Page 72 of A Bluestocking for the Wicked Duke

How? When did she see him? Does she know the nature of the relationship between him and Esther?

William walked to Joane and held her hands. Emma quickly broke the contact between them. She put herself between William and Joane, facing William with menacing eyes.

“Joane, this man is engaged to Esther Wembley, the daughter of the Earl of Norfolk.”

Joane took a step back. William looked at her face it was strewn in shock and pain, raw pain.

“No, that cannot be true. You spread untruths Emma. Stop saying this,” Joane said.

Her eyes shone with tears held back. Joane pushed Emma away and walked close to William. She placed her hands on his chest disregarding the eyes of people staring.

“Tell me William, tell me she lies and it ends here. Say the word and she will stop this insanity,” Joane told him.

William looked down. His mouth was heavy as if his lips were filled with lead. It was true but not in the way Emma was describing it.

How do I explain this to her?

He held her hands.

“Yes, tell her. Tell her I lie, say it to my face that you do not court the daughter of the Earl,” Emma shouted.

“You do not understand, Joane,” William said, holding her hands to his chest.

“She didn’t understand, now she does. You are the bloody devil himself. How can you seek revenge with the heart of an unsuspecting chit?” Emma shouted.

William focused on Joane, he tried to block out everything Emma was saying.

“Joane, Joane,” he called to her.

But Joane wasn’t even listening anymore. She withdrew her hands from his grip and ran past the open iron gate into her compound. Tears rushed down her cheeks as she ran. William saw the droplets stain the ground; following in the path she took till the trail disappeared behind the gate.

Emma looked at him with an angry grim expression. William felt turmoil inside. He was conflicted between getting angry at Emma or sad at Joane’s reaction. Unsure of the right thing to say or do, he mounted his horse.

“You have misunderstood everything,” he said at last to Emma.

“No, I have not Mr. William Marlow. It’s you who thinks all women can be used as sport. Some of us actually protect each other,” Emma replied.

“I wish you would see things for how they really are,” William said before he turned his horse and rode away with a furious pace.

*******

Emma had been right, so right.

Joane couldn’t stop the tears. William had been deceiving her all this while.

So what was it I felt? Have I been seeing what was not? I thought I felt his heart quake for me. I thought I saw the same want I had in his eyes.

Joane picked up her pillow and pushed it into her face. The pillow stopped the tears from rolling down, absorbing every drop of salt water but it didn’t stop the quaking and the feeling of emptiness that she felt inside. The chasm that Emma dug out grew wider and wider till Joane thought her heart would drop into it and stop. Her head started to ache, a strong throb that afflicted only the left side of her head. Joane rolled and lay on her side.

I should have stood with him. I should have given him a chance to defend himself.

But I did, I told him to tell me Emma was lying. He couldn’t. She wasn’t lying. William was stringing me along all this while.

The door open gently and Emma came in. Her expression was solemn as she sat beside Joane. Joane sat up.

“I know this is what you always wanted. Well you have it now, are you satisfied? You were right. William Marlow is a rake and I was nothing more than a conquest to him.”

You are no conquest, Joane Hardwater.