Page 9 of The Duke's Goddess

Love didn’t have to be complicated. It didn’t have to be entwined, wrapped up, coated in layers and tied with a dare. Daring a duke had nothing to do with love for Sally and Jacob. Shy Sally. Always with a softly spoken word. A gentle soul. Pure and innocent. She was in love with the boy who was too shy to ask. But once he did ask, Joanknew that the floodgates of love would open. Or perhaps, to stick with the metaphor from Mimi, love would take aim and shoot her arrow (yes, cupid is female here because, well…Mimi).

It was simple. Innocent. This moment of helping her friend was already opening Joan’s eyes to love. Perhaps her heart would follow.

Chapter 4

“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”–Joan of Arc

AS SHE STOOD THERE, with her opening, Joan realized that this was the perfect opportunity to learn more. The more she knew, the better she could help. If all it came down to was each person taking courage, speaking to each other, and saying yes to love, then Joan already knew the plan. If there were any complications that should come to light, it was better to know them up front rather than later on down the road.

“What have you noticed?” Joan asked because she was in it now. She may as well dig deep and find out what she could. So she stood at Sally’s side as the two of them observed Jacob and James a few yards away. The two gentlemen were having a tense discussion, despite the tight smiles on their lips. Joan was pretty sure that James was trying to convince Jacob to do something. If not to invite Sally for a dance, at least to converse with her. And now that Joan was with her, there wouldn’t be as much pressure. Four people made conversation easier than two shy people.

She sighed in thought, and finally answered Joan’s question from behind her fan. “His dark hair.”

Dark hair. That was a good reason to be smitten. If one was into dark hair, Joan supposed it was attractive. Though really, it ought to be as dark as James’s hair if not darker for one to really see the appeal.

“Ahhh…and his blue eyes.” All right. That was more information, although of a similar depth level to the first point. Dark hair. Blue eyes.

True. Jacob’s eyes were a nice blue. If one liked the pale robin’s egg color over looking into the ocean of James's eyes when one spoke.

“So…is that why you…” she didn’t know how to ask Sally if she loved him. That felt too direct. “You feel the way you do about him?”

“I’m in love with him.” At that announcement Sally closed her eyes and exhaled softly. “I can’t help it. It’s overtaken me. I’m afraid I’ll do something reckless with him.”

This was headed in the right direction. In fact, this was exactly what Mimi had observed. Jacob was pining. And it looked as though Sally was pining the same way. “So if he asks you to dance, you’ll say yes?”

“God, yes. I’ve been waiting. I’m almost of a mind to walk up to him myself and ask him.”

This was news. Good and bad news. Bad only if Sally acted as recklessly as she suggested. It was not done for a woman to ask a man to dance. But the news was also good. Good in that perhaps Sally didn’t need her help at all. It seemed that this was a fairly one-sided deficiency. That of Jacob’s. All he needed to do was ask, and Sally was all his. Joan could feel her heart rejoicing again. She needed to take action to help Jacob take action, so that Sally didn’t take action and make a fool of herself. Or worse, causea scandal. Sweet, shy, innocent Sally. The last thing she needed (the last thing any woman needed) was a scandal.

Joan looked up, trying to catch James’s eye. It was a bit awkward, since the two of them hadn’t really conversed before. But…well, oddly, it was simpler than she thought it would be. When she looked up, he was already waiting. So once she caught his eye, she took a half step back to be out of Sally’s peripheral vision. Then she tilted her chin toward Jacob. James pointed discreetly to his friend with his hand on his chin and Joan nodded. Then she canted her head toward Sally and James nodded.

Wow. For never really having a conversation with him, that went smoothly. She would have never thought that communicating with a stranger, a male one at that, could be so…effortless.

And then she saw James give Jacob a soft tug on his arm. Say something to him. Which she could only hypothesize was something manly like,Get your wits about you. Ask the chit to dance. When Jacob shook his head slightly, James made another comment and Jacob’s eyes went wide. Slowly he nodded, and James patted him on the back. Hard. Likely with a twofold purpose. One, to congratulate him on making the right decision. Two, to give the man some forward momentum and take the first step forward.

It was all going according to plan. It was all so simple. Joan couldn’t be more delighted.

“He’s coming,” Sally squeaked.

“Yes, he is. Are you ready?”

“I can’t believe it,” she said, her fan fluttering faster than Joan had ever seen a woman flutter a fan before. Another whisper-squeal, “It’s happening. It’s finally happening. My mother won’t like this one bit, but I’m so happy.”

And that last sentence gave Joan cause for concern. Why would her mother not be happy? Jacob was perfectly respectable, albeit a bit shy. There was no reason—

“How do I look?” Sally was breathless. To the point that Joan thought she might be a likely candidate to swoon.

“You look beautiful. Take a deep breath. You don’t want to swoon before he has a chance to ask you to dance.”

“No, you’re right.” She panted. Panted! Despite standing still with her shoulders nearly at her ears in tension. “Wait. Maybe if I swoon he’ll catch me in his strong arms and then he’ll carry me away.”

“All right, Sally.” The plan was not so simple right now. Sally needed to calm down or everything would hit her fan and scatter everywhere. The fan was still flapping at a preposterously rapid pace. “Let’s think this through. We have two seconds before he’s here. You can have a first dance in his arms, fully present with him, or you can fall in his arms semi-conscious. Which is it going to be?”

And really, Joan thought she had laid out that question as if there was only one preferred option. Yet Sally paused before answering.

“The dance,” she decided, as if it were an epiphany. “I’ll go with the dance. Oh, thank you Joan. Thank you for being here. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

At this point, Joan wasn’t sure what she would have done either.

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