Page 20 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
She wants the satisfaction of my asking. She will not merely tell me.
“What, then, Jenny? It’s late. We are both tired. Let’s not play games this evening.”
She tutted, but then she spoke.
“There is no need to be quite so grumpy. I was only going to tell you that the Master and Mistress are keen to see her married as soon as possible,” she said.
“That is not news,” Luke said. “She is of the age to be married. I would expect nothing less.” He shook his head, annoyed at Jenny’s nonsense. That she thought it would be any other way seemed ludicrous to him.
“Perhaps,” Jenny said with a shrug, “but there was more. They discussed quite openly about how it needs to be a gentleman and a wealthy one at that.”
Luke sighed and hung his head before looking back up at her.
“What’s all this to do with me?” he asked, frustrated by his sister’s words after an evening of irritations. She didn’t say anything he did not know. Of course her parents wanted her married to a titled man.
“Well, you are neither of those, are you?” she asked. Her voice had a hard tone to it now, less gossip and more warning. “Neither a gentleman nor wealthy. In fact, you’re quite the opposite.”
“No, and neither do I—”
“And how would you support her in the lifestyle in which she is accustomed, Brother? What would you do?”
“Jenny,” he said, warning her of his wrath with his calm and measured tone. “I do not propose to support her at all. There is no such thing going on between Lady Alison and me.”
“Apparently, the Earl of Belmont is the current favorite,” she said, completely ignoring his words and returning to her sing-song tone.
The name sent Luke into a flurry of anger, but he clenched his jaw and remained calm. Jenny knew how to rile him, to get under his skin, and she had done just that.
“Be quiet now, Jenny. It is time to go to sleep.”
“Even Lady Alison herself seemed taken with him as they spun around the dance floor,” she said again, ignoring his warning words, his warning glance.
“You are mistaken,” Luke said through gritted teeth. She had lit a fire under him, and were she not careful, she would feel his wrath.
“No, Luke, I am not mistaken. You weren’t there. I was. I saw it all, and I am telling you this much, there will be a match between Lady Alison and the Earl of Belmont before the week is out.”
Luke huffed, his nostrils flaring, but he didn’t say anything more. His soul felt suddenly heavy and he wanted to pull his knees up to his chest and hug himself, wishing away the pain. He didn’t believe Lady Alison would do such a thing and yet… he had seen them dancing, and he had always known their own match was an impossible one.
He went to lay back on his pallet, not wanting to have this conversation any more, but as he leaned back, she spoke again. He looked up at her with a sigh on his lips—not quite sounded, but so almost there.
“You should forget about her, Luke,” Jenny said, her tone even and with a nonchalance that told Luke she had been waiting for the moment to say these words. “She lives in a different world to us. It would never work. She is nobility and you are—”
“What? Nothing but a groom? Do you really do us such a disservice that you consider us to be lower than them, somehow?”
“Wearelower than them, Luke.”
“Not lower,” he said firmly. “Different. There is nothing more to it than that. We are all but human, and wealth is a man-made commodity. I will not be held to ransom because of it.”
“For goodness sake, Luke,” she cried. “No one is holding youto ransom. You’re even beginning to talk like her with all yourcommoditynonsense! A match between you and Lady Alison is impossible and yes, in a good part thanks to the fact that you are a groom and nothing more!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luke said, his voice low and dejected. He refused to make eye contact with his sister. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t stop himself from loving Lady Alison with all his heart. He could never make that stop, and neither—if he was honest—did he want to.
“I do know what I’m talking about,” Jenny said, pushing him further. “I know exactly of what I speak. You are deluding yourself, Luke. I live in the real world. This is no good for you and no good for her either. And it could have disastrous consequences for all of us. You don’t care one bit for that.”
“Enough now, Jenny, before I get angry,” he growled at her, looking at her from the side of his eyes.
“You should find a girl from the village, instead,” she said in a resigned tone now, almost pleading. “Many of them are pretty enough, and they would make good wives—honest and dedicated and, more importantly, from the same world. You are getting ideas above your station, brother, and I—”
“I don’t want a girl from the village!” Luke felt breathless. He had never admitted his love to his sister, but that she knew showed him it was evident enough. But he couldn’t abide her suggestion. The thought of marrying someone other than Lady Alison made every part of him tense and uncomfortable. He wanted only her.
“But you don’t have a choice, Luke!” she cried. “It is bad enough that—”
“Enough!” Jack’s roar was loud despite his frail disposition, and he had half sat up with the force of it.
Jack fell back on the bed, his shouted word having drained him of the last of his energy, and he wheezed as he tried to regain his breath. Luke and Jenny both lowered their eyes, ashamed of their bickering, and they both mumbled their apologies.
“Please,” Jack rasped, “make peace. And let us not make problems before problems have arisen.”
“You’re right,” Luke said. “I apologize. Now, let’s get some sleep. We have another long day on the morrow.”
