A/N Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and reviews!
"She was not a ready lover, but where she loved she loved passionately, and with no small degree of jealousy."― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
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"This is where you usually warn me to stay away from him, isn't it? Is that what you're about to do?"
"Sorry to disappoint you. We're very lucky he's come back at all, really. He's a very important member of this community, and anything that encourages him to stay here is very welcome. He enjoys your visits. His mood improves, and that's no bad thing."
"And, what about yourself, Jean?"
"Good afternoon, Mrs McDonald."
Are you really just going to just hand him to me, Jean, without the warnings, without hesitation, without a battle? All because I improve his mood? It pained you to tell me that, I know it did, but you said it anyway. I could barely make out the insincerity behind your smile, which did not quite reach your eyes, by the way. Lucien wears his heart on his sleeve, but your eyes tell me everything.
We both want him, and we both know that. But you want his heart, his soul. You want to make a home for him, a place he can return every evening to find you waiting for him with a hot meal and clean clothes. You want to make a sanctuary for him, with yourself at the center. You can have all those things, because that is not what I want.
I see the way he looks at me. The desire, the lust, all mixed together with admiration and cautious interest. I'm making progress, but I admit that it's taking longer than I would have wished. You see it too. And yet you practically gave me your blessing. Are you so desperate for him to stay that you'll step aside, knowing what I want?
You're making this too easy. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. In my business, you exploit every opportunity.
But will you still be so sanguine, I wonder, when you're scrubbing my lipstick off his collar, or washing my perfume from his sheets.
Oh, Jean, do you know that you love him?