Page 45 of As the Earl Likes
Jo shook her head in response to Gwen’s question. “Sheff and I will not be falling in love. We have specific rules for navigating this union.” How she longed to tell them the truth!
“Perhaps you’ll change your mind,” Tamsin said with a shrug. “You never know what may happen.”
Jo knew enough to not only avoid an actual marriage—even in name only—to Sheff but to avoid any attachments whatsoever. And not just to him. This ruse had shown her how lucky she was to have avoided marriage and how she must continue to do so. The idea of a mother-in-law even half as demanding as the duchess was enough to make a young lady of marriageable age run screaming for the remote Highlands of Scotland.
“Just be sure not to kiss him then,” Gwen said with a laugh. “I’m teasing. Of course you won’t.”
But she had kissed him. And it had been shockingly delightful. So much so that Jo thought of it often and imagined what a longer, deeper kiss with Sheff might be like. Or if he caressed her. It had been hard not to imagine his hands exploring intimate parts of her body when he’d held her in the waltz.
“Honestly, I am starting to reconsider this marriage,” Jo said, tiptoeing as close to revealing the truth as she dared.
“Did Sheff do something?” Min asked.
“Actually, no. It’s your mother. I’m afraid she is…domineering.”
Min exhaled, her eyes closing briefly. “I assume she said something awful before the ball when you assembled in the drawing room?”
“She insisted I stop working at the Siren’s Call.” Jo made a sound of disgust in her throat. “Sheff is going to manage her. He’s promised I won’t have to engage with her very much after tonight.”
“Well, except for the part where you’re married to her son for eternity,” Tamsin said with a grimace.
Thank goodness that wasn’t actually happening.
Min looked at Jo with sympathy. “I hope that’s the case. She will not be happy that you continue to work at the club. And really, how can you continue to work there and be married?”
Jo wanted to answer that it was her livelihood, that her mother would have to replace her, that she was beholden to the Siren’s Call and her mother’s plans for the future. But she couldn’t say any of that. “Since we aren’t marrying immediately, I have time to decide what I will do. In the near term, however, I must continue with my work. My mother is traveling to Weston in July and will be gone at least a couple of months. There is no time to train anyone new.”
There probably was, but Jo wasn’t going to leave the Siren’s Call to marry Sheff. If she did leave, it would be to follow her own dreams.
“Your mother will be in Weston in August?” Tamsin asked excitedly. “That’s when we’ll be there. You must come too!”
“That won’t be possible,” Jo said, ignoring the disappointment sweeping through her like an icy wind. “I’ll need to be here overseeing the Siren’s Call.”
Not just in August, but forever. Her mother would be relinquishing more and more of her responsibility, which meant Jo would take on more and more. There would be no trips to the seaside with friends.
The reality of being tied to the club settled into Jo’s brain and crept down her spine. It sent tendrils of anxiety and even dread through her belly and into her extremities until she felt as though she needed to sit down. She really wished she had that ale.
“Are you all right, Jo?” Ellis asked. “You look pale.”
“I think I just need to visit the retiring room.”
Ellis moved toward her. “Come with me.”
Jo followed Ellis to the nearest doorway and into another room. “Thank you for showing me. I’m not sure I would be able to find the retiring room.”
“I’m not taking you there,” Ellis said. “Wouldn’t you prefer to be alone?”
“Yes, thank you.” Relief rushed through Jo, and she considered hugging Ellis. She recalled what Sheff had told her about Ellis’s parentage and wished she didn’t know. Not that she planned to say anything. She only hoped that Ellis wasn’t unhappy about her place in this household. Perhaps she would be interested in coming to work at the Siren’s Call.
Jo finished her lemonade and deposited the glass on a footman’s tray as she left the ballroom with Ellis.
“There’s a quiet sitting room downstairs,” Ellis said. “I like to read there in the mornings. The light is lovely.” She led Jo down to the ground floor.
“How did you know I wanted to be alone?” Jo asked as they descended the stairs.
“You just seemed to fade, like a flower closing at sunset,” Ellis said, taking her into a small chamber at the back of the house. There was a bay window with a cozy seat.
“That does look like the perfect place to read,” Jo said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
