Page 40 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
“I think the both of us need to get changed into drier and cleaner clothes,” he said.
“Indeed,” Jasmine replied, and he could hear the disappointment in her voice.
ChapterThirteen
“Would you happen to know where His Grace is?” Jasmine asked Axel’s butler.
“He left very early today for a quick business in town, My Lady,” the butler replied. She huffed but headed back into the house.
It had been a few days since she moved into the house of her giant neighbor, and she had never been happier. She and Axel had spent all waking hours together, and she loved it immensely. There had even been moments where Jasmine thought that they would kiss, but somehow, the moments would pass without it happening.
Regardless, she still enjoyed spending as much time as possible with Axel, and she could only imagine how lonely she would be again when she finally returned to her family. While she was still hurt by the letter her parents sent, she could not help but see it as a blessing. Because they refused to come back for her, she could now spend as much time with Axel as possible.
Since Axel seemed to be away, and Jasmine did not wish to read just yet, she began to explore the rooms in the house. Fortunately, most of the rooms in the house were not locked, so she could slip in and out easily.
The first room she went to was the ballroom, and while it was not dusty, she could still tell that it had been a while since a ball had taken place in the room. Axel was not exactly the type to organize a party, and since there was no love lost between him and the members of the Ton, they would obviously not attend his party even if he did throw one.
From the several-foot dent in the floor of the ballroom, however, Jasmine could tell that once upon a time, the ballroom used to host many parties. She closed her eyes and waltzed alone, slowly, as she wondered what it must have felt like for Axel then. Did he enjoy hosting parties then, or did he simply go along with it? Jasmine wanted to know more about Axel and his past life, but she knew better than to ask him outrightly.
From the ballroom, she moved to the drawing-room, which was just as empty as the ballroom. Aside from the furniture, the drawing room seemed sparse and lacked life. There were no beautiful decorations and no flowers. It was simply bland. She could not help but notice the stark difference between this drawing room and her parent’s drawing room at home. For one, her parent’s drawing room was always filled with noise and laughter, unlike the silence here.
Jasmine walked around, but nothing about the room caught her attention. She headed for the next room, and the moment she walked in, she knew she should not be there. It was a bedroom, and while she could tell it was not Axel’s bedroom, it was still tastefully furnished. In fact, it was the only room in the house that had lavish decoration.
The curtains were made from expensive fabric, and the bedspread was an expensive French bedspread. The room, no doubt, belonged to the former lady of the house. She slowly walked in, ignoring the nagging feeling at the back of her head that told her that she did not belong in the room.
Jasmine, however, could not let an opportunity pass without finding out more about Axel’s late wife. She headed for the closet but was disappointed when she saw that it had been emptied. She went to the drawers and did not find anything in there either.
It was obvious that Axel had ensured that his late wife’s presence had been scraped off the room. Jasmine sighed in frustration.
She went to the window and drew the curtains. Then, she saw a small china vase with a dead plant.
“Aww! Poor you,” she said to the plant as she took the vase, hoping the plant could still be revived.
She had just stepped outside the room when she saw Axel enter the house. Elated that he was finally back, Jasmine hopped downstairs to him.
“Welcome back, Your Grace. Look at this beautiful vase and dying plant that I found. I am thinking of reviving it. What do you think?” she rattled on until she noticed Axel had not said anything.
When she looked at him to inquire why he had not said anything, the look in his eyes made her shudder in fright. He looked incredibly angry, and while Jasmine did not know what she had done, she knew that he was not in the least happy with her.
“What are you doing with that vase?” he seethed, and she saw that he was trying hard to hold back his anger.
“Oh! I…I found it in this really beautiful room I saw beside…” The more she spoke, the angrier he seemed to be, so she just stopped talking.
“And why did you think you had the right to be in that room?” he asked.
“I…I had no idea…” she stuttered but eventually stopped talking.
“You saw an open room and decided immediately to go in there, didn’t you?” he asked.
“I was simply trying to explore since I was bored,” she explained.
“If you were bored, then you could simply read” he suggested, “not go into…into her room.”
His voice cracked as he said the last few words.
“I am sorry, I should not have,” she said.
“And not only did you enter the room, but you also had to take the one thing that reminds me of her in this whole house.” he ranted.
