Page 21 of A Duke to Undo her
“Perhaps Dowager Duchess Nerissa has invited some of these paragons of virtue in the hope of capturing your interest rather than your brother’s, Your Grace,” she suggested. “Perhaps you should even take her direction and bestow your attention on worthier subjects than me.”
Head held high and rather pleased with herself, Josephine beat a retreat, walking swiftly back in the direction of where she had left her sister and the others. Cassius Emerton might have disturbed her equanimity all over again but she hoped she had given as good as she got.
Only Mr. Emerton remained at the end of the other corridor, looking into open doors with puzzlement on his face.
“Oh, there you are, Lady Josephine. Do come for your tea. Mother has taken the other ladies through into the green drawing room already.”
Smiling, she took the blond man’s arm and followed him away from the hall. Glancing back over her shoulder she saw the Duke of Ashbourne now watching them, his arms folded and his eyes narrowed in an inscrutable but smoldering expression.
Cassius rebuked himself as he watched the damned Thomson girl walking away on his brother’s arm towards the impromptu tea gathering. Good manners presumably dictated he should also briefly join his guests now that he knew they were there.
He had argued again with his brother over Lady Josephine after breakfast that day and regretted it now.
“I hope you will pay attention to all our guests this week, Benedict, and not devote yourself entirely to Lady Josephine Thomson as you did at the Kemp dinner party,” the duke had told Benedict. “Mother has invited a number of young ladies and we do not have enough gentlemen to escort all of them. You and I must take turns at mealtimes and when we walk.”
“I do know my manners,” Benedict had brushed him off, with a smile. “I don’t deny I will likely enjoy Lady Josephine’s company more than the rest, but I will do my duty wherever it is required.”
“Why must she attach herself to you, as she does?” Cassius had continued to complain, as much to himself as his brother. “There are a thousand other young men in London with whom she could play her games. Why you?”
This had offended even the easy-going Benedict.
“Are you really so incredulous that someone else could enjoy my company, Cassius? Or are you jealous that I prefer to spend my time with a young lady who appreciates my character and temperament rather than a brother who looks critically at me merely for breathing?”
Too late, the duke had tried to row back from his over-stern position.
“Benedict, that is not what I meant and you know it,” he retorted but his brother was no longer even listening.
“It would serve you right if I did damn well marry Lady Josephine,” Benedict had snapped. “At least we could be happy together in our own home without people like you constantly sniping at us.”
It had been a futile, and likely counter-productive conversation.
Now, hours later, on his way through the hall, the Duke of Ashbourne turned and caught sight of himself in a large antique looking-glass on one of the walls. There, he saw disheveled hair, a half-unfastened suit and flushed skin that only enhanced the wildness in his dark blue eyes.
“How do you keep doing this to me?” the duke almost snarled at his reflection as he fastened his buttons and took out a comb, while unable to do anything to diminish the angry-looking flush of his skin. “Damn it all!”
He was not talking to himself. His discomposure was Lady Josephine Thomson’s doing. She somehow always made him feel like an animal, very feral and male and ready to fight, or to mate, when he wished to present himself only as a civilized human being.
Having restored some order to his appearance, Cassius then steeled himself and walked towards the green drawing room to join his mother and her various lady guests.
“Ah, there you are, my son,” said the dowager duchess with great pleasure. “Do come in and take some tea with us. You know Lady Barnabas and Lady Sudbury, of course, but have you met her eldest daughter Lady Belinda..?”
After nodding very absently to the fair-haired and elegant Lady Belinda, and then the accomplished but colorless Lady Penelope, and the softly-spoken Miss Annabelle Tewkes, the Duke of Ashbourne found himself paralyzed. There was one empty seat on a sofa beside Lady Josephine and no others…
Unlike the other young ladies who were all smiling winningly in the duke’s direction, Lady Josephine had turned up her nose as soon as he entered the room and was presently pretending not to see him. While she never seemed pleased to be in his presence, it appeared that their most recent conversation in the hall had somehow hardened her feeling against him. Or was she now remembering their kiss..?
Against his better judgement, Lady Josephine’s attitude made Cassius want to take that seat, if only to force her to acknowledge him. He was the master of the Ashbourne estate and her host, after all, and they were not alone in this room.
“Here is the map of the woods, Lady Josephine. If we start the treasure hunt here after breakfast tomorrow, we can plan to end at the small lake by luncheon…”
As Benedict filled the space on the sofa and fell back into animated conversation with Lady Josephine, Cassius sighed with quiet relief from temptation and went to lean against themantelpiece. He had sworn to himself to keep as much distance from this young lady as possible during the party and was already in danger of failing.
The admixture of innocence and passion in her personality was far more dangerous to the duke than to Benedict, it seemed. He glanced to his brother on the couch, now evidently sharing a joke with Lady Josephine, and both of them falling about in laughter. Benedict actually appeared entirely immune to the charms that were liable to overcome Cassius’ own good sense with such disturbing ease.
How beautifully Lady Josephine’s bosom curved and her waist dipped, how sparkling her impertinent emerald eyes…
“What fun! I shall write out all the clues, if you will plant them, Mr. Emerton.”
Lady Josephine almost bounced on the sofa cushions as she talked of some game or other Benedict had promised to arrange. It was a distinct contrast with the stillness and controlled manners of the other young ladies.
