Page 15 of The English Duke
The imp of suspicion popped its head up again. She studied her grandmother, but Gran avoided her look, choosing to lean back against the pillows, place her linked hands on her chest, and smile at Josephine.
Was this Gran’s idea of matchmaking? Surely not. Yet a great many things had happened in the past year she would never have considered, such as her stepmother leaving Griffin House for France without a backward glance and the strange bequest she’d tried for a year to honor.
She hoped the physician arrived quickly. She’d pull him aside and ask if there was any way her grandmother could travel. With any luck the physician would agree that the train would be acceptable and they could be quit of Sedgebrook as soon as possible.
“I’m sure I shan’t like what they serve for dinner,” Josephine was saying now.
Josephine would complain about Heaven.Dear God, could the feathers of my wings be a little whiter? There’s gold near the tips. Could we have more fluff in that cloud over there? Does St. Peter have to announce the names of the newly arrived in such a loud voice?
“I’m sure if you don’t like what they serve we could ask for something else,” she said. “Perhaps some broth, or toast.”
“No lamb,” Josephine said. “I shall never eat lamb.”
Martha only nodded. “No lamb.”
The knock on the door was a reprieve and when she went to open it found the housekeeper standing beside a tall thin man in a blue suit. His beard was cut close to his face, but his mustache was easily twice the width of his mouth and curled up on the ends. His brown eyes were kind and amused, as if he found the world a delightful, if puzzling, place.
“Miss York, this is Dr. Reynolds.”
Thank heavens. They were one more step closer to getting home.
Chapter 5
“I’ll be damned if the woman is going to die on me,” Jordan said, staring down into his bowl of soup.
Cook had made his favorite potato soup, but the York women had stolen his appetite. At least they weren’t at his dining table.
“Dr. Reynolds says the grandmother needs to rest. She’s suffering from exhaustion. She shouldn’t have come. If she hadn’t come, she wouldn’t have exhausted herself.” He glanced at Reese. “Do you think that’s amusing?”
“I think your reaction to the women is amusing, yes. I’ve never seen you so out of sorts.”
“I have a reason. I’ll be damned if the woman is going to die on me,” Jordan repeated. “Not here. Not now. Not at Sedgebrook.”
“You can do a lot of things, Jordan, but I don’t think even you can command the Almighty.”
“It has nothing to do with the Almighty,” Jordan said. “And everything to do with Martha York.”
One of Reese’s eyebrows winged upward. “Miss York?”
“She wouldn’t leave well enough alone. She insisted on writing me every few weeks. When I didn’t answer, did she do as any sane person would do? Infer from my silence that I didn’t wish to correspond with her? No, she just wrote me again. If I hadn’t finally answered her, my library would have been papered with her letters.”
“Did you read them?”
“Of course I read them,” Jordan said.
When Reese didn’t say anything, he continued. “I don’t want Matthew’s bequest, so I thought ignoring her would be enough. Little did I know that she was the most stubborn woman on the planet.”
“You’ve met your match, then.”
He put down his spoon and picked up his glass of wine.
Reese smiled. “It wasn’t an insult, Jordan. Your tenacity is one of your better traits. Why not accept York’s gift? I thought you liked the man.”
Jordan sat back in his chair.
“I did,” he said, giving Reese the truth. “Very much. I respected him, probably more than any other man I’ve ever known.”
“Even your father? Or Simon?”
