Page 82 of As the Earl Likes
His father laughed. “If you think that will be enough, you are not the romantic I believe you to be.” He stood. “I must be off to see Mrs. Welbeck.” He smiled, then departed the library, leaving Sheff to frown at Jo’s letter.
She didn’t want to be a countess. He could hear her excitement in the words she’d written. She was looking for a small terrace house for herself—a place where she could lead the life she’d dreamed of. Without him.
He had to hope his love for her would fade. Not because he was certain it would, as he had been in the past. He needed it to fade because there was no hope for it.
He couldn’t return to London with his father. It was already difficult to be around a man who was happily falling in love. And then to be in the same city as Jo? He’d have to see her probably, if only to retrieve his grandmother’s ring. What about the Siren’s Call? Could he never go there again?
No. At least, not until he was no longer in love with Jo. Why in the hell wasn’t this emotion fleeting? It wasn’t supposed to last. And it sure as hell wasn’t supposed to cut through him like a knife. Or leave him feeling lost and full of despair. Wasn’t love supposed to make you happy?
Chapter 17
Jo walked into Gwen’s drawing room on a Monday afternoon in late July, precisely ten weeks since she’d last seen Sheff. With her mother gone—to the exact place where Sheff was—Jo had called an emergency meeting of her friends. But first, she’d asked Gwen to host. She’d needed to get away from the club, and that included her home since it was attached.
Gwen greeted her with a warm smile, but her brow was pleated, reflecting her concern. They embraced and sat together on a settee.
“You probably don’t wish to say anything until the others arrive,” Gwen said. “But if there is something you need right now, just tell me.”
“Thank you.” Jo felt surprisingly calm. Perhaps that was due to the various levels of distress she’d felt over the past several weeks. She’d gone from mild concern to pragmatic worry to complete panic. Now she’d simply accepted the truth—she was with child. The question was what she should do next. The future she’d planned since entering into the scheme with Sheff must be altered. As an unwed mother, she could not live a life that even bordered London Society.
She’d considered not carrying the child, but once she’d acknowledged its presence, she’d been shocked to also realize that she wanted to have it. She wanted to be a mother, to give a child the love and care her own mother had given her, which she’d done almost entirely alone.
Min and Ellis arrived then, followed by a maid who set up a tea service on a table near the windows outside the seating arrangement where Jo and Gwen were situated. The new arrivals sat with them, taking the opposite settee.
“We’re just waiting for Tamsin and Persephone.”
“Persey is coming?” Min asked. “How lovely.”
Jo didn’t know the Duchess of Wellbourne as well as she knew the others, but Gwen had said that she was keen to leave the house and visit with friends now that her son was several months old. She’d asked if Jo minded inviting her, and Jo did not. The more support and counsel she could receive, the better.
The duchess, rather, Persephone, arrived next. Everyone had just finished embracing when Tamsin walked into the drawing room.
“Oh, Persey is here!” Tamsin rushed in and hugged her with a happy smile. “It’s so lovely to see you.”
“It is quite lovely to be seen. And to be out of my house,” Persephone added with a laugh.
“Is Wellesbourne tending to baby Jonathan?” Min asked.
“Not by himself,” Persephone said wryly.
“Is he crawling yet?” Tasmin asked.
Persephone shook her head. “It’s far too soon for that. Thank goodness. We are enjoying listening to him babble and making him laugh.”
“I know almost nothing about children,” Tamsin said with a chuckle. “Laughing and babbling sound wonderful.”
The talk of babies made Jo’s breath catch. She didn’t know much about children either, but she was going to have to learn. How she wished her mother were here. Why was this happening the first time she’d actually left Jo?
Jo realized the others had turned their attention to her. “I, ah, suppose you’re wondering why I asked you all to come today.” She looked at Gwen beside her. “Thank you for hosting. And thank you for becoming my friend and introducing me to everyone else. I’ve never had close friends before, and I am particularly glad to have them now.”
Dammit, tears were threatening. She did not want to cry! But she’d noticed her emotions had become much more intense in the last several weeks.
Jo took a deep breath. She’d thought about what she wanted to say and how she wished to say it. She would not let emotion rule. “I’ve something to confess. Sheff and I were never really betrothed. It was a scheme he concocted to avoid the Marriage Mart for the rest of the Season. He does not wish to marry, and his parents had been pressuring him for years to do so. The plan was for us to pretend to be betrothed then at the end of the Season, Sheff would leave town. He would then behave in such a way that would generate gossip so that I could cry off with the excuse that I couldn’t possibly wed a rogue like him.”
“The Rogue Rules in action,” Ellis murmured with a faint smile.
“He didn’t wait until the end of the Season, though,” Gwen observed. “He left weeks ago.”
“But he did behave badly,” Tamsin said with a frown. “And can you believe that horrible Mrs. Loose-Lips was behind that gossip too?” She looked around at everyone who responded with a combination of rolled eyes, grunts, and pursed lips.
