
“You’re leaving me to be the sole guardian of these three?”
Jonas tore off his mask, stung to the core. What did he expect after one kiss and a few visits to her tower? That Livvy would swoon for him? He shouldn’t have come here tonight and waited like a besotted fool for her. And he certainly shouldn’t have told her how she affected him.
“You’re a better man than me,” he said, dropping a shilling on the table. “I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Chapter Six
Jonas shouldered hisway through the crowd. Livvy scrambled off the bench and pushed up on tiptoe to see Jonas cut a wide swath to the door. He was leaving?
“Miss Halsey?” Lady Rowen’s voice came from behind her.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m walking home.”
“Miss Halsey, I say that’s unacceptable…” Will Hastings’s voice faded behind her as she waded through a tide of revelers rising from their chairs. Men scraped tables across the room to stack them against the wall. It was impossible to break through the mass of people and tables and chairs.
She’d not get to dance with Jonas.
Masks swarmed around her. People laughing and drinking and hefting the Sheep’s Head’s tables and chairs. The din was painful to her ears. She stepped to the right and a jovial Mr. Fortham banged into her, a pint sloshing in his fist.
“Miss Halsey? Is that you?” he asked.
Heart pounding, she ducked around him fast and spoke over her shoulder. “Good to see you, Mr. Fortham.”
Two burly farmers who didn’t bother with masks or costumes blocked her path. She dove around them in time to see Jonas shut the inn’s door behind him.
Why did that closed door feel so…final?
That bit about Mr. Fortham was beneath her. She’d wanted to have fun, to have Jonas dance attendance on her. His caress to her bottom had shocked her. It was more than she expected. Elbows jabbing her, she stood arms at her side, people swarming the room. Tonight was a the rare evening when Plumtree’s folk mixed, all the classes from this district to neighboring areas. Most came for frivolity. Some came for a taste of local debauchery.
She wanted both. With Jonas.
Mrs. Bainbridge sidled up to Livvy, a rag in one hand, five pints clutched in the other. “Now there went the best man in three districts. A man of solid character and—” Her throaty voice dropped suggestively “—easy on the eyes. You’d do well with the likes of him.”
“He is a fine man, but I’m, I’m unofficially betrothed,” she said, speaking above the clamor. “It’s a business arrangement. My family duty. Friendship is all that Jonas and I have.”
“Humph!Did the good Lord put Adam and Eve together for commerce?” The proprietress fisted the rag on her hip. “A business arrangement makes cold comfort in the marriage bed. Take it from me, you’ll want a man to keep you warm at night. Should that man be a best friend? Well,thatwoman should count herself lucky.”
“But Jonas doesn’t want to stay in Plumtree.”
Mrs. Bainbridge groaned. “All men need their minds changed. It’s the first lesson of marriage, luv. Convince your blue-eyed pirate to stay and, if you can’t, go with him.”
