Page 78 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
It was daybreak at this time, and Axel and Jasmine walked in silence for a moment. Axel spoke when he could not bear the silence any longer. Rose pretended to be interested in the flowers and let them do whatever they wanted.
“Jasmine,” he started, “I am a terrible man for allowing myself to love a woman as pure as you.” Axel was shocked at his own admission of love for Jasmine.
“What?” Jasmine seemed shocked at his words. “You are not a terrible man.”
“Jasmine, you do not know me,” he protested.
“I spent a while with you, and I love the part of you that I saw then,” Jasmine continued.
Axel shook his head. “You do not know all of me. I... I have to leave London earlier than I planned.”
Axel stopped walking and turned to look at Jasmine. By this time, they were in front of his residence.
“Axel, you do not scare me,” Jasmine said simply.
Seeing the resolve in Jasmine’s eyes, Axel knew that she meant every word of what she had just said.
“In fact, I feel safe and protected when I am with you,” she related. “You are a kind man who would never hurt a fly,” Jasmine said as she halted and faced him, “I have to return home now lest father thinks I have been abducted again.”
Axel’s heart sank a little at the thought of departing from Jasmine.
“I cannot possibly ask you to stay but we have so much to talk about,” Axel said.
“We can see each other later at night,” Jasmine said, her eyes glinting with what seemed to be excitement, “I could sneak out tonight so we can talk.”
Axel contemplated protesting at first, but he knew he was dying to see her.
“If you will let me pick you up by the gate,” he said, “I cannot, in good faith, let come here all on your own. Not after what had happened today.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
It was the middle of the night and Axel had managed to sneak Jasmine into his bedroom, away from the prying eyes of his maids who may be up late at night.
The moment they were behind closed doors, Axel wrapped her in a tight embrace. He did not realize just how much he had missed being around her but being around her now, all the emotions came to the fore.
“Axel,” she said, inching her face close and kissing him.
“Jasmine, I cannot hide from my past. I cannot...”
“I do not care for your past, Axel,” Jasmine said.
“I cannot hide from the fact that I kil...I killed my wife,” he said in a whisper.
Jasmine glanced at him. “I refuse to believe that you indeed killed your wife,” she said. They had now entered Axel’s house, and the servants were walking around, doing their daily chores. “Why don’t you tell me what really happened on that day?” she suggested. “You started to tell me one day, but you stopped halfway.”
Axel wanted to tell Jasmine, to bare it all to her and see if she would still look at him the same after.
“I once told you that we argued a lot. One day, she decided she was no longer in love with me, and she left a letter explaining that she was leaving me forever. I panicked. I should not have, but I did. I wanted her back by all means, and I was determined to win her back. I took my horse and chased the carriage that she traveled in. She must have seen me following her because the carriage moved even faster.”
“I was about to catch up with her when the unexpected happened.” Axel’s words caught in his throat. “The carriage she was traveling in crashed. It was going so fast, and a wheel flew off the carriage. She was thrown out and she… she died in my arms.”
There was a moment of silence before Jasmine spoke.
“I am so sorry, Axel.”
Axel felt as though a huge weight had just been lifted off his shoulder after he stopped speaking. Even if Jasmine did not want to speak to him after this, he felt better, lighter.
“What happened that night was not your fault,” Jasmine said simply as she walked to the window in his room, gazing out at the beautiful view outside of his bedroom. “I trust you with my life,” Jasmine vowed.
