Page 61 of A Duke to Undo her
Her oldest sister reached out as if to restore the trailing bonnet to its proper position, but the younger woman skipped back smartly, not wishing to be treated like a doll today. She was too full of her own feelings to play along.
“There is really no need for concern,” she assured her sisters. “I am only…tired.”
“Shall we return to Elmridge House, Josephine?” Vera asked and then looked to her other sisters. “We have walked one full circuit of the park and our carriage is over there. I could accompany Josephine if the rest of the party wish to remainhere longer. The gentlemen did express a wish for exercise this morning.”
Lady Elmridge glanced back at her husband, walking companionably with Lord Kilderhorn and Lord Norfield, the husbands of Ophelia and Constance, a little way behind them.
“No, there is no need, Vera,” Josephine protested again, increasingly irritated at being fussed over like this. “I prefer to be outside. The air is doing me good. Please, let us all continue walking.”
Her sisters seemed to accept this and they continued along the path, Constance now taking little Matilda from Ophelia’s arms.
“I have heard that Dr. Hill in Bloomsbury is the best physician in London for fatigue,” Ophelia then said, to Josephine’s further dismay. “Have you heard of him, Constance? Lady Orpley said that…”
Josephine fell back slightly, as unobtrusively as she could. She was already suffering a surfeit of unwanted attention and a physician could only make matters worse. Medical men could only treat illnesses of the body, not of the heart. Going to Scotland and away from all this seemed the simplest course of action…
“Josephine?!”
At first, Josephine thought she must have imagined that deep, urgent voice calling her name, having wanted so very much to hear it ever since she left Ashbourne Castle. She did not even look up, but when it sounded a second time, her head turned and her eyes lighted on a tall, dark-haired figure bowling along the path, causing other promenaders to jump hastily out of the way.
“Josephine!”
Frozen now in place, Josephine’s heart felt risen into her throat. It was unmistakably the Duke of Ashbourne, more disheveled than she had ever yet seen him, his face desperate and flushed with exertion as he raced across the park. What could be the meaning of this?
In a flurry of movement, Josephine found herself surrounded by her sisters, their husbands rushing into place to form a barrier between the loudly shouting man and their womenfolk. Cassius Emerton seemed oblivious to the attention he was drawing from the wider park visitors, many of whom had now stopped in their tracks to watch the odd scene unfolding.
Faced with the united front of Lord Norfield, Lord Kilderhorn and Lord Elmridge blocking his progress, the duke came to an unwilling halt. With concern for her brothers-in-law as well as Cassius himself, Josephine hoped that he wouldn’t try to knock them aside and rush through. While the Duke of Ashbourne was both taller and broader than the other men, there were three of them. Someone could get hurt.
The reaction of the gathering crowd also unsettled her, with words like “maniac” and “madman” now reaching her ears.
“Dear God!” she exclaimed to herself more than to anyone else. “What is he trying to do?”
“Don’t worry, Josephine,” Constance replied, having returned Matilda to her mother and looking rather formidable in her own dignified way as she glared towards the wild-haired trespasser on the morning’s peace. “Victor and the others won’t let that man near you. Nor will we.”
“What do you mean by this intrusion, sir?!” Josephine heard Victor, Lord Norfield, demand angrily. “Be on your way, whoever you are.”
“I must speak with Lady Josephine,” Cassius insisted, standing his ground and seeking her desperately with his eyes as he called out again. “Josephine!”
“We shall call the constables,” Percival, Lord Tamblyn, began to threaten as the duke continued to shout her name.
She tried to at least meet Cassius’ gaze but found herself now almost invisible within the protective huddle of her three sisters.
“Constance, I believe I must speak with him,” Josephine tried to say but was quickly cut off by her protective oldest sister.
“You must not think of such a thing! He might have escaped from bedlam for all we know.”
Belatedly, Josephine realized that the Duke of Ashbourne was not even known to most of her party. Constance, Victor and Percival would be even more at sea than Josephine herself.
“Vera, look at him, you must see who it is,” she urged. “You do see, don’t you? You must tell Constance and the gentlemen.”
There was no need. Seemingly at that very moment, Norman had made the same discovery.
“Your Grace?” Josephine heard Vera’s husband exclaim suddenly, his face gaping in astonished recognition. “Why, I do believe… it is…Cassius, Duke of Ashbourne!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Josephine’s three brothers-in-law looked at one another in consternation after this revelation from Lord Elmridge.
A regular hooligan or blackguard of any rank they could have dealt with in a straightforward fashion, perhaps calling on the assistance of their coachmen. A drunk or over-boisterous young nobleman known for such stunts could have been even more easily handled.
