Page 91 of The English Duke
Before she could say anything further, Josephine leaned toward Jordan.
“You truly don’t wish to see her when she’s been playing in the water, Jordan,” Josephine said. “She smells of fish and her face is sunburned. Martha cares nothing for female pursuits.”
Josephine added a charming laugh to her description of her sister, but it didn’t make her criticism any less caustic.
She really did need to talk to the girl. Regardless of whether she was soon to be a duchess, she should show some loyalty to family members.
Before she could decide what, exactly, to do—either to go in to dinner without Martha or convince the others to wait longer—her granddaughter appeared in the doorway.
Josephine was right in one instance. Martha’s face was red from the sun. Her hair was also curling around her face. There was an expression in her soft brown eyes Susan couldn’t read, but she didn’t have the chance to ponder anything before Martha spoke.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I had every intention of being here immediately, but I needed to expel some of theGoldfish’s air. I’d fueled her for a test earlier, you see.”
“No one is interested, Martha,” Josephine said, interrupting her with a soft laugh.
Josephine stood, went to stand beside the chair on which Reese was sitting. He would escort her into the dining room while the duke would see Susan to her chair.
She didn’t have a good feeling about this dinner, especially since Josephine was being insensitive. Martha had subsided to a hurt silence. The duke was being taciturn, while Reese was obviously compensating for everyone’s bad behavior.
Susan almost turned around and went back upstairs.
“Do you like the Queen’s Rooms?” Josephine asked.
“It’s a magnificent suite,” Jordan said.
Martha stole a look at the duke. She’d always thought the Queen’s Rooms were like being inside an abattoir. There was just too much crimson fabric used in the suite.
Crimson was also one of Josephine’s favorite colors. Perhaps she should warn the duke not to allow her sister to redecorate any of the rooms in Sedgebrook.
“The suite is reserved for the queen normally,” Josephine continued. “Of course, the queen has only been here once, but we’re prepared just in case.”
“Then I feel doubly honored, and I promise to vacate the premises if Her Majesty does come calling.”
Josephine’s trilling laughter would have been truly charming had Martha been in a mood to appreciate it.
She’d wanted to take a tray in her room, but she’d been forced to attend this dinner in the formal dining room because Gran’s orders were never disobeyed. Besides, she’d always been lectured that she was a York and Yorks are studiously polite.
Very well, she would be polite even though she wanted to be anywhere but here. Any other place in the known world would have been better than sitting at the long mahogany table and watching as Josephine tried to charm both Reese and Jordan.
Jordan hadn’t smiled once since approaching the table. He’d been gracious to everyone, but he’d focused his attention on the meal as if he was a man who’d never before seen lobster bisque, roast beef, or the other courses being served.
His one recent contribution to the conversation was to comment on the china pattern, saying it was similar to one at Sedgebrook his mother had preferred.
That statement led to Josephine asking, “Has your mother been dead for a great many years?”
Martha caught Gran’s wince out of the corner of her eye. In her new role as duchess, Josephine was going to have to be more tactful and phrase her questions in a kinder way.
“Yes,” Jordan said. He didn’t elaborate, which was a clue to anyone that he had no interest in speaking about his mother.
“How terrible for you,” Josephine said. “I don’t know what I would do without Maman. She is so charming and sophisticated as well as well traveled. She would be here now, but she much prefers France.”
Jordan only nodded, leaving Reese to say something complimentary about the French.
Martha glanced at her grandmother. There was every possibility Marie would not return for her daughter’s wedding. Gran gave a slight shake of her head, a sign that she either hadn’t heard back from Marie or her stepmother had, indeed, conveyed she wouldn’t be able to make it back in time for the ceremony.
However, it was difficult to muster any compassion for Josephine, given her actions in acquiring the duke as a husband.
Most of the conversation related to the wedding ceremony to be held in a matter of days. The village church was going to be beautifully decorated. A choir comprised of village children would welcome the wedding guests. The ceremony would be officiated by the bishop, not their usual minister. Josephine had insisted on it since she was marrying a duke.
