Page 33 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
‘Yes. That is true.’
He was still holding her, and it was a strange sort of revelation.
Jane had never gone to him for comfort. They simply hadn’t had that sort of relationship. It had been companionable. For a long time. And he had loved her. But she had not gone to him when she was in an emotional state.
She had never leaned against him like this.
And suddenly it was as if Mary realised that she was allowing him to hold her, and she moved away from him. ‘Thank you again, Your Grace.’
She turned away from him and began to walk towards her room. ‘I can find my way from here.’
He nodded, and watched as she disappeared into her chamber.
And he was left with a raw heart, his palms burning.
He decided that he would be sending some well-placed letters, to destroy all of that bastard’s business arrangements.
Because he could not send a man to the gallows. But he would hang him financially, socially.
It was in his power to do so.
He was a duke.
And the man would not forget it.
Chapter Seven
She was fuzzy-headed and distracted after everything that had happened last night...
That man would have raped her.
He had seen her and decided he was entitled to her body. He’d thought he had the right to her because she was a woman, and because she was not a lady.
But she had not been a girl. A thirteen-year-old with no idea of what the man meant to do, and no means to protect herself. She had practised with that knife. Practised taking it from her bodice and holding it, just like that. Either at a man’s throat, or at his cock.
She had prepared, and that preparation had meant she’d been able to protect herself and she was...
She was not reduced. She had thought she might be. That she would collapse, having been faced with a shade of her past pain again. But she was not the same and she’d proven that. It was almost intoxicating. She’d had the strength to kill him if she’d needed it and by God she would have. She’d have faced the gallows with pride.
But West had been there. Afterwards, she had fallen apart, and he had held her.
His strength had been used to comfort.
It was a revelation. One she had not asked for. One she did notwishfor.
But this strange feeling of power that now suffused her was wrapping itself around her appreciation for his strength. Almost as if her own strength made it acceptable to enjoy his.
She would see him again tonight.
In fact, she could think of nothing else.
She would see him again. Tonight. After he had put his hands on her, held her fast while she had trembled. She’d been strong until she was safe, and then he had been there.
No one had ever been there for her before.
A man’s hands on her had never been comforting.
They had never been...compelling.
