Their father, now visibly intrigued by the Duke's enigmatic summons, adjusted his attire with a newfound sense of purpose, readying himself to meet the distinguished guest.
“Then I shall take my leave from the table right away.”
As soon as he left, the sisters exchanged questions, which only left them more curious with no answers. A few moments went by as they rounded up breakfast before they heard the butler’s familiar tone again.
“Lady Jane, your presence is requested in your father's study."
Jane's heart raced with a mixture of shock and bewilderment, her sister Sarah sharing in her astonishment.
Unable to form the proper question to ask for information, with trembling steps, she rose and made her way from the table, her mind swirling with questions and uncertainties.
As she approached the study, a sense of foreboding gripped her, the possibility of the duke himself seeking her presence sending shivers down her spine. The air crackled with tension as she held her breath and pushed open the heavy study door.
“Father, you requested for me? I-”
But before she could finish, as she fully stepped into the study, her eyes widened in shock, her jaw dropping instantly at the sight before her.
Standing in the opulent room was the none other than the very man she had encountered at the recent garden party, his imposing presence filling up the space in her father's domain.
“Indeed, dear daughter.” Henry’s smile filled his entire face as he quickly turned back to the duke. “Your Grace, may I introduce my youngest daughter, Lady Jane of Stonehave.”
In this moment fraught with tension and apprehension, his voice echoed the room, "This is His Grace, Colin Grove, the new Duke of Montford. He has come to pay us a visit."
Jane's heart pounded in her chest as her father's words continued to echo in her ears, her mind reeling with disbelief at the sight before her.
This man… The man she had met… was theduke??
Struggling to compose herself, she felt the weight of the moment pressing down on her with each second, her thoughts racing as she tried to make sense of this unexpected development.
The memories of their clandestine meeting in the garden flashed before her eyes, the complete realization hitting her that the mysterious man from her past now stood before her.
How did he find her?!
As panic gripped her, Jane's mind raced with fear and uncertainty, her fingers trembling with the weight of impending revelation.
There was no doubt. He had come to expose her debauch actions towards him to her father. It was the gentleman thing to do, afterall. He would be praised for taking his time to ensure such a woman as she was would be kept in check.
The new duke's presence loomed ominously, a silent threat hanging in the air as she grappled with the implications that were to come.
"Jane? It is customary to greet our guests on sight."
Her father’s stern voice finally shattered the fragile calm that enveloped her, her cheeks ablaze with embarrassment as she struggled to meet the gaze of the imposing figure before her.
Forced into a semblance of composure, she managed a timid greeting, "Your Grace, welcome to our humble abode." Her voice quivered, betraying the turmoil within as she grappled with the weight of her inescapable doom hanging in the air like a heavy curtain.
Frantically seeking to divert attention from the charged atmosphere, she seized upon the banal, "The- The weather has been quite pleasant of late, has it not?"
Her words, a feeble and all too sudden attempt at small talk, echoed in the tense silence of the room. Jane's mind raced, her heart continuing to pound with the intensity of the moment.
"Have you- Have you traveled far, Your Grace?" She inquired again, her voice laced with forced cheerfulness, a facade to mask the deafening emotions swirling beneath the surface.
“What a great time you chose to set out. Perfect clouds for a short journey in the carriage, is it not?”
A bout of forced giggles escaped her lips in a scattered manner accompanying her statement, and from the corner of her eye, she caught the look of horror on her poor, confused father’s face.
Still she was not done. She simply could not give the man space to talk. “As a matter of fact, when I woke up this morning to meet the lovely weather, I decided upon taking a quiet stroll in the gardens myself, and-”
"While the weather is indeed fascinating, Lady Jane, the topic is not the reason for my visit today."
