Page 24 of Daring the Forbidden Earl
However, as he searched the shallow pocket for the flirtatious note, he found nothing but the empty, silk lining. He even checked his other pocket, though he knew he had not put it there.
No, no, no, no, no! This cannot be happening. That letter cannot fall into unknown hands! It has her name upon it! It hasmyname upon it!
Cursing loudly and frantically skimming his hands across every inch of his person, he pleaded with the heavens for it to appear… until he could not convince himself anymore.
The letter was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
The following morning, Johanna awoke to warm sunlight streaming in through the gap between the drapes in her bedchamber. The golden glow seemed to want to caress her into consciousness, and she was only too happy to feel its gentle touch.
She unfurled like a cat stretching out in front of a winter fire. “I slept so well!” She yawned and lay still for a moment, enjoying the peace and quiet for the first time in years. It did not feel lonely, this time, for she had dreamed of Mark, and it felt almost like he had come out of the dream to lie at her side.
Suddenly, a loud knock reverberated through the apartments. Johanna sat bolt upright in alarm, as her eyes sought out the clock on the mantelpiece. It was not yet six o’clock in the morning.
Who could that be? It cannot be Mrs. Sawyer, for she never arrives before seven o’clock… and I suppose she would let herself in.
Puzzled, Johanna shuffled out of bed and grabbed her housecoat from the hook on the inside of the bedchamber door. She was still tying the cord around her waist when a second, more desperate knock pounded down the hallway.
“Wait just a moment!” Johanna shouted, already irritated that her pleasant awakening had been disturbed.
She reached the door and edged it open, concerned about who she might see on the other side. No one really spoke to her, other than Nora and her acquaintances. The rest of society mostly tolerated her presence, but she could not think of anyone who would actively seek her out in so aggressive a manner.
“Mark?” His name slipped out of her mouth before she could prevent it.
Sure enough, Mark stood in the corridor outside. And he did not look well at all. His face was deathly pale, his hair lank with anxious combing, and his lips were bitten red. But his eyes worried her the most—they were wide and frightened, like those of a rabbit who had just spotted a fox in the hedgerow.
“May I come in?” he rasped in a hoarse voice.
She hesitated. “I do not know if that is wise.”
“No one has seen me enter this place,” he assured. “But I must speak with you immediately. I cannot delay it any longer. I was just at my townhouse, pacing like a madman, and the next moment… I found myself here. I did not even know I remembered the address, as I have never visited.”
Warily, Johanna opened the door wider to allow him to step inside. “Are you sick?” she said, as she closed the door. “You look as though you have had a troubling night.”
“I have, Johanna.” He ran a hand through his hair and resumed his pacing in her entrance annex. “I do not even know how to begin to tell you. You will be furious with me, I am sure.”
Feeling emboldened by his presence in her home, she took him by the hand and led him down the hallway toward her bedchamber. Though there was method in her decision, too. Mrs. Sawyer would soon arrive, and Johanna did not want her housekeeper finding Mark here.
I will have to conjure a reason to send her away, but I shall think of that later.
Leading him into her bedchamber, she felt a strange frisson of exhilaration. This was the freedom that Nora had spoken about. As long as she was discreet, Johanna could allow Mark into her private sanctum without feeling a modicum of guilt or shame.
“I am so very sorry, Johanna.” Mark settled himself down on the edge of her bed.
She joined him, sitting at his side and keeping her hand upon his. “What has happened? Surely, it cannot be so bad.”
“Your letter… I…” He shook his head. “I read it before departing my townhouse last night, to attend a boxing match. I was disturbed by my manservant, so I hid the letter in my pocket. At the boxing match, I was knocked into the ring by a crowd of ruffians. I thought nothing of it until I got outside, where… I discovered that your letter was missing.”
Johanna could not explain why, but she felt a joyful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She ought to have been horrified, but her attention was fixed on the pure anxiety upon his face.Hewas worried about her.Hewas worried about how his actions might affect her. If that was not a sign of his affections, she did not know what was. She doubted he would behave this way over one of his casual lovers.
“Are you… smiling?” Mark frowned at her in confusion.
She nodded. “You have been fretting all night over this?”
“I have beendistraught!” he cried, bunching the coverlet into his fists. “I must have scoured that warehouse a hundred times, trying to find your note on the ground. Westwood and Denninson are threatening to send me to a sanitorium, after they found me on my hands and knees, scrabbling at the floor.”
A bubble of laughter rose up Johanna’s throat. “I can imagine they were rather shocked.”
