Page 68 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
If she had to deal with half of the negativity that he had to deal with daily, she would leave London too. Even though he had just broken her heart, Jasmine could not help but feel her heart reach out to Axel. She could not imagine how hard it must have been for Axel to live as the pariah of the Ton.
Jasmine heard a movement in the forest to her left, and she stood still, her heart beating fast in her chest.
“Who is out there?” she asked, her voice shaking just a little.
It was then that she realized that being out all alone at night in the pathway as a woman may not exactly be a wise decision. What if the intruder came back for her?
With her heart beating, Jasmine moved closer to where she heard the movement. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw a squirrel struggling with a twig. Jasmine laughed a little, realizing she had simply been scared over a small squirrel.
Jasmine was just about to go on her way when she felt another movement by her right. Before she could whip her head around to see what had caused the noise, she felt an arm grip her lower belly from the back while another hand clamped tightly on her mouth.
Jasmine shrieked in fear.
“Shh... don’t yew make no noise,” a gruff voice that Jasmine had never heard before said.
Instinctively, Jasmine jabbed her elbow into the ribs of the man that held her. He released her momentarily, and she began to flee. She had, however, not moved beyond a few feet away when she felt a huge figure run into her, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. She rose to her feet but immediately felt a metallic object Jasmine recognized as a gun pressed to her side. Jasmine inhaled sharply, scared out of her wits.
She knew now that she dared not run away lest she got shot.
“Where d’yew fink yew are going?” a rather shrill and almost comical voice said to her.
This voice sounded different from her first attacker’s, so she already knew she had two assailants.
“What do you want with me?” Jasmine asked, even as one of her attackers roughly covered her face with a black piece of clothing.
“Keep quiet, will ya?” one of her attackers said irritably before pushing her forward.
From what she could feel around her, she could tell that she was being led toward a bushy path. Jasmine contemplated shouting or at least doing something to alert her family that she had been kidnapped, but she did not want to vex her attackers, lest they did the worst to her.
She knew then that she had to be more subtle. An idea came to her head then. Jasmine made a show of stumbling and hit the ground with a loud thud. She winced at the impact of the hard ground on her body. She sneakily pulled off the shoe on her right foot as fast as she could, being blindfolded.
“Can yew not even walk?” the one with the gruff voice said, and Jasmine could feel him lean down toward her. She kicked her shoe as hard as she could to the side and hoped that her assailants would not see it.
“Pip! Pick ‘er up, Pip!” the one with the gruff voice said.
“Toby, we were not supposed to use our real names. Yew fool!” the one with a squeaky voice said as he pulled Jasmine up roughly.
“Who is the bigger fool, Pip?” Toby replied. “Me, who called yew by your name or yew, who corrected me with my name?”
They squabbled some more as they led Jasmine further into the bushy path.
“’Ere we are,” Pip said as he pushed Jasmine roughly into what she could tell was a carriage. The carriage began to move.
With her heart beating relatively fast, Jasmine said a quick prayer for her family to find the shoe she had dropped on the pathway. She could not help but wonder what would happen to her if no one found her.
Several questions were on Jasmine’s mind when the carriage suddenly stopped, and she was pulled out. While Jasmine did not know where she was at first, the sound of waves told her that she was by the sea.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Axel’s heart broke over and over again as he watched Jasmine walk away. He could not live with himself knowing that he was the one who had made Jasmine, the most cheerful lady he had ever known, so sad. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
It is for the best.
Instead of feeling better that he had done what was best, however, Axel felt even more awful about himself. He felt awful that he had not tried harder to fight his feelings for her. He had indulged her, and they had had the most terrific time together, shutting out the rest of the world. Tonight, he had been reminded just how awful the Ton was and how selfish he had been to bring her into his world without considering that she could not withstand the amount of hurt that may come to her.
His head was still in a muddle when he got into his house and asked for a glass of bourbon. He downed it all, but instead of feeling better, he only felt worse.
“The Earl and Countess Thornhill, Lord William, Lady Rose…” the butler announced.
