SWNOVELS A Vixen for the Duke: Chapter 15
Harriet sunk into the bed and looked sheepishly at her sister. Lucy sat at the vanity, one knee hooked over the other, shaking her head without pause. She had been icy towards Harriet for the rest of the evening, and Harriet knew why. As many times as she had touched the stove and burnt herself, she had kept coming back expecting a different result.
“Can you just say something?” Harriet whined. She was exhausted and had enough wine that her head was feeling heavy.
“You are incorrigible!” Lucy hissed. “What are you doing?”
“I was playing billiards. It’s rather fun. You should try it.”
“I am not talking about the game.” Lucy crossed her arms. “But you are right. I ought to be more direct. What were you doing, simpering like that?”
Harriet huffed and fell back, her head hitting the pillow. “I don’t know!”
“You don’t know?”
“Really, Lucy. It just happened. It’s out of my control.” Harriet ran her hands over her face, groaning in frustration. “I am not crazy. He is doing it all the same.”
Lucy got up, setting her hairbrush on the vanity with a clack. “Get out of my bed,” she grumbled.
“No,” Harriet whined, rolling onto her side.
The bed bounced as her sister sat on the other side. “He is a man.”
“Yes, a very, very, handsome one. Those eyes. And those hands!”
Harriet shrieked at a swat to her head. She rolled over and glared at her sister, who was looking down at her, annoyed, her hands restlessly tapping her thighs.
Harriet sat up, sitting on her knees. “If you had a stupid book you wouldn’t be so focused on me and my problems.”
“Do you see a book?” Lucy asked, using her hands to direct Harriet’s attention across the room. “None. None at all. I have nothing else to focus on but the follies of others.”
Harriet sighed, burying her face once more in her hands.
Lucy took a deep breath. “Look,” she said, “men are very predictable. You put a bone in front of a dog, he will want the bone. Why? Because it is the only bone he sees.”
“You are equally a bone,” Harriet scoffed. “I am not the only woman for him to focus on.”
“Yes, I am a bone with a terrible attitude. You are the best bone.”
“Lucy,” Harriet groaned. “He’s a good man. You know as much. He would never do anything to compromise me.”
“Didn’t he kiss you?”
Harriet opened her mouth to object, but she stopped when she realised that he had kissed her. Twice. And it had felt amazing.
“I am not trying to be a villain,” Lucy said. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up for something that will never happen. If you think that man will marry you, then you have another thing coming.”
“You have never felt it, Lucy, have you?’
Lucy got under the covers of her bed and pulled the blankets up to her neck. “Felt what?”
“That divine pull. It’s like the hottest day of the year and you need water so badly. So, so badly, Lucy—”
“You’re being melodramatic.”
“Fine, but I mean it feels so much like that sometimes. Like I cannot help myself around him. And it feels so much harder to resist when he is pulled to me all the same. Maybe I am a bone. Maybe I am. But I want to be his bone.”
Lucy faked a gag. “Do you hear yourself?” She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. “Fine. Do you really believe that he has genuine feelings for you?”
“I do.”
“And how deeply of a depression will you spiral into if he shows no interest in marrying you?”
Harriet grimaced, thinking it over. “The deepest.”
“The deep—” Lucy groaned. “Harriet, this is exactly what I’m trying to say.”
“I am finally starting to picture a life, Lucy. I’ve never done that before. Never did I look at Jeremy and think that I would love to raise a child with him. Rather, I thought that I would like to raise the child he gives me.” Harriet threw her hands in the air. “Imagine that! All of a sudden, I have this divine intelligence. Jeremy was a means to an end, but Morgan—”
“You call him by his Christian name now?”
“He started it,” Harriet pointed out to avoid any further objections. “Morgan is different. I feel something for him that I’ve never felt for anyone. I love him, Lucy. I really do.”
Lucy sighed and gestured for her sister to get under the covers. They lay there for a while, just enjoying the quiet of the house. Outside the window, frogs from the creek croaked and crickets chirped. It was peaceful out here in the country.
Harriet was disappointed that she’d have to go home soon enough. If she could, she’d stay out here forever enjoying the peacefulness of the country. Except for the chickens. She could never miss those terrible beings.
“Will you make one promise, then?” Lucy asked.
“Anything.”
“Leave Aunt Bridget and Lord Murrey alone. They seem happy.” Harriet sighed at her sister’s words, but Lucy was quick to remind her, “You said anything!”
Harriet frowned. Everyone had been telling her the same things, and she knew they were right, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t still being eaten up by part of it. “Aunt Bridget told me that being single was not as terrible as anyone thought. She spoke of it as if it was a great joy and freedom. But she lied to me, because this whole time, she was planning to marry Lord Murrey.”
“You speak of him as if she merely gave up and took the best offer. They have been friends for years. They can make each other laugh with a single look or a word that means absolutely nothing to me. But to them, it means everything. It spells out years of friendship. Maybe our aunt enjoyed her life as a single woman, but that doesn’t mean she enjoyed it any less just because she’s willing to give it up for a man. To me, that makes their love that much more meaningful,” Lucy said.
“I didn’t realise you were such a romantic.”
“I am not,” Lucy insisted. “But I have eyes and ears. I am smart enough to leave two happy people alone.”
Harriet hummed. “Except for Morgan and me.”
“If you have feelings for His Grace, then do something about them and put this chapter to rest.”
Harriet sat up in bed and swung her legs onto the cold floor.
“Not now!” Lucy hissed. She brought a palm to her face in exasperation. “It’s nearly one in the morning, you cannot go over there now! Have some self-respect.”
“Lucy, you really need to be more careful with how you word things to your most impulsive sister.” Harriet sniffed. It had occurred to her that her sister was being more reasonable than she needed to be, but she refused to allow her that much satisfaction.
“I am just saying, if you are so certain about him, then you should settle the issue before subjecting yourself to any more hurt,” Lucy explained. “Sometimes, I wonder. I see the way he interacts with you. I just lean towards being apprehensive of things that are too good to be true.”
Harriet nodded. She finally understood why her sister had been so skeptical of people her entire life. Lucy had watched people she loved get hurt. She knew what people were capable of. She was only cautious to protect herself. Harriet had to admire that.
So that was it, then. Harriet had to tell Morgan the truth. She would just have to wait until she could get a moment alone with him.