Page 76 of A Bluestocking for the Wicked Duke
“Let’s hear yours then. You seemed very disturbed right now,” Lord James said.
“I am.”
William started from his first visit to Esther in Norfolk and continued his story to his time with Joane on the wheat fields. He left out no detail.
“She offered herself to you,” Lord James repeated after William.
“Yes.”
“And you refused her?”
“Yes.”
William saw the look of disbelief on his friend’s face.
“I know what you are about to say,” William said.
“What?” Lord James asked.
“That the William you know would never turn down a chance like that.”
“Damn you’re right. Even if she wasn’t your path to revenge, you would take it. She frigging offered herself to you, in her glorious virginity. That was your chance to have at her father,” Lord James said.
William shook his head.
“I couldn’t do it James. I couldn’t take her virginity knowing I was just seeing her as a prize. If I had left her after taking her, I don’t know what she would do to herself,” William said.
“Isn’t that what you want?”
“I don’t know what I want anymore James,” William answered, putting his head between his hands.
He felt despair. He had lost in two ways. He couldn’t have his revenge and he couldn’t have Joane. Lord James rubbed his shoulders.
“All isn’t doom and gloom, stop making it seem like it is,” Lord James said.
“But before we plot any more steps, I need you to state out some things.”
William raised his head.
“What?” he asked.
“What do you want?” Lord James asked him.
William smiled. He knew exactly what he wanted.
Joane.
He wasn’t going to deny it.
“She’s no more just a pawn in my revenge plan,” William said.
“So what is she to you now?” Lord James said.
“I don’t know James. I do know I want her.”
“That much is obvious,” Lord James replied.
“And what of Esther?” Lord James asked.
