Inevitably a Duchess by Jessie Clever

Author:Jessie Clever
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: war, international, gambling, wealthy, mystery suspense, international action intrigue, spies and espionage

CHAPTER FIVE

Richard had crested the top of the stairs by the time Jane took her swing. He had seen what she’d done, but more importantly, he had heard what she’d said.

Stay away from my children.

He had heard the words clearly for no words had ever affected him the way those had. His heart ceased to pump as his legs continued to carry him up the stairs. His eyes remained riveted to the sight of Jane, ruthlessly defending the thing she so obviously cared most about using nothing but a scorching chestnut roaster. Richard came into the library as she finished her swing, heard the sound of hot metal striking delicate flesh, heard the sizzle of it. He saw the look on her face, the expression of fierce protectiveness that hardened her features.

And for the first time, Richard was scared of Jane.

In that moment, the Jane he had thought her to be suddenly disappeared, and in her place, stood the mighty and powerful Athena, ready to attack when attack was warranted. And by the grip of her hands on the roaster and the fierce look of survival in her eye, Richard feared she thought attack was necessary again.

He grabbed her from behind, wrestling her to the ground. Before he would have been afraid to hurt her. Before he would have been reluctant to act. But then, the Jane who stood there was like none he had ever seen before, and when their bodies hit the library floor, she finally dropped the roaster, so consumed she had been with a motherly power to defend her young that even as the force of his body hit hers, she had not relented. He was on top of her in an instant, pinning her arms to the floor before he finally saw realization dawn in her eyes.

He was dimly aware of Hathaway entering the room, grasping the flailing intruder about the shoulders as he writhed in pain on the library floor beyond them. Jane scrambled from beneath him, and he let her go, half walking and half crawling to his desk. She disappeared around the corner of it on her hands and knees, no sound ever coming from her lips. When he finally stood and made his way around the fixture, he saw the second image of the night that left him without breath.

Jane sat on the floor, his two sons on her lap, their heads pressed to her chest as she rocked them, speaking soothing words that Richard could not hear.

And then Richard knew. Deep within him an awakening flashed to life, and the two images of Jane that quarreled in his head finally righted themselves. Jane, the battered, scarred wife, fell away, lost in his memories of years long forgotten. In her place came Jane, regal and bold, brave and courageous. Jane wasn’t a victim. She was a survivor.

He hadn’t known it. And she didn’t know it. Or at least, she didn’t believe it.

But it had been there all along, and he had been too dim to see what was so obvious.

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