Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 94964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
* * *
“What’s happening?”
* * *
“Oh, Rhys had an idea for transforming the pond into a fish farm. Papa and Fred are ridiculing him.”
* * *
Janice frowned. “Why does he want to do that?”
* * *
“He claims that there’s a major market for it.”
* * *
“Oh…commerce?” Janice said doubtfully.
* * *
Emily gave her a look. “Are you going to turn your nose up about it?”
* * *
“No no.” Janice blushed, feeling embarrassed at her knee-jerk reaction. “If he thinks it’s a good idea, he should do it.”
* * *
“Well…he needs father to agree.”
* * *
“Hmm.” Janice could not bring herself to be too concerned about it. Her mind was still whirling from Arthur kissing her. She wanted to blurt out what happened to Emily. She didn’t think she could keep it to herself. But she knew she could not do that at the breakfast table.
* * *
Once she was done, however, she dragged Emily out of the room and down the hall to the library. Slamming the door behind her, she turned to her sister.
* * *
“What? What?” Emily asked breathlessly.
* * *
Janice took a deep breath. “The duke kissed me.”
* * *
Emily stared at her, then blinked a few times. “I beg your pardon?”
* * *
“The duke, of Hampton, kissed me,” Janice said slowly.
* * *
Emily gasped, grasping Janice’s arm hard. “Are you joking?”
* * *
“No.”
* * *
“When?”
* * *
Janice cleared her throat, pushing Emily’s hands off her and turning away to go and stand by the window. Her cheeks were hot with remembrance. “Er, this er, this morning,” she rasped.
* * *
“This morning?” she squeaked, “How? Where?”
* * *
Janice sighed, going to her sister, and pulled her to the sofa by the shelves of books. “Alright now, listen and don’t interrupt and I’ll tell you.”
* * *
Emily nodded emphatically; her brow furrowed as she stared at Janice. Taking a deep breath, Janice explained everything that had happened since she left the house in the morning. When she was done, Emily was watching her with an open mouth.
* * *
“Say something,” Janice said fearfully.
* * *
“I…” Emily shook her head. “Why did you do that?”
* * *
Janice blanched, startled to find that she hadn’t asked herself that question. “I…don’t know.”
* * *
“Were you throwing your kerchief at him? Or were you simply playing with fire and wanting to see what would happen?”
* * *
Janice shook her head. “I-I-I don’t know.”
* * *
Emily squeezed her hands. “Well, I advise you to think about it. Because if it’s the former, then you need not go to London next week.”
* * *
Janice snorted. “It doesn’t matter if I am falling for him. He has no interest in love or marriage.”
* * *
Emily frowned. “Why not?”
* * *
Janice took a deep breath, looking at the ground. “It is complicated, and I am not sure I should repeat what was told to me in confidence. But it is to do with his father.”
* * *
“So, what are you going to do, Janice?”
* * *
That is indeed the question.
Arthur found himself pacing in his study, worried about how Lady Janice might be feeling at the moment.
* * *
I shouldn’t have kissed her.
* * *
He felt the need for self-flagellation because there was no excuse for his behavior. “You are taking this need to be dishonorable too far. It is one thing to focus on the men who stood by and watched as your father tortured you. It is another to ruin another completely innocent life because of it.”
* * *
He stopped pacing and changed direction, crossing to the bar to pour himself a drink, even if it was barely midday.
* * *
“There’s nobody here to judge me.”
* * *
Arthur had no fear of being interrupted. He regularly talked to himself, and the servants were used to it. They would not come unless they were called. He flopped down on the chair, pulling the ledger book towards him and staring down at it.
* * *
Avebury manor sat on twenty-one acres of fertile land. There were several tenants on the property. Arthur knew he should feel bad for them but many of them had stood by and watched while his father tortured him and his mother. They knew what was transpiring and did nothing. All they cared about was that they could continue with their little lives. So, Arthur was not going to waste emotion on them. He was scheduled to attend a high stakes five-card loo game at the home of the Marquis of Sarandon. The Marquis was a dissolute gambler and Arthur was looking forward to losing this entire property to the man.
* * *
He already had his bags packed. As soon as he was done, he would head back to London. This was only the first of many properties he needed to get rid of.