Page 80 of An Affair with the Viscount (Necessary Arrangements 5)

She’d turned out to be strong-willed and rather brave. They would have made an amicable match if things were different, he supposed. “Very well,” he agreed. “As you wish.”

* * *

A frantic knock at her door woke Jo from a fretful slumber. Was the knocking a part of the terrible dream? Or was it real?

Ever since her encounter with Mick, Jo was having nightmares every night. He hadn’t returned to the theater since then. Probably still licking his wounds and healing his broken pride. Or perhaps doing something more ominous.

Jo couldn’t work with him anymore after what had happened. She wondered how Selena was able to do it all this time. Jo needed to leave the theater and take Selena with her.

That wasn’t the only problem that was bothering her. Recently, Jo had noticed a man watching her from behind the shadows of the theater. At first, she’d thought that he must have been a new guard, or someone the manager had hired. But lately, she had a feeling that he was followingher.

She tried to dismiss her fears. And perhaps she was just getting paranoid from fear. But a woman in her position did not have the luxury of being unaware of the men around her.

The constant fear had pushed her to collect her courage and send her plays to Covent Garden.Her theater manager didn’t want them, but perhaps, someone else would.

She’d thought she’d feel better after this, freer. But it only got worse.

Now she was anxious and every little noise frightened her.

And the incessant knocking in the middle of the night didn’t help at all. She threw a glance toward the window trying to ascertain the time. Moonlight spilled into the room, indicating that it was past midnight, but not yet morning.

Jo slid her hand beneath her pillow and palmed a small dagger with her hand. She always had it with her, and she kept it by her side at all times. She grabbed it now and tiptoed toward her door.

“Jo, open up, it’s me,” came Selena’s frantic voice.

A breath of relief left Jo’s lungs. She opened the door and Selena rushed inside.

“Is something amiss?” Jo asked as she placed the dagger on the bedside table.

“Everything is amiss,” Selena whispered furiously as she tried to untie her cloak with shaking hands.

“Let me.” Jo walked toward Selena and covered her cold hands with hers.

Selena raised her frantic eyes, gave a tiny nod, and released the cloak. Jo untied it easily and then guided Selena toward the small sitting area by the hearth. When both settled into the armchairs across from each other, she asked, “Would you like some tea?”

“No, I don’t want tea.” Selena looked up at Jo, and she finally saw Selena’s face in the light of the dying fire. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks streaked with tears.

“Tell me,” Jo prompted.

“I don’t know what to do,” Selena whispered. Tears glistened in her eyes again and then fell freely down her cheeks. “My stomach… the issues I’ve been having lately…” She shook her head and wheezed with anguish. “I am with child.”

Jo’s eyes rounded.

She hadn’t realized she’d moved, but somehow she was perched on Selena’s chair, holding her in her arms as Selena sobbed into her shoulder. “I don’t know what to do,” Selena cried as she shuddered.

“Who… who is the father?” Jo asked.

Selena used to have a protector, a marquess, or an earl. She didn’t know the details of their arrangement, but she hadn’t seen him or heard about him since before the house party.

Selena had been quiet and closed off since they’d returned. And Jo had attributed her melancholy to her broken heart over the arse that was Mick, but apparently, there was more to it.

Jo kicked herself for not inquiring earlier, for letting her friend suffer on her own. She was too preoccupied with her own broken heart to notice.

“You know who,” Selena said on a sob.

Jo grimaced.Mick.

“Did you tell him?”

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