Taming Jane

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Daniel was utterly and completely confused when it came to Miss Jane Alcott. There was something about her, he’d said that her face, but what it was he could not put his finger on.

She was so compassionate and caring, she’d shown him that when she listened to his pathetic stories earlier in the day. She’d actually amazed him. He felt as though he could tell her anything and she would know what to say to make him feel better. Jane had already made him feel better when it came to Eleanor’s death, and that feeling was not one that he liked. He did not want to forgive himself, but he couldn’t help but see sense in Jane’s attempts to heal him.

She was simply astonishing.

Deciphering his feelings towards her were not helped when she looked as she did when she walked into the Duke of Chatsworth’s ball. Daniel nearly swallowed his tongue as she descended into the room.

She looked ravishing, effortlessly so. Daniel had always thought that Lady Emilia was the beauty of the ton but now he knew that Jane outshone her in every possible way. Even from where he was standing he could see her pretty blue eyes shining from the other side of the room. Her dark curls were beautifully pinned away from her face and her sky blue gown made her skin look like perfect china.

It was observations like these that made him feel like he was committing adultery, as Jane had pointed out to him, as his mind immediately went to Eleanor. He loved her fiercely, he always would. He didn’t know if he would ever be able to stop loving her in order to invite someone else into his heart. The women that he took, or ruined, they didn’t mean anything to him, he didn’t see their faces, only their bodies, the bodies that could help him escape.

But seeing Jane’s face, her body and her beautiful nature all in one frightened him. It made him remember his responsibilities, not only to Sabine, but to himself.

He thought about Sabine every day. He wondered what she was doing, what she was learning, what she was eating ... but after talking with Jane he now wondered what she thought of him. Did she hate him? Did she think that he didn’t love her?

He watched Jane as she took in all the sights; he pretended that he didn’t see her look pleased as she saw all the officers. None would be good enough for Jane, they enjoyed their drink and their women far too much, but then again, who was he to talk? He’d nearly drunk an entire bottle of wine to himself that morning and proceeded to tell her a story that most likely made her think of him as weak.

He saw Emilia take Jane directly over to the host, the Duke and his nephew, George Orwell who was a bigger rake than Daniel himself, except he disguised it with a sly smile and a suave personality. Daniel didn’t have the patience to charm.

Emilia introduced Jane to George who kissed her knuckles and looked at her with desire. Daniel’s blood boiled inside of him as he watched it. He would challenge that man to a duel before he let him corrupt Jane. She was a hundred times more pure than him and deserved a man a hundred times better.