Chapter 5 #4
The duke tilted his head slightly. “Or what?”
The man threw a punch out of nowhere. Then everything exploded. The duke moved with the speed and agility of a wild cat. One man went down immediately. Another reached for Jane, but the duke caught him mid-motion and threw him back.
Jane stumbled, but recovered quickly, kicking out hard when another grabbed her wrist. It worked, but barely. The duke was there a second later, taking the man down with a brutal strike.
The third tried to retreat. The duke did not allow it. Silence returned as quickly as it had broken. All three men lay unconscious.
Jane’s breathing was uneven.
The duke turned to her immediately. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head quickly. “No.”
He scanned her anyway, as if verifying. Then he grabbed her arm and led her out of the alley.
Inside the carriage, Jane finally exhaled fully. Her hands were shaking slightly now that the adrenaline had worn off.
The duke noticed. “You are uninjured,” he said.
“I know,” she replied quickly. “I’m not fragile. Are you hurt?”
“No.” Then the duke said, “I should not have brought you into that.”
Jane looked up sharply. “I agreed to come.”
“That does not make it safe.”
She leaned forward slightly. “I know what I am doing.”
His gaze flicked to her. “You nearly became leverage,” he said.
“I was fine.”
“You were almost grabbed,” the duke said.
“But I wasn’t,” she snapped back.
Then she exhaled sharply, frustration breaking through something else.
“I cannot keep doing this and being useless,” she said. “If something like that happens again, then…”
“It will not,” he interrupted.
“That is not a promise you can make.”
The carriage slowed slightly as they passed through a quieter street.
Jane’s voice dropped. “Teach me.”
The duke didn’t answer immediately. His jaw tightened. “No.”
Jane stared at him. “No? Why not?”
“This is not the time, nor is it fitting for a lady to—”
“I needed to know how to protect myself tonight,” Jane argued.
“That is precisely why it is not the time.”
Jane’s hands clenched. “Then when? After I am hurt?”
The duke’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You should not have been put in such a position. You will go home,” he said.
Jane shook her head immediately. “No. I will not be such a liability again.”
That word landed. Something shifted in his expression. The carriage stopped. The duke signaled the driver. “Wait.”
Then he opened the door. The alley was quieter here.
Jane stepped down after him, confused. “What are you doing?”
The duke didn’t answer at first. “You will learn one thing.”
Jane blinked. “One?”
“Enough for tonight.”
He stepped closer. The air between them changed immediately. He reached for her wrist.
“Do not fight me,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to.”
He adjusted her stance slightly, correcting her balance without hesitation. Jane froze, not from fear, but from awareness. They were too close. His hand at her waist was steady.
“Here,” he said quietly. “If someone grabs you like this—”
He demonstrated. Jane followed.
“Again.”
She tried. Failed. He corrected her again. Her breath caught slightly as his hand steadied her shoulder.
“You’re overthinking it,” he murmured.
“I am not.”
“You are.”
And so, she made another attempt. This time, it worked. Jane turned sharply, breaking free cleanly.
She exhaled in surprise. “I did it.”
A flicker of something almost like pride crossed his face. “Yes,” he said.
Something in that single word made her chest tighten unexpectedly. They stood too close now.
Jane didn’t step back. Neither did he.
The duke’s hand was still at her waist. He didn’t remove it. Jane looked up at him. He looked back. And then he pulled her in.
The kiss was sudden. Like restraint finally breaking.
Jane’s breath caught as he deepened it, one hand sliding to her back, holding her in place against the wall behind her. It was not gentle. It was controlled… until it wasn’t.
Jane responded instinctively, her fingers gripping his coat as if anchoring herself. A sound passed between them, something neither of them acknowledged.
The sound of a distant carriage as it passed brought reality rushing back. The duke broke away first. He stepped back as if distance could erase what had just happened.
“That was a mistake,” he said roughly.
Jane’s lips were parted slightly. “Indeed.”
His jaw tightened. “We shall forget it happened.”
Jane’s pulse was still unsteady. “I absolutely agree.”
Then, the duke turned sharply, guiding her back toward the carriage.
When he dropped her at her house, he did not leave immediately.
Jane hesitated at the door. “Be careful, Your Grace,” she said quietly.
He looked at her. “I always am.”
She stepped inside. Only once she reached her window did she look back.
The carriage was still there. The duke hadn’t left.
Their eyes met through the glass, and Jane’s entire body heated up, the memory of his lips pressed against hers, seizing her mind.
No. It had been a mistake.
She looked away momentarily, trying to gather herself.
When she looked back outside, the carriage had rolled away into the night.