Page 20 of The Duke's Goddess

“We need to do more. Did she say anything to you about Jacob?”

“Not really. Just that he brought her flowers when he visited.”

James blew a raspberry with his lips. “Every man does that.”

“Not every man…”

But he didn’t answer her with more than a curious brow. “Every man should. It’s a moot point. He did it. He should have done it. Now he needs to do more. Are you sure she didn’t say anything else?”

“She just mentioned you.”

“What did she say about me?” He asked with a waggle of his brows, possibly searching for one of the many compliments he knew was passed around the gossip circles.

“Just that you’re….”

He winked at her and spun her around. “You can tell me.”

“She said she wanted to be held in the arms of a man desired by so many.”

“That’s good.” James looked impressed, and even a bit enlightened. “We can use that. She’s not really interested in me, just the idea of me. We need to give her a better idea of Jacob.”

“But Jacob is nothing like you.”

“Exactly. But maybe she just needs a new idea about Jacob. How quickly can you convince your sisters to start spreading a few bad rumors about a good man?”

Chapter 8

“Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.”

—Sun Tzu

WITH THE LAST NOTES echoing in the ballroom, Joan left James’s arms to find her sisters while James made his escape to a card room. After a minute of searching, she found her sisters each taking a bit of a lemon square. Thankfully they weren’t dancing. She needed to have this conversation with them immediately. If they could implement this plan, then Sally and Jacob had a chance of becoming a couple.

“Mimi, Nobi, I need your help,” Joan whispered over the rim of her lemonade. “Well, Sally needs our help.”

Mimi’s troublemaker eyes glimmered in the excessive candlelight. “What do we need to do?”

“Is Sally in trouble?” Nobi, ever the peacekeeper, asked.

“Sally is fine. But Jacob is in love with her. And Sally…is—erm…she thinks she’s in love with James.”

“Your James?” It wasn’t an innocent question that Mimi asked. Joan knew she was fishing for information, she could see it in the twinkle of Mimi’s eyes. Also, this was her youngest sister. She rarely, if ever, had a simple innocent agenda.

Joan blushed. “He’s not my James.”

“You’ve danced with him twice this week,” Nobi added. And Joan had to admit that Nobi was probably guilelessly bringing that up.

“Those are just dances. It’s not like someone caught us alone on the balcony together.” Joan huffed. “They were justdances,” she repeated in her strong defense. Dances in his strong arms, with a warm hand on her back. Protective. Guiding. Enticing. No. Not enticing. Just existing. “They were nothing.”

Mockingly, Mimi raised her fist in the air dramatically and hissed, “Nothing I tell you.” She laughed. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” Then she capped her performance with a wiggle of her brows.

“Mimi, please. This is not about me. This is about Sally. We need to protect her reputation. She’s far too forward with James. She’s basically asked the man to dance three times this week.” Joan exhaled. “It’s been exhausting trying to keep her away from him.”

Mimi and Nobi exchanged glances while Joan picked up a lemon square of her own. Her sisters were obviously communicating something, she may as well grab a treat. “Are these any good?” But she didn’t wait for either of them to nod in approval before taking her first bite.

Sublime.

Just what she needed right now. Since her sisters still weren’t saying anything, Joan picked up the conversation again. “Sally is much better off with Jacob. We all agreed.”

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