Page 17 of A Duke to Undo her
“Don’t worry. We don’t actually tell them,” Josephine assured her relatives. I promise, we’re very discreet. Look, there’s Benedict now!”
Handing her parasol impulsively to Norman, she raced off down the path towards the tall, blond-haired man who had now spotted her too and was smiling in her direction.
How nicely dressed Mr. Emerton was again today, not a hair out of place and not a crease in his shirt or jacket. Really, he would not be out of place as a male fashion plate, Josephine reflected with satisfaction.
“Lady Josephine, thank goodness you are already arrived,” Benedict Emerton told her with sparkling eyes. “I haven’t had time to get bored. My word, you do run fast for a lady. I almost want to race you myself.”
Josephine’s eyes gleamed.
“Then I promise I shall challenge you next time you call at Elmridge House for tea. It’s too busy here today and I’m sure some of the old gossips are already blackening my name simply for running down the path. They always do, the silly old busybodies.”
“Did I hear something about a challenge?” asked Dowager Duchess Nerissa, emerging from a nearby tent and taking hold of Benedict’s arm. “Good afternoon, Lady Josephine. How well you are looking today. That green certainly suits your coloring.”
Caught by surprise, and hoping that the dowager duchess had not overheard too much of her disrespectful remarks, Josephine still managed to bob a small curtsey.
“How kind you are, Your Grace,” she murmured and looked up to find the older woman looking at her with appraising but not unkind eyes.
“Have you talked to Lady Josephine about our house party?” Duchess Nerissa inquired mildly of her son. “The invitation should be at Elmridge House shortly if it has not arrived already.”
“I was about to speak to Lady Josephine about that, Mother. She has only just arrived. We are hosting a house party at Ashbourne Castle in a fortnight and I should like it immensely if you could come, Lady Josephine.”
“How marvelous!” Josephine smiled and clapped her hands before remembering her manners. “How very kind of you to invite me, Your Grace. I must naturally consult my sister, Lady Elmridge.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she found that Vera and Norman had now caught up with her.
“I think you forgot something, Josephine,” Norman laughed, handing back her abandoned parasol and then bowing to the dowager duchess. “Good day, Your Grace.”
As the older adults drew slightly to one side, presumably conversing about the logistics of the upcoming house party, Josephine talked excitedly to Benedict Emerton.
“What is Ashbourne Castle like? I expect you must have a lake and woods and lots of places where we can hold all kinds of games and parties.”
“Indeed we do,” Benedict confirmed with a broad grin. “Such things will be in my hands. My brother has little interest in trivial pursuits and generally delegates entertainments to me, while my mother will have her own group of older friends staying. You must help me plan everything.”
Josephine spun around in excitement, much to Mr. Emerton’s amusement.
“We must have a theatrical performance and charades, maybe a treasure hunt too…”
Her words and movements stopped abruptly as her eyes lighted upon a dark figure standing a little way from the main party, apparently looking directly towards her and Mr. Emerton. Perceiving that he was observed, the Duke of Ashbourne immediately turned and walked away in the direction of an overgrown and partly disused area of the gardens.
“How did you make your brother agree to invite me?” Josephine asked. “I have the impression that he disapproves of me thoroughly.”
“It was my mother’s doing,” Mr. Emerton said mysteriously. “Really, don’t worry about all the Emerton family nonsense. Cassius always looks like he’s disapproving of someone or something. Perhaps it’s only dyspepsia, brought on by premature middle-age.”
At this idea, they both giggled together for a moment, but still the question lingered in Josephine’s mind: what could possibly have induced the Duke of Ashbourne to invite her to his home?
“Your Grace?” said Josephine clearly, making no attempt to lower her voice or give any warning of her approach.
She was satisfied to see Cassius Emerton start at her words before he turned to her with a scowl.
“Lady Josephine, what are you doing down here?” the dark-haired and unhappy nobleman demanded. “How did you even find this place?”
They stood on the other side of several trees and rows of bushes separating this land from the more formal gardens closer to the house. The sounds of music, laughter and conversation still drifted over to them, but faintly.
“Nowhere is off-limits at the Gordenford parties,” Josephine returned with a shrug, being someone who tended to go wherever she wanted anyway. “Not even the half-abandoned lower gardens. The twins play down here when they’re home from school but no one else bothers with it, I understand.”
“Did you actually follow me here by yourself?” the Duke of Ashbourne asked suspiciously. “Quite unbelievable! You reallydo have the most extraordinary ideas of appropriate behavior for anyone, never mind a young lady.”
“Oh, I’m quite aware of what you think of me, particularly that you think me a bad influence on your brother. That’s what makes it all the more puzzling that you should agree to invite me to Ashbourne Castle. I thank you kindly for the invitation, as I have already thanked the Dowager Duchess of Ashbourne and Mr. Emerton, but I do not understand it.”
