Page 17 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
It was the day of Thornhill’s journey.
The commotion downstairs woke Jasmine up, and she groaned in agony. She simply wanted to lay in bed all day and sleep her eyes out. She had had very little sleep through the night, partly because the maids had been making a racket while they were packing and partly because she could not keep the beastly man she met at the bookshop out of her head.
Every time she closed her eyes, she could see him standing in front of her in the bookshop with that mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Whenever she tried to push the thought of him away, her mind fed her the memory of him towering over her in the alleyway, concern etched on his face.
Most importantly, she could not forget how his presence made her feel. How her arms were covered in goosebumps when he took just a step closer, and how the sight of his taut arms and the outline of his firm chest caused a tingle in her core.
“Jasmine, Mama said you should get dressed and come down for breakfast this minute,” Daphne said at Jasmine’s door.
Jasmine groaned again before she rolled out of bed. She stepped in front of her dresser and looked at her face. She had dark circles because she had not had a good night’s sleep, and her hair was in disarray.
Jasmine sighed again.
Clank!The sound of stainless cutlery falling resounded across the house, and Jasmine frowned. This was followed by the housekeeper’s voice firmly reprimanding the maid that had caused the noise.
Having a bunch of noisy siblings who always managed to cause a racket was enough stress for Jasmine, but with the maids running around and packing for the countryside, Jasmine knew what she would have to endure the rest of the day.
She quickly dressed for the journey ahead, made her hair presentable, and headed for the dining table. As expected, the other members of her family had already started eating. In fact, some of them had nearly finished eating.
“Where are the other maids?” Rose asked through a mouthful of toast.
“Rose, how many times do I need to tell you to never talk when you have food in your mouth? It is terribly improper for a Lady of your caliber,” the Countess scolded.
“But… William does it,” Rose retorted.
“I am a man.”
“William is a man. Speaking while chewing is unladylike.”
Coincidentally, William and the Countess chose the same time to remind Rose that William could pretty much do whatever he did because he was a man.
Bad idea.Knowing how much Rose hated this, Jasmine knew her sister would delve into a long sermon about how she was treated unfairly.
“Talking while chewing is unladylike, but, somehow, it is gentlemanly. That does not even make any sense.” Rose spat, visibly angry.
William shrugged.
“A man has to work and get the finances of the house in order while the woman gets to simply enjoy and do whatever she wants,” William argued.
Rose broke into an argument about how William was wrong, but Jasmine tuned it all out; the noise of her siblings and the maids rushing in and out of the house was unbearable for her sleep-deprived mind.
The moment Jasmine finished her food, she slipped into the library to have some peace before they left for their journey. She took a deep sigh as she entered the library. The library was one of the few places that made her happy in the house, after her room, of course.
Her Father had stocked the library with several books from fairy tales to romance novels to newspapers and even science books and philosophy books.
“This is a very fragile vial. Carry it with the utmost care,” Jasmine heard Rose say to one of the maids, and she smiled. It was in this very library that Rose had also read the books that made her develop an interest in science and experimenting.
Jasmine sat at a table with the book she had bought the previous day. It was then that her eyes caught an engravement on the table. It read “R & J” in fine handwriting that could only be Rose’s.
The R and J in the engravement were for Rose and Jasmine, and Jasmine smiled as she recalled the memory of the time the engravement was made. Jasmine closed her eyes and could remember a simpler time when she and Rose had been much closer. Then, they were always together and often came to the library together to read. Jasmine read romance stories while Rose read about science, plants, and animals.
After their daily readings, Rose would tell Jasmine about the exciting new things she had learned, and Jasmine would tell Rose about the characters in the books she had been reading and what the characters were up to. Even though neither of the sisters was interested in the other’s hobby, they would still listen with rapt attention.
It all began to go downhill when Rose had her debut. She frequented the library less often and was in her room all day, forced to try on new dresses and hairstyles. Jasmine, who was used to reading alongside her sister, was saddened by this.
And when their father and mother began opposing Rose’s experiments because they deterred her from focusing on her suitors, Jasmine unwittingly told Rose to stop her experiments to make their parents happy.
What she did not tell Rose, however, was that the real reason she had told her to stop the experiments was so that they could go back to the times when they were closer. This was simply the last nail in their relationship’s coffin as Rose simply shut Jasmine out and stopped telling her about her plans and experiments.
