Page 83 of As the Earl Likes
“Mrs. Loose-Lips?” Jo asked.
Min made a face. “She was the busybody in Weston who caught Pandora and Bane together, then told everyone. Then the next year, she saw Tamsin and Droxford having a private moment, followed by Droxford hitting the man Tamsin’s father had arranged for her to wed. Her name is Mrs. Lawler, and she’s an abomination. This is the third year running now that she’s stuck her nose into someone’s business. Can’t she just look the other way and keep her mouth shut?”
“Apparently not,” Gwen said. She looked to Jo. “So, that was all planned? You knew Sheff would resort to roguery and that would be the end of the scheme?”
Jo nodded. “It all happened according to his plan—except the part where he left town before the Season ended. He did that, in part, to save me having to attend so many Society events. His mother kept pressuring me to do more, and I did not commit to that when I accepted Sheff’s proposal. I still have to manage the Siren’s Call, which the duchess didn’t approve of either.” She glanced toward Min, who was clenching her jaw.
“I’m sorry she was so difficult,” Min said. “She is pleased that you and Sheff are not going to marry. But she is also furious with Sheff for behaving like our father. I confess, I am also angry about that.”
“Don’t be,” Jo said, lifting her chin. “That is who he is, and I certainly didn’t expect any differently.” Indeed, his run of celibacy had surprised her.
“You said you are glad to have friends right now,” Persephone said with a concerned smile. “How can we help?”
This was the difficult part. Jo felt like such a fool. “It seems that with spending so much time together pretending to be in love, Sheff and I developed a strong mutual attraction. Before he left London, we, ah, gave in to that, and I’m afraid I am now suffering the consequences.” She returned Persephone’s smile, but then her throat constricted, and she couldn’t say anything more.
“He will marry you,” Min said, her gaze meeting Jo’s with a quiet confidence.
“He doesn’t know, and I’m not sure he needs to. He doesn’t want to wed, and I’ve no desire to force him. I don’t really want to wed either.” Except, she did, and not just because of the child. She loved Sheff. Her plans to follow in her mother’s footsteps hadn’t been what Jo really wanted. She wanted a family of her own. “Yes, we should have refrained from…roguery. We tried to be careful.”
“You intend to carry it, then?” Ellis asked.
Tamsin snapped her gaze toward Ellis. “What else would she do?”
“There are ways to prevent the pregnancy,” Jo said. “And I did think of that, but the truth is that I love this child, and I want to raise him or her.”
“Do you love its father?” Persephone asked quietly. “You’ve said nothing of how you feel about Sheff, except that you were attracted to one another. Was that all it was?”
Jo took a moment to respond. It would be easier to lie, but these were her friends. “No. I fell in love for real. However, that was not the plan. I don’t want to saddle Sheff with a wife he doesn’t want.”
Ellis’s expression was sympathetic. “I see your conundrum. You love Sheff and you are carrying his child, but you don’t want to be stuck in a marriage where your love is not reciprocated.”
Jo thought of her father breaking her mother’s heart when he was unfaithful. “No, I do not.”
“But you have to tell him about the child,” Tamsin said adamantly.
“I don’t want him to feel obligated to marry me when neither of us wanted that,” Jo said.
“Is that still the case, though?” Gwen asked, drawing Jo to turn her head. “You’ve fallen in love. Perhaps he has too. I think several of us—and our husbands—can say we never intended to fall in love with a rogue, and yet here we are.” She laughed softly.
Min pressed her lips together. “In your cases, the rogues reformed. As much as I love my brother, I am not sure he can do that.”
“You said he would marry me,” Jo said to Min. “Does that mean you think I should marry a rogue knowing he won’t change? What’s the rule about that?”
“Never trust a rogue to change,” a few of them answered nearly in unison.
“Am I to expect the kind of marriage that my parents have where they live apart and are not really married except in name only? Or worse, Min’s parents, who can’t even be pleasant to one another?” Jo asked, feeling despondent. She did love Sheff, but she couldn’t think their marriage would be happy, not after everything he’d said to her about expecting to be like his father.
Persephone sent her an understanding nod. “Acton’s parents were like that too. They didn’t even live in the same city. I can understand you not wanting to subject yourself to that. But it would be better for the babe if you married Sheff.”
“You don’t have to live together,” Ellis said. “You were already looking forward to a life of independence. You can still have that as his countess. He won’t begrudge you that. In fact, I think he’d want you to have that.” Her features softened with encouragement.
Ellis had described Jo’s parents’ arrangement. As much as Jo didn’t want that, she would accept it for the sake of her child. She did not want to condemn him or her to illegitimacy.
“My father just informed me last night that he and my mother will no longer reside together at Henlow House,” Min said rather evenly. “He’s told her she can spend the Season at Beacon Park and then come to Henlow House in summer and autumn, when Papa is not in town. She will never do that. Or, he said he’ll purchase her a nice house wherever she would like except Grosvenor Square.”
“I can’t imagine she took that very well,” Persephone said with a faint snort.
Min shook her head. “I confess I’m shocked my father would do such a thing, but he said he won’t have her haranguing me about marriage any longer. Or being cruel to Ellis.” Min glanced toward Ellis, who sat straight and unflinching, her expression serene.
