Page 35 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
Axel could not believe his ears. He, however, willed himself not to show his excitement. After all, he was planning to slowly detach himself from her.
“Are you enjoying the books here?” he asked.
Jasmine nodded with enthusiasm. “The novels here differ from those I read at home, but they are no less interesting. I should definitely buy more novels outside of romance books,” she said.
“That sounds great. If you will exc…” he started impassively as he made to leave the library. It was then that his eyes caught the book in Jasmine’s hand.
“Is that “Gulliver’s Travels?” he asked, his eyes widening in excitement. He walked toward Jasmine, his earlier resolve to stay away from her now forgotten.
“Indeed, it is. I take it that you have read it?” Jasmine asked.
“Read it?” Axel said incredulously. “If you mean that one, I have read the book a million times. This was the first book my father bought for me as a child.”
“It is quite intriguing,” Jasmine remarked.
“And have you read the part where—”
“Do not tell me,” Jasmine said, reaching over to clamp a palm on his mouth to shut him up.
Axel was surprised at this gesture and instinctively held onto her hand. It felt soft to the touch, just like everything about her. There was a moment of silence when he stared at her, her flowing brown hair, rosy cheeks, and most importantly, her petite figure. Her doe, blue eyes stirred something in him that he would rather not indulge.
He cursed under his breath as he felt his manhood increasingly get aroused. Her chest fell and rose rapidly as she breathed, and Axel could tell that Jasmine was just as flustered as he was.
Axel dropped his hand and coughed slightly. He was not one to be dumbfounded, but at this moment, he had no idea what to say or do. The uncomfortable silence between them grew even further, and Axel itched to get away, lest he did something he would regret forever.
“I would leave you to your reading. I have to go water the flowers,” he said, giving the first excuse that came to his mind.
“The flowers?” she asked with her voice dripping with excitement, “Do you not have a gardener?”
Axel shrugged. “I find it relaxing to water the flowers myself.”
“I would love to water them with you.”
“Uh...do you not need to read?” he asked, wishing he had picked a more boring excuse she would not be interested in.
“I have been reading all day. I could do with a walk in the gardens,” she replied. Axel sighed. Getting Jasmine to drop the idea of following him to the gardens would be impossible.
“Fine, then let us go,” he acquiesced.
They both headed to the pond, and Jasmine twirled in child-like excitement when they got there.
“I love being outdoors in the garden or by the pond,” she enthused, closing her eyes to inhale the fragrance of the gardens. “How lucky you are to have both a flower garden and a pond of water,” she continued. “I would give anything to live here forever.”
Forever?
The only way she could stay there forever was if they somehow got married. Axel’s heart skipped a beat as he thought about it. Jasmine must have been thinking the same thing because she immediately started to shake her head.
“Oh, I do not mean it in that way,” she said, “Not that I would not think of…I do not mean that being married to you is such a bad thing that I would never even consider it, Your Grace. I just mean that I am not thinking about it at this moment. I simply…”
Axel was amused as he watched her stumble on her words in a bid to explain that she did not think about being married to him.
“It is fine,” he replied simply.
“Oh, you do not take offense at what I said?” she asked.
Axel shrugged. “Of course, I do not. Why would I take offense to the fact that you do not wish to marry me?” Axel asked.
“I thought you would be annoyed because you would think that I find the idea of getting married to you repulsive because of your reputation, especially after what had happened to your last wif—” Jasmine gasped and clasped a hand on her mouth. “I think I have said enough,” she said.
