Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Ada had seen the day ending many different ways.
This was not one of them.
Jonny had shocked her when he had turned, pressed her chair back against the wall behind her, and took her lips swiftly and surely, with more intention than she had ever felt before.
She should push him off of her.
Hell, she should dig the pistol into his side and force him to let her go.
But the truth was, she was enjoying this, far more than she ever should.
His lips were hard yet soft, insistent yet exploratory. He pressed against her with so much assurance that after a moment or two of freezing beneath him, she felt herself softening, allowing him in, taking back as much as he was giving.
This was too good. Far more than she should allow, but oh, his body felt right beneath her fingers, which were now clutching his shirt, holding him close.
His tongue teased her lips, and she let him in, met each stroke as tingles ran through her body, down her spine to ache deep in her core, as she began to need more.
She shifted from beneath him, wanting to open her legs and provide him better access, but, so far, he hadn’t even paused his current assault.
She lost herself in him, in his kiss, his hands holding her body against his, and it wasn’t until she gave a little moan against his mouth that he let her go so abruptly she had to catch herself on the arm of the chair.
“What—” she began, but his gaze was already on the door.
“Sharpe was here,” he said, his face grim, nothing else in his expression giving away how he had felt about kissing her, as he appeared as unaffected as she was reeling.
“Wh-what?”
“That was the best way to hide in plain sight. He wouldn’t expect to see us together. We have to go. Now.”
The patron of the tavern was approaching, and Jonny stood, catching her arm. “Is there a back door?” he asked, and she nodded, looking between them with questions in her eyes, but this did not seem the type of place to voice any inquiries aloud.
“Come with me,” she said, and as Jonny threw money on the table, Ada rose with him, staying silent as she was still thrown by her complete and utter loss of control within Jonny’s kiss.
They followed the woman out the back door, before staying in the shadows as they walked in near-silence.
“I don’t need you to walk me home,” Ada bit out, telling herself that Jonny’s dismissal of their kiss meant nothing to her, but, deep within, knowing far better.
It had stung. And she felt a fool for giving it any consideration, for not only participating but returning the kiss so enthusiastically.
She wanted nothing more than to be away from him, and to stay as far away from him as she could.
“I need to see you home safe.”
“I’d be safer without you.”
He snorted softly. “Perhaps.”
They were silent until they turned toward her house, Jonny knowing exactly where she lived, even if they hadn’t discussed it. But then, he’d been here before, hadn’t he?
“Goodbye, Tate,” she said dismissively, wanting to tell him that the kiss had meant nothing to her as well, that she had also been trying to hide — but she couldn’t quite find the words.
“Goodnight, Ada,” he said softly, padding down the steps, and she realized he was waiting to leave until she shut the door behind her.
So, she did just that, telling herself she was also closing the door to anything further between them besides being friends of friends.
It was far better that way — for everyone involved.
Most especially her.
“Ada, you’re late.”
Ada blinked wearily at her mother. Last night’s adventure had kept her out much later than usual, but it was not as though she had anywhere to be this morning. At least, not that she knew.
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she loaded her plate and asked their footman for a cup of coffee.
“Have you been waiting for me?”
“I have.”
Ada said nothing, knowing her mother would be quick to tell her what she expected.
“Mrs. Carter and her son are coming to call upon us for luncheon.”
Ada dropped her fork, cringing when it clattered onto her plate. Her mother frowned but didn’t comment.
“Why?”
Her mother started. “You are to be married to the man. I should think you would have to lunch with him.”
“Mother,” Ada began with a sigh, beginning the conversation they had repeated time and again. “I do not want to marry David Carter. And he clearly does not want to marry me.”
“How can you say that?” her mother asked as though this was all news.
“He has no interest in me, which has been made abundantly clear by the fact that you and Father and his parents discussed us marrying years ago, and nothing has come of it. He barely speaks to me, let alone shows any interest in a life with me. And I— well, I find him something of a bore.”
“Ada!”
“He speaks of nothing but business and only ever wants to speak to the lovely, softspoken, pretty women. The last time we saw him at a function, he spent the entire night staring at Minnie, despite knowing she was married.”
“She is a beautiful girl,” her mother said, some regret in her voice — regret that her own daughter didn’t look the same, Ada was sure.
Minnie’s soft features, blond hair, and blue eyes drew in every man. It wasn’t her fault — she was as sweet as she looked, even more beautiful on the inside.
Sometimes, Ada could admit, if only to herself, that it was hard to stand beside her friend, with her own angular features, strong nose, and square chin. She was told she appeared as standoffish as Minnie appeared welcoming.
“Then why has he not officially offered for me?” Ada challenged her mother, although she answered before her mother could. “Because he far prefers other women, that is why.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“What’s wrong with it is that he would never do that if he actually cared anything for me.”
“Ada, it’s the norm—”
“Perhaps for you,” Ada said, unable to help the bitterness in her tone. “You grew up in an era where it was common for a man to be married to the woman he was told to wed, while the woman he truly loved lived in another house entirely. I’m sorry, but that is not the life I want for myself.”
A brief flare of fear showed in her mother’s eyes. “Ada, we need you to marry David—”
“Why? Why is it so important?” Ada knew she was being far too aggressive with her mother, but she couldn’t help the annoyance growing within her.
“It’s because Father wants to merge the businesses, isn’t it?
He’s spent years trying to shed the connection to Blackwood, and he thinks that everyone will forget what he did if he merges with a reputable company, one not stained by that same decision he made all of those years ago.
It also doesn’t hurt that this munitions business needs the iron and steel they supply. ”
Her mother pulled herself up to her full height. While she had always been a woman to follow through with what her husband desired, she had also never backed down when it came to Ada or any other she considered her peer or beneath her.
“Ada. Your father and I have done everything for you. Kept you safe. Provided for you. We are only asking this one thing of you.”
“Something that will change the entire course of my life.”
“You can still live the life that you wish. I am sure he will allow you to do so.”
Ada closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath to keep her annoyance within. “That’s just the thing, Mother. I do not wish to be allowed to do anything. I would like to make my own decisions.”
Her mother let out a humorless laugh. “That is a fantasy, Ada. A dream that is not going to come true. So, you might as well make the best of what’s in front of you. Where is this coming from, anyway?”
Her mother was right. Perhaps a few years ago, she would have gone along with all of this, but she had seen her closest friends get married, witnessed the love their husbands had for them, and the chance for them to live as they wished.
It had given her hope. Hope for something different. For a life that she had always dreamed of, but had never thought was possible.
Her mind flitted to Jonny for just a moment, thinking of how he had kissed her, how he hadn’t judged her, how he had trusted in her ability to keep up with him, to be equal to him.
But then she remembered how easily he had dismissed her and told herself that while he might respect her, he certainly didn’t feel anything for her.
It was a thought that stuck with her when she sat in the living room a few hours later, waiting patiently as she and her mother welcomed Mrs. Carter and her son, David, the man whom she had, at one point, dreamed about.
Until she had realized just what he was truly like.
“Miss Jones,” he murmured as he bent over her hand, his black hair close against his head as he dipped it before her, his mustache brushing against her fingers. She shivered at the touch, but unlike the tremors of desire Jonny had given her, with David, she only wanted to pull her hand away.
“How are you?” she asked as they all took seats, her mother and Mrs. Carter deliberately sitting farther away, sending small glances over their shoulders, their smiles approving, even though Ada practically hugged the arm of one side of the sofa.
“I am doing well. And you?”
“Fine,” she said, before silence stretched between them, and they each looked at one another awkwardly before they broke the connection and gazed around the room, Ada’s fingers tapping against her knee.
“What has kept you busy?” she finally asked.
“Busy?”
“Yes,” she said, a small smile she didn’t feel gracing her lips. “I have hardly seen you of late. Where have you been?”
“Oh,” he said, his brows raising. “I have been busy with business matters.”
“Business matters,” she repeated. “At all hours?”
“Yes, mostly,” he said, dipping his head.
“Tell me, David,” she said, leaning in toward him as though she had a secret, and he followed suit. She lowered her voice enough that their mothers wouldn’t hear. “Do you truly want to marry me?”
He jerked backward as though she had slapped him, drawing attention from across the room, causing Ada to cringe when her mother eyed her suspiciously.
“O-of course,” he said, nodding. “Why would I not?”
She shrugged. “You haven’t moved forward with anything yet,” she said. “But quite honestly, if you have no intention of doing so — or if you would prefer to marry someone else — best to say the word now so that my parents can move on.”
She already had and would certainly feel nothing but relief.
His eyes shifted from one side to the other, not landing on her.
“It’s not like that.”
“No?” she said. “Then do tell me the truth of it.”
“I have been busy, like I said,” he repeated, nodding his head vigorously, as though pleased with what he had come up with. Ada waited to see if he had any further explanation, but he only tapped his fingers against his knee as though this conversation was boring him.
When luncheon was announced, he practically sprang to his feet in relief, and Ada could only sigh as they went in to dine.
If this was the life that awaited her, she was in big trouble.
There was only one option.
To find a way out of this.
And to do it soon.