Page 20 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
She was all alone in the house, and she had just realized that the man whose money she had stolen the previous day possibly lived in the estate beside hers. And now, he may have seen her.
Jasmine knew she should be terrified. Instead, however, the only thing she felt was excitement. Excitement that she had finally come across the man who had consumed her thoughts once again.
Could he be the one living in that house?
Jasmine could not dare a look at the beastly man again, so she had no choice but to face her present state. Her stomach grumbled, and she was suddenly reminded that she had not eaten any real food since the morning of the previous day.
Jasmine went to the kitchen and tried to make proper food, but she could not. She checked to see if there were any more leftovers, but she soon realized that she had eaten all the leftovers the previous night. And she still needed to figure out how to light a fire.
Jasmine set down the pan in her hands in frustration; she let out a scream of frustration that echoed through the house and ended up being louder than she had envisaged.
She could not believe she had been happy about being alone in the house just the previous night. This was a nightmare; she hoped her family would soon realize she was missing and come back for her. She could not imagine staying another night in the foodless and cold house. She badly needed to warm her hands and feet, and she needed a good meal.
Jasmine shivered as she imagined what could happen if her family did not return for her in time.
What if I go next door and ask for assistance?
She shook her head immediately. Jasmine wanted nothing more than to be in the man’s presence again but considering what she had done to him the last time they saw each other, she knew it would be a foolhardy decision to go to his house.
He would get the constables to lock me up for stealing his money.
She would rather starve to death than ask for help in a house that was owned by a man called the Nordic Beast. She had not forgotten what Cassian had told her about the man either: the rumor that he had killed his wife and the ridiculous ones that he ate children for breakfast.
Jasmine wondered if the beastly man was a brother to the Nordic beast.
Jasmine stood by the kitchen’s window, looking over the wide expanse of her Father’s estate. She could not believe she would starve to death on such a huge estate. It was then that her eyes caught it—an apple tree.
Jasmine’s eyes widened, and she was suddenly filled with energy. She hopped out of the kitchen and out of the house into the garden.
There were a lot of ripe apples on the apple tree, and Jasmine happily harvested loads of them. Right there, in the middle of the garden, Jasmine sat on the ground and ate two apples at a speed that surprised even her.
By the time she finished eating the apples, her mouth and clothes were smeared with the fruit. She finally heaved a sigh of relief as her hunger abated. At least now, she knew she would not have to go to the Nordic Beast’s house out of hunger.
There were a few more fruit trees in the garden, so Jasmine knew that she could feast on them until her parents finally came back for her.
* * *
Whack!
The axe landed on the log of wood, but there was no sign of weakening from the wood. As someone who had chopped wood for years, however, Axel knew the wood had weakened inside.
Anotherwham, and there was a little crack in the wood.
Wham!And the crack grew larger.
A fourthwham, and the wood broke in two.
Axel threw the logs among the growing pile and wiped the sweat from his brow. The sun was even more intense, but Axel enjoyed the sun’s scorching on his back. It made him feel alive, and he enjoyed the sweat from exerting his muscles.
While Axel had workers who could have easily chopped the wood, Axel enjoyed doing some things himself, and chopping the wood was one of those things. Doing menial jobs around the house made Axel feel alive as it relaxed his mind and body. As he threw new logs of wood to the pile, his mind reverted to the petite cheeky lady of yesterday.
“Goddamn!” he swore under his breath as he closed his eyes and tried to get her memory out of his head.
Axel did not understand why his brain was playing such a trick on him. If anything, he should hate the cheeky woman since she had stolen from him and run away, but instead, his heart reminded him of her rosy cheeks, her flushed skin, and how her bosom heaved when she was angry.
There I go, thinking about her yet again.
Axel went back to the wood, chopping under the scorching gaze of the sun. He suddenly heard a rustling sound in the woods, and when he looked up, he could have sworn he saw the cheeky woman in one of his neighbor’s house’s windows. However, when he blinked, the face he thought he saw in the window was gone.
