Jude smiled. “Thank you, Reverend. Is that all? For I must get back to the carriage now.”
The vicar hesitated. “Actually, thereissomething else I would like to discuss, Jude.” He smiled tentatively. “I wasn’t entirely honest before, when I said that Mr. Pimm was sick just for the day. His malady is ongoing, and the physician has advised him to focus solely on his work and cut out any extracurricular activities. He has regretfully stepped down from the pantomime.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” said Jude, knowing exactly why the vicar had stopped him again now. “I hope he makes a full recovery soon.”
“Yes, yes,” said the vicar, waving a hand in the air impatiently. “We all hope that he gets well. But the fact remains that we no longer have a Prince Charming.” After a slight pause, he asked. “Would you be agreeable to taking the role over permanently?”
Jude sighed heavily. He glanced over the vicar’s shoulder. Lady Evelina was standing there, staring at them both, with a solemn expression on her face.
“I have already asked the lady,” continued Reverend Basingstoke. “She was surprised, but agreed. She understands it is simply the easiest solution since you have already stepped in and know the role now. We are all committed to making this year’s Christmas pantomime a great success.”
Jude sighed again. He knew he had no choice but to consent. But he knew it was dangerous, and it was stoking the flames of his longing for her. When they had been on that stage alone, talking as their characters, it was as if it was truly happening between them. He had felt it intensely, and he knew she had as well. It was as if no one else was in that room, as if it was just the two of them.
They had been acting… but they hadn’t been as well.
And if he took this role, it would happen again and again. How could he suppress the longing for her? How could he keep his vow to himself and Lenny to leave her alone?
Why had she agreed to it? She had been trying to keep her distance from him as well. She had told him they must forget the kiss. And now… now, it was all topsy-turvy again.
“Jude?” The vicar’s voice intruded upon his reverie. “It is not just the convenience, you know. I am not lying when I say that you are doing an excellent job.” He grinned. “And let us just say that you are physically more appealing in the role than Mr. Pimm would ever have been. You will have all the village girls longing for you to be their very own Prince Charming, my dear man!”
Jude laughed. He looked at Evelina again. She smiled slightly before nodding. Her blue eyes were gleaming with excitement.
He felt another stirring in his loins. She wanted this to happen, even though she knew it was as dangerous as he did. She wanted an excuse to be close to him, just like he had relished the excuse to be close to her.
It seemed they were both equal players in this dangerous game.
He turned back to the vicar. “Alright, I will do it,” he said.
The vicar yelped with joy, clapping him on the back. “Oh, well done, my dear man! God will smile upon you for being so generous and giving your time to assist in the pantomime.”
The vicar kept bubbling away, but Jude blocked him out. He was staring at the lady again. He was losing himself in her eyes. And suddenly, he didn’t care about her status, or his, or that the world would crucify him for yearning for her. None of it seemed to matter any longer. God help him.
Chapter 17
Evelina glanced quickly behind as she walked through the small village square. Jude was following her, carrying the parcels she was collecting. She shivered as their eyes connected once again, feeling it run down the entire length of her body, a delicious wave that she did not try to suppress or ignore.
It was the annual Christmas fair, when the villagers set up stalls selling produce, homemade preserves and jams, as well as home crafts that could be purchased as gifts. She perused perfumed soaps, carved wooden children’s toys, and exquisite Christmas ornaments. The air was imbued with laughter and chatter, like a light sprinkling of snowflakes.
She smiled as she remembered walking hand in hand with her mother through this fair. Mama would always buy her a roasted chestnut and a warm cocoa at the end. Nothing had ever tasted so delicious.
She turned away from Jude as she picked up a lace shawl, marvelling at the workmanship. She had always been intending to attend the fair after the pantomime rehearsal, but she hadn’t intended to ask Jude to follow her through it. But after their morning together on the stage, she felt emboldened.
She wanted to extend the time being close to him. It was as simple as that. And she needed someone to carry her purchases, didn’t she?
Evelina put down the shawl, feeling a warm glow all around her. They would have many opportunities to be this close now that he was a permanent member of the pantomime cast. When Reverend Basingstoke had asked her after the rehearsal, she had known what her answer was going to be even before he had finished speaking. She was going to give her permission for the handsome coachman to be Prince Charming.
She sighed. It seemed as inevitable as the sun rising in the east in the morning now. She had been trying to fight what was between them, but clearly fate had other ideas entirely. Why else were they continually being thrown together like this against the odds? It wasn’t as if either of them had sought for him to be a part of the pantomime. It had just happened, like everything else had since he had arrived at Bosworth Manor.
She knew there was no future in it. She knew they could never be together openly. She knew it was dangerous, that if they were discovered together, there would be harsh consequences. But it no longer seemed to matter, or at least, she was willing to brave those consequences.
It seemed her desire for him was stronger than her fear and the knowledge that it would inexorably end one day.
She kept walking, smiling at the children sitting on the ground in front of a small booth where a puppet show was performing. The children screamed with laughter at the antics of Punch and Judy. It was at that moment that she heard the songs of the choir wafting on the wind towards her.
Her heart clenched. The wassailers.
She drifted towards the sound, as if being carried by the air. It was both beautiful and heartbreaking, for it reminded her of that long ago Christmas Eve when she had witnessed her mother and father kissing beneath the mistletoe before the annual ball. The time when they had all been a family, still together, all bewitched under the same spell that was Christmas.