Page 23 of Denying a Rakish Duke
“Lady Vanessa!” he exclaimed, and several loud thumps resounded in the small space before Vanessa was successfully able to unfold herself from the hold that her dress had on her. Her beautiful face was bright red with humiliation as she smoothed down the bodice of her dress and started to straighten out the layers of her skirt. She refused to look at him. He felt as if he had been caught stealing something, or perhaps his mind had been so focused on Vanessa that he had summoned her into existence from the force of will alone. “What are you doing in here? You are supposed to be down with your uncle for the reading of whatever book he chose!”
Vanessa stomped her foot indignantly. “Me? What amIdoing inside of a room inside ofmy own home? I should ask you the same thing! I seem to recall you being rather offended that somebody was exploringyourhome uninvited! Now you do the exact same thing with no regard for anyone else!”
“That was never my intention— that is beside the point!”
“It is theonlypoint, Your Grace; now if you will excuse me, I think that it will be best for you to make a quick exit from the Manor, and never darken our doorstep again with yourfilthypresence.” Vanessa kept her eyes trained on the door, not even daring to blink as she started to stride toward the door with as haughty of an air as she could muster.
“Oh no, you will not be leaving this room until you have explained yourself!” Joseph grabbed Vanessa by her forearm and wrenched her toward him— Vanessa gasped indignantly and slapped him across the face.
“Donottouch me! You shallnevertouch me again!”
Tears were unshed in her eyes as she glared at him. Over his years of life, he had made plenty of women angry when he had offended them and double-crossed them. On many occasions he had toyed with their feelings with little regard to the consequences or the state that their hearts might be left in … yet he had never seen a woman look at him in the way that Vanessa was looking at him now.
Joseph probed the side of his face gingerly; the skin was already hot from the well-placed slap. She was more forceful than she realized, but he did not let her go. He tightened his grip on her arm and yanked her towards himself. “That is thethirdtime that you have struck me, and you shall not do so again!” he growled from clenched teeth. None of this was going right. These were not the words that he really wished to say to her, but they were leaving his lips nonetheless.
“I should do a great dealmore,Your Grace! I am going to leave this room, and you cannot stop me.” Her teeth bared as she attempted to wrench her arm free from his grasp so that she could do as she claimed. “Just as you cannot stop me from telling everybody what you were doing! I will ensure that you are exposed, and my sister will never marry a cad such as you!”
“You were stalking me, baiting me into a trap!”
“I was doing no such thing! You should not have been here in the first place! I did notforceLady Thompson into this room! I did not know that you were going to come in here and attempt toseduce heron my father’s desk!” Vanessa had lost all control over the volume of her voice. She stomped on the Duke’s foot for a second time and yanked her arm away from him at the same time. She darted away from him but ended up putting even more space between herself and the goal that was the door. “Let me leave!”
“Not until you explain yourself!”
“You first!” Vanessa practically shouted, and Joseph grimaced.
“Fine!” Vanessa blinked and straightened. If he refused to move, she had nearly been about to pluck something from the desk to throw at his head with all of her might. She was finished playing nice. She was finished pretending that this would not happen on her watch … and her heart ached for how betrayed she felt when now she realized that she had no right to be hurt over the situation any further than the offense that he had no regard for Amanda’s feelings.
“You do not care for my sister at all! Do you?!”
Joseph chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I wanted to.”
“What is what supposed to mean?!”
“It means that I wanted to! I wanted to care for her very much!” Vanessa spluttered as if she could not believe anything that he said.
“I wanted to care for her; she is exactly the sort of woman that a Duke is supposed to marry. For a man with the title and position such as mine, your sister is exactly the sort of woman that is destined to become a Duchess. Your other sisters have both become Duchesses, and while your apparent desire not to marry is one thing, I have not been afforded the same choice. I am expected to marry a proper lady and sire many heirs. I do not have brothers, and the duty of this falls to me or else my line shall end with me. I was once perfectly all right with this.” He shook his head. None of this was coming out right. “The point is, she is where my attentions should have been.”
“I see, but the temptation that is Lady Thompson was just too alluring for you, is that it? You cannot go even two nights without putting your hands on a woman? Have you no regard for the feelings of others at all?” A single tear slid down the side of her face which she quickly wiped away as if it never had happened.
“Will youlisten?” Joseph bellowed and glanced over his shoulder to ensure that the door was locked before he continued. “I meant to marry your sister, that is true, and I never would have treated her unkindly. I would have ensured that she had everything that she ever wanted. Together we would have made handsome children and raised them with every comfort that a child could ever want. I did not expect to become emotionally invested other than my duty to care for her and our children … this is true; you were right about me in that sense.”
Vanessa shook her head. “You sir, have no honor.”
“Please,” Joseph implored. “Let me speak my peace … and then you can go; I shall not stop you once I have finished.” Vanessa folded her arms across her chest and waited, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“I have been with many women; you were right to call me a rake— I shall not deny it, but since I met you, everything has changed.”
Vanessa scoffed, her eyes rolling. “How many women have you said that to? I do not see why you are wasting your breath in explaining all of this to me when there are plenty of other women who will be happy to have a title and not have to worry about having her husband’s heart as well. You do not need Amanda for that— just go; go and let this be over.”
“I cannot. Since the first night that we danced together, everything changed. For two nights I have been able to think of nothing but you, of your beautiful blue eyes and your fire. You speak with such determination and passion; you are not afraid to quarrel with me. Apart from my grandmother, nobody has ever been honest enough with me to speak their mind or tell me when I am being an unmitigated ass … which I am, more often than not.”
“I see, so your obsession with my eyes is what brought you to sneak about my home andseduce other women!”
The precarious restraint that he presently had on his temper threatened to snap, but he knew that the moment he succumbed to his baser urge, all would be lost. If he allowed her to leave this room as angry as she was at this very moment, she would likely never speak to him again. “So, there is the crux of the issue then? You are simply jealous that it was another woman who tempted me, and not you?”
Vanessa blanched; she blinked incredulously up at him three times over before she started to walk to the door once more. “We are finished; this conversation is over. I do not have to stand here and listen to you.”
“No, that was not what I meant. This is coming out all wrong; you must understand, I have never attempted to have this conversation before.”
