Page 33 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
Chapter Thirteen
“Ihave something I need to discuss with you both,” Luke said. He sat at the dining table in their hut with Jenny and Jack. They had eaten a hearty meal of fish and potatoes, and they had chattered back and forth about inconsequential things.
Now they had finished eating, he knew the time had come to say what he needed to say. He worried it would turn into an argument, but he couldn’t let it go unsaid for much longer.
“What is it, Luke?” Jenny asked, and Luke felt the thrum of anxiety. He swallowed when he saw the concerned look on her face. He knew how worried she would be by what he had to say, and the last thing he wanted was to have her fretting over him.
“You know that I have become… somewhat friendly with Lady Alison?” he began.
“We know it all right,” Jenny said, turning away disapprovingly. “The whole house knows it, and all. It’ll do you no good, you know. You’ll get hurt in the end.”
“Well, a few days ago, she came to see me in the stables.”
“You haven’t got her into trouble, have you, Lad?” Jack asked, shooting him a warning glance.
“Goodness no, Jack!” Luke said. “What do you take me for?”
“I’ve got to ask, that’s all,” he said. “I know how tempting these things can be when you’re young and carefree.”
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
Luke was surprised that Jack even had to ask, but he understood all the same. From the conversations he overheard the other servants having, many of them would not have any qualms about getting a ladyinto trouble, if it meant a moment of gratification for themselves.
“Then what is it?” Jenny urged. “Don’t leave us in the dark, Lukey.” She got up from the table and picked up their plates, scraping them and stacking them gently.
“She told me that she has… well, that she has developed feelings for me. Something more than just friendship,” he said.
He chewed his lip as he looked at them, awaiting their response. The three of them seemed momentarily frozen in time; Luke considered his next words, Jenny and Jack looking confused—as though the idea of love was something alien to them.
Perhaps it is.
“Not this again,” she said, rolling her eyes, and the noise of the room became audible to him again. Jenny let the plates fall noisily into the bucket. She would take them out to the main kitchen for washing later on.
“And you have feelings for her?” Jack asked. He seemed calm, although he was clearly concerned, too.
“Yes,” Luke said, his expression straight and serious, “very much so.”
“You know he has,” Jenny said, her eyes soft with worry but her lips pushed into a thin lip of disapproval. “He won’t stop mooning over her like a little puppy.”
“’Tis a dangerous path to tread, Lad,” Jack warned, raising an eyebrow. “Love has its place, and I’m not sure this is it.”
“It’s a stupid path, too,” Jenny said, and then she added a little firmly, “You must end this nonsense once and for all, Luke. Save us all the trouble.”
“Trouble!” he cried. “You call my love trouble!”
“Stop it, Luke,” she spat. “That is not what I am saying and you know it.”
“You don’t understand, Jenny.”
“You’re right about that,” Jenny said, turning to look directly at him. “I don’t understand why you are so intent on destroying what we’ve built here. Because that’s all that will come of this, mark my words.”
“Listen!” Luke snapped. “Please, Jenny. Sit down and listen to what I have to say before you pass judgment.”
“All right,” she said, and she returned to her seat and folded her arms in front of her. “Explain it to us.”
“Alison and I—”
“LadyAlison,” Jack reminded him. “No need to lose your manners, also.”
