Taming Jane

Chapter 4

Daniel’s shoulders relaxed a little as he spoke. “I have not come to ask of you anything, on the contrary. I have come to ask your forgiveness for my behaviour yesterday. I pride myself on being a gentleman and I was not so yesterday.”

“I should think not,” Jane scoffed without thinking. She quickly pursed her lips as Daniel’s eyebrows rose.

“Even so,” Daniel sighed. “I should not have spoken so harshly to you, you are a lady after all and I should have been more polite.”

Jane furrowed her eyebrows as she adjusted Henry onto her hip, after holding him for so long he became rather heavy. “Are you apologising, milord?”

Daniel nodded once. “I am. Do you accept?”

Jane could forgive him for being short with her but it went against every moral she was raised upon to forgive a man who willingly betrayed his wife. She would not remain silent; to do so would be to deny her beliefs. “How could you do it to your wife?” she shook her head in disbelief. “Do you not think of Lady Sabine whenever you try to seduce another lady of the ton?”

His brown eyes turned to black as she asked the question. He looked as though he wanted to hurl something at her. She instinctively covered Henry’s face from view. “Does it please you to be so painfully blunt, Miss Alcott?” he seethed.

“I speak only the truth, Lord Southerby. You are committing adultery and it would make me a terrible person to just stand by and watch.”

“Don’t I know it?” Daniel exclaimed. “I know exactly what I am doing, and who I am hurting!” his voice rose to a shout. Henry began to stir and grizzle at the sudden noise. “You have no idea what is going on, you are a child yourself, what say have you?” he demanded. He ran his hand through his thick, dark hair as what Jane assumed to be a way to calm himself down.

“I am not a child,” Jane growled. “And please lower your voice, you are distressing the baby.” Jane rocked Henry soothingly and he seemed to calm down at the movement.

“Do not pretend to be an expert on matters to which you have no idea about,” Daniel said darkly. “I came here to seek your forgiveness but clearly that was a complete waste of my time.”

“What is a waste of your time is seeking comfort with another when you have a perfectly good woman at home. Why do you never spend any time at your estate in Nottingham?” Jane pressed the issue angrily.

Daniel let out a loud hiss. “You don’t know anything, Miss Alcott, and you are way out of line speaking to me like this. I am a nobleman.”

“You do not behave like one,” Jane retorted. “I’m sure Lady Sabine shares my opinion.” Jane knew she was pushing him. If she’d spoken to her father like this when she was young she would have been spanked.

“Do not speak of Lady Sabine as if you know her, Miss Alcott,” Daniel snarled. “And to clarify your narrow views, I think of her every day when I ‘commit adultery’ as you so tastefully put it.”