“What happened exactly?”
Joanna felt a lump form in her throat. She had always known that men could be predators, but she never thought it would happen to someone she knew.
“He brought me into the library and said he wanted to talk about you—about something awful he’d found out about you,” Judith explained.
“Something awful about me?” Joanna echoed, thinking back to their dance earlier in the evening.
Kenneth hadn’t seemed disturbed—at least, not by her. And he’d promised her that he would tell her what was on his mind later. Although, he had been so reluctant to talk to her.
It made sense…
“Yes, that is what he said. And when I went with him, he suddenly wanted to talk about how lovely he thought I was, how pretty, and how he admired me. And then, when I told him you were my friend and I could not possibly be with him, he grabbed me by the shoulders and kissed me. I had no choice, Joanna. Truly, I did not. Forgive me, please,” Judith continued, looking away as if to hide her tears.
“I’m so very sorry, Judith,” Joanna said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Judith’s despair was palpable, and she didn’t know what else she could do but to comfort her, event though she, too, needed comfort.
“I can’t believe he would do something like that.”
Judith nodded, tears streaming down her face. “I know. I feel violated and angry, but I didn’t want to keep this from you. You need to know who he really is. And I didn’t want to risk our friendship. Joanna, you must get away from him. You must end your horrid courtship.”
Joanna took a deep breath, trying to hold back her own tears. She didn’t know what to say. She was angry and hurt, but she also knew that she couldn’t let this destroy her. “Thank you for telling me, Judith,” she said, her voice shaking. “I don’t know what to do, but I won’t let him get away with this.”
“What will you do? I dare say the most severe punishment is to banish him forever—that is what I will do,” Judith huffed, looking up at her.
Joanna nodded, knowing her friend was right.
Yet, a part of her wanted to confront Kenneth, to look him in the eye when she told him she would no longer speak to him, nor want him in her sight ever again.
She hadn’t been able to confront her father, but she could confront Kenneth. His betrayal might hurt now, but she knew in the end that it would make her stronger and more resolved in her decision not to marry at all.
No, she would not let the Duke or any other man bring her down.
CHAPTER 31
The urgency in Kenneth’s steps reverberated across the gravel as he rushed toward the front door, his hands twitching with desperation as he banged on the brass knocker.
When the door swung open, he saw the butler with whom he’d quarreled just weeks ago. “I must see Lady Joanna, Jenkins,” he requested urgently.
To his relief, the butler stepped aside. “She is in the drawing room, Your Grace,” he said and motioned ahead.
Kenneth nodded, his footsteps echoing across the marble floor.
He stopped at the drawing room door and saw Joanna at once, her back to him, one foot tapping on the floor. “Joanna,” he called. “We must speak,” he implored, his voice strained.
Joanna spun around, and he was taken aback. He’d thought he might find her in tears or at sixes and sevens, but instead, she presented a confident facade.
She stood in the center of the drawing room, her posture erect. “Why are you here?” she asked in a voice so icy that he thought the entire room might freeze.
“I am here to explain, Joanna. I know what you saw, but it was not what it seemed,” he said quickly.
“I know what I saw, and I know what it was, Kenneth. But you need not worry. I have no quarrel with you.”
Kenneth swallowed hard. Something wasn’t right here. No, something wasdecidedlywrong.
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I mean that you are free to kiss whomever you wish to kiss. As long as she consents. Other than that, I have no demand.After all, nothing between us was ever real, was it? We were a means to an end.”
