“That the warehouse might be empty,” Ada finished for him.
“Exactly.”
“There we go,” Ada said. “Now, when is it?”
“In three days,” Jonny replied.
“Then we have three days to prepare.” Ada slipped ontohis lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What do you say we take tonight to focus on something else?”
Jonny couldn’t help but smile at that, leaning his head down and taking her lips. He shut off the lamp and carried her up the stairs, laying her on the bed, removing her clothing slowly this time.
“I was wondering,” he said, tracing a line down her neck, over her collarbones, down to her breasts, straining up to meet him.
“Wondering what?”
“How far your freckles stretched.”
“Everywhere,” she said, biting her lip. “Do you mind?”
“Absolutely not,” he said, looking up at her with a grin. “I love them.”
He made love to her, strong and steady, slow but sure, needing her to know, even if he couldn’t tell her, just how much she meant to him.
And when she finally fell asleep, her head on his arm, Jonny lay beside her, looking down, watching her breathe.
And realized that there was no other option than for this all to work.
For he couldn’t live without her, in any way. Before, he’d had nothing to lose.
Now, he had everything, and he refused to give it up.
Not willingly. He had the woman of his dreams, and, if he had anything to do with it, she would remain in reality.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“You need to come home. And you need to come home now.”
Ada stared at the man standing at the door of Jonny’s house.
Her father.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in measured tones. Jonny was due to return from work any minute now, thank goodness. He didn’t like to leave her alone during the day, but he didn’t have the type of job that allowed her to accompany him. She spent most of her days with Minnie at Tommy’s blacksmith shop, or with Lily or Emmaline, but they were busy and she always liked to return at the same time Jonny would arrive home.
It had only been a few days now, and she wasn’t entirely sure that his schedule was always the same.
She hoped today wouldn’t be one of those days he was held up.
“I am not marrying David Carter,” she said, sure that was what her father had come to collect her for. “We already went down that path.”
Her father rubbed his forehead. She was actually surprised he had come himself and hadn’t sent one of his servants or employees to fetch her. Perhaps he had been sure that she would have refused them.
She would do the same to him.
“Ada. As of right now, no one knows that you have been staying here. We can still save your reputation. But now is our only chance. The Carters are going to take the accusations against you public.”
“Andthatis the family that you want me to marry into? One who would throw me to the wolves at the first opportunity?”
“They feel slighted,” her father said, looking around him. “Can I please come in? I?—”
