Her Fortitude
"Welcome to Cranford, your grace... I hope you enjoy your stay here" Geet bowed to the brooding duke, who seemed to be in a dark world of his own. She recognized the look, that swore of avengement and betrayal...the same one that she saw pasted on her father's face every time they faced and he forced her into submission either by his foreboding glare or by the simple threatening of her timid mother's life. And hence she carefully chose to steer clear away from his path.
The duke simply nodded, his eyes finally snapped out of the trance as his blank cold eyes glared at her, swirling over her voluptuous curves and ever expressive face. However that did little to affect the duke's poker face and passive expression. Such a beauty was wasted being hidden inside the castle instead amongst the likes of him, he mused. He looked forward at the approaching duke with wariness...already he had visited three states with no sight of his fleeing betrothed. Once he got hold of that little chit he was going to make her pay... Duke Maan Singh Khurana never forgets betrayal, people should remember that... he thought devilishly as the hosting duke welcomed him.
"Welcome Maan to Cranford..." The duke stopped, after he witnessed the infamous glare of the visiting duke. Mayhap the rumours were true, he was the incarnation of Lucifer himself. However Duke Maan cared naught about his own reputation, he just wanted the avengement of betrayal which stung him still.
"Ahem... I mean Duke of Rochester... I am glad you joined the festive season and the debut of many beautiful ladies over here" He said eyeing Geet. After all, she too was coming out this season just in a few days... And he had decided he wanted to court the beautiful lady. As his gaze travelled down her form, Geet shifted uncomfortable seeking Duke Maan's assistance for some reason she couldn't even comprehend. Still the duke stood stone-cold. Geet held back her tears and simply endured the torturous session.
Duke Maan simply nodded to the over-enquiring host or answered in monosyllables to his questions and finally walked off with a stiff posture. Obnoxious insensitive stuck up dukes, Geet huffed. She glared at Duke Sameer warily, who seemed to be giving her lustful glances. Oh no, she was familiar with it very well...it was the same look he was giving Tina the season she made her debut. She was one of her acquaintances, and it was rumoured that Duke Sameer had compromised her and then labelled her as a light-skirt and Tina was made a social pariah. She was deported off to places unknown, Geet shuddered with fear at the thought... Oh Lord, bloody sex driven males...no respect for ladies they have! She glared at him, ferociously.
"Miss Handa, will you assist me with the library arrangement duties..." He said stepping towards her. Geet was annoyed, he doesn't ever get the bloody signals to back off ever.
"It would be my pleasure, your grace...however I need to tend to my ailing mother... I need to go... Pardon me" Sameer gave her a stiff nod, as Geet scurried off. She needed to collect her fees for the welcoming duties, she had this season, from the registrar...oh how she wished she could do a job without the interference of perverse dukes or...obnoxious dukes. She snorted remembering the brooding Duke Maan...he seemed quite attractive, he was not going to hear that from her ever though; she blushed at her own thoughts...but his cold blank eyes seemed to warn her to step away. As she collected her money and rushed to her home, lest she may irritate her father...she bumped into Duke Maan. He looked at her as though she had committed a grave crime by running into him, "Step away woman..." He gritted out, his eyes fixing on the pouch of coins she clutched tightly in her hands. "Are you stealing woman...from your master's house, servant?" He stated glaring at her slender form. She was too good to be true, he thought smirking to himself. "No... it is my hard earned money..." She bit out snapping at him, "Your grace, May I be excused?" She curtsied politely, glowering at his rude assumption and stomped away.
"Bloody woman... All are same, capable of betrayal only" He swore angrily, rubbing his head to ebb off the oncoming headache. God thoughts about that woman was giving him pain, once he gets his hands on her she would pay. His thoughts shifting rapidly from Geet to his betraying fiance.
~~~
Geet sat by the fireplace, on the ground listening to her father's scolding. She was late today. Thank the heavens Neil and Neha were out, to visit a nearby farm, Neil was planning to start a vegetable farm and Neha...Geet sighed, the abandoned woman had clearly besotted her baby brother Neil. Dressed in just a black riding habit and a cloak with a bag full of coins she had asked for Neil's help to provide protection from thieves who were following her. Her brother being kind, had offered her their home as protection. Her father seeing it an opportunity to boast, took the lady in...praising about Neil's generosity. At least her brother wasn't subjected to the regular lecturing and the...beatings she had to endure for the safety of her mother. A slap came on her right cheek, hard...the five fingers printed on her cheek, as she held back her sob. "Are you even listening to me, wench?" Her father screamed at her. She nodded as her father shooed her off.
Geet locked herself in her room, crying to herself for her ill-fate...she had to endure the perverse duke and an abusive father. She looked at her previous bruises on her arms and legs, they were still not healed...she sighed taking out the herbal preparation of salve to apply on the wounds as she headed through the window of her room, climbed down and ran off towards the nearby forest...her favourite place. She was glad the place was secured, and no one ever ventured to the forest area or the pond. She stripped out of her gown, her undergarments as well as she dipped into the pond relaxing herself. Lord, when will she ever be released from this hell? Will she ever find love... Her husband...her family? She thought wistfully. Rubbing her arms, shivering she got out of the pond, glistening in all her naked glory, she scanned her surroundings for any intruder...froze and gasped.
There stood the devilish man with an equally devilish horse... Duke Maan smirking at her wet form, glistening...she immediately snatched her gown off the tree branch and covered her front. Oh how much she wanted to rub that smirk off his face! She was wrong, he was an obnoxious perverse jerk... She glared at him angrily to wipe off his sadistic smirk but to no avail. She quickly dressed up in her undergarments and gown... God the nerve of that man, he didn't even turn around to give her privacy, still staring at her like a creep.
"What do you want, your grace..." She quickly stopped herself from calling him jerk-face. He circled her around, her gown sticking like a second skin to her wet body. He cleared his throat,...something about the lady in front of him, fascinated him.
"You are hurt..." He said, rolling up her sleeve, caressing the wound very delicately...as if even his touch would hurt her. Geet nodded, stepping away... Maan clenched his fist...woman all the same, he was just trying to help! They just don't deserve any from him... She applied salve upon her wounds, glancing at the duke from the corner of her eye...who in turn was staring at her like she was something unearthly.
"Umm...thank you, your grace?" She said it merely curtseying, the duke acted very strange. His eyes held just a strange gleam mayhap warmth? The warmth simply vanished on her asking the question, his eyes cold and blank. Maan nodded, staring at her imagining what laid under the layers of the gown...lust over-clouding his senses. He never behaved so in presence of any other lady, what was different with her now? What was wrong with him? He was betrothed to another woman...he swore in his head.
"I should leave now, mi' lady" He bowed at Geet and turned to walk off in the same path he had come along with his horse in tow. Still lost in thoughts, he wondered. It wasn't like he had never seen a lady bare before, her breasts standing in full attention for his view and her virgin maidenhood yet to be discovered inviting him in... Lord his loins tightened with pure unadulterated lust. She looked so ethereal...so beautiful. Almost for a moment he had forgotten.
He was betrothed.
Still he felt so bereft leaving her like that in that unprotected area, he would have to do something about that...
Geet sat back near the bank, still wondering...what was the duke made of? He was so...two-faced...bipolar...One minute he was cold and then warm. He was confusing her so much? How could she stop coming in his way when he was bumping into her all the time.
Her wounds burned due to the salve she applied. Her eyes snapped back to the spot where he was standing, he had seen her in nude state. Geet blushed profusely, what would he have thought of her...like a..a light-skirt, she scoffed. Of course he would have thought that! She didn't have much womanly assets either, she thought sadly...it always brought wrong attention like Duke Sameer's. She doubted if she would get any offer this season. However she would never marry if not for love, she thought determinedly and finally retired back to face the wrath of her father.
Neil and Neha thankfully had retired to their own rooms before her father returned from his tenant duty. Now as she served the dinner to him, she extremely feared some sort of lecture or blows...as if he would discover about Duke Maan visiting her.
Thank fully there was none and peacefully she returned to her bed. However he stunned her...
"Duke Maan is here in town?" Her father quizzed, his stance menacing.
"Yes Father" Geet replied, her eyes still lowered.
~~~
The next day, she wished for a leisurely walk to the pond and hence headed there, her mind seemed so jumbled, she didn't even care to take a chaperone like the last evening. She was so surprised, the whole area was fenced giving the person, basking in the lap of nature, privacy. The gesture so thoughtful, she wanted to thank the person for his generosity.
She sat near the pond, staring far away...would anyone ever love her for what she is? She thought wistfully, scanning her wounds for recovery...there was still the scar...it needed more healing.
"Do you like it?" Maan stepped from behind the bushes, silently watching her sombre form from the last hour. She always looked so...sad, he realized.
He did it? Why...for a peasant's daughter why? "Th-thank you, your grace" She bowed gratefully. "However Only I have the access, my lady" He jested, and Geet laughed genuinely, he could be friendly when he wanted to be. He settled beside her, and Geet consciously tucked her hair strand behind her ear. He placed his hand upon her wounds, "Your family hurts you, milady?" His eyebrows furrowed in concern. Geet was amazed at the flicker of emotion in his eyes, however short-lived it might be.
"If I may naught be too bold to ask, how did you know?" She asked meekly. Maan smirked yet chose to remain silent. Geet gasped and jerked away from his hold, "You stalked me..." She screeched and raised her arm to slap him. His face contorted into...not anger or fury but desire and lust. He turned her arm pulling her close, "You are different from others... Miss Handa" He whispered gently. Geet struggled, "Don't touch me, you scoundrel" She swore at him, Maan loosened his grip momentarily...it hit him hard..he wasn't a rake! What was he doing with her? She seemed so gentle and innocent and it simply drew him in to know her, befriend her...revenge forgotten at the moment. "I simply wanted to share your grief, woman... Your kind never cares for our small gestures, insolent chit" He bit back and turned to leave. Geet realized her fault, she felt so antsy mayhap because of her father.
"I am sorry, my lord...pardon my outburst please" She pleaded gripping his arm. He was raging mad, how dare she slap him? Her touch, however relaxed him...a burning fire searing from where she touched spreading towards his heart. Maan hissed and stepped back, "Don't you ever dare disrespect me lady...after all you are just a peasant daughter"
Her hurt...pain was palpable, consuming his whole being. How much he wanted to retract back his own words! Alas...he couldn't. He shook his head, gripping her arm...he asked with a menacing glare, "Who hits you, tell me?" He demanded, a sudden urge to protect her...how she simply took in whatever shit of words he uttered, astounded him. She must have heard insults thousand times worse than this, to tolerate it.
"Tell me..." He almost roared in her face. "M-my f-father, your grace" She said, her eyes letting out the tears she held on for years, since the abuse from her father. He cradled her cheek, which her father had hit last evening...it still throbbed in pain. She wanted to step away from his hold, however her body had a mind of its own. Unconsciously, she leaned into his touch. Maan smiled, satisfied now. He placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.
"Don't let him then..." He said, sweetly, yet fiercely and...protectively. That man should be hanged, hitting such a delicate lady. Fathers covet their daughters, and he was hitting her.
"I have to protect my mother, I will endure..." She sucked her breath, "again and again if it means my mother's survival" She humphhed.
Maan smiled at her fierce protectiveness, "if you may allow, I will ask my doctor to treat your mother, my lady..." Before his betrothal, he always wished for a lady with fierce protectiveness for her family. Just like Lady Geet.
"I... I can't burden you, Your grace" She bowed her head. He was so compassionate, even if his methods to extract truth were extremely wrong. "You take this favour as my companion...my friend" Maan said, his eyes no longer cold or blank. Instead they radiated warmth and companionship and just a flicker of some emotion she couldn't realize.
Maan wished to explore the persona, who extremely resembled his dream wife albeit her resistance and stubborn attitude. Tears slid down her eyes in gratitude, Duke Maan really wanted to help...
She nodded and proceeded to kiss his cheek in gratitude. However he hugged her fiercely. Her shapely breasts moulding into his hard toned chest perfectly. Her face inside the crook of his neck and his hands circling her waist in a protective manner. Certainly she was fit...perfect for his arms.
Let the betrothal be damned! He doesn't care anymore... If that insolent chit of his fiance doesn't care for her own reputation...why should he remain alone? He should go along the flow of fate and let nature take its course. It was simply an obligation to her dead father, who was very much his guardian as well.
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
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