Page 34 of A Duke to Undo her
She clasped her hands and sighed, rather as she had done on the driveway to Ashbourne House. Josephine herself rather wished that there hadn’t been a small reception committee to witness her return with the two Emerton men. It had given everyone entirely the wrong idea.
“He didn’t really rescue me, in the way you mean, Rose. It was only that my horse had gone lame so I had to ride with him. Theduke boosted me up to the saddle. It was all very mundane and a little embarrassing, to be honest.”
Madeline laughed.
“Mundane and a little embarassing? Welcome to the real world, Josephine. How do you like it?”
For a moment, Josephine felt herself back in the Duke of Ashbourne’s arms, rolling on the forest floor, their clothes in disorder, a cut on his handsome face and her own skin moist with both sweat and kisses. The jolt that passed through her was strong enough to make her hug herself tightly. Was that the real world? If so, she both liked and feared it.
Rose, however, was not to be so easily denied her share of romance.
“But he searched for you for hours and found you when you were lost, didn’t he? That has to be the act of a man in love.”
“The Duke of Ashbourne found me,” Josephine said quietly. “Mr. Emerton came later after we’d patched up Apollo’s foot. Madeline, could you please help me unbutton this habit? It’s impossible to take off without assistance.”
She shivered again with the memory of the duke’s hands roaming her curves, and the mingled sound of enjoyment and frustration in his throat as he found no entry to her bodice.
Practical Madeline came to her assistance and began to unfasten the garment, while Rose mulled over her disappointment.
“Well, I suppose it could have been worse,” said the blonde-haired woman after a time. “If Mr. Emerton hadn’t found the two of you, you would have had to ride back with the Duke of Ashbourne.”
Rose pulled a face at this idea but Josephine could only stare at her. A week ago, she might have been the one making this very joke and now she could find no humor in it at all.
Indeed, if Mr. Emerton had not arrived, she would have had to ride back with the duke. The thought made her feel almost light-headed. Or perhaps, that was the thought of what would inevitably have happened on the forest floor before the ride back.
Should she be thankful for the interruption, Josephine pondered? She was not.
“Are you well, Josephine?” Madeline asked quietly as Rose turned away and began to change her own dress, Josephine having poured cold water on all her most romantic imaginings. “Did something happen?”
Josephine hesitated and frowned before answering, doubting that either of her friends could possibly understand the events of the last three days. She barely understood herself.
“But nothing is wrong, is it?” Madeline probed further, sensing the turmoil that Josephine sought to conceal.
Josephine shook her head. Nothing was exactly wrong, only so very different from all her fantasies and preconceived ideas. She could no longer pretend even the slightest belief that she was in love with Benedict Emerton, no matter how well they got along. Nor could she ever again delude herself that she hated Cassius Emerton, however much they might provoke one another.
“Ask me next week,” Josephine eventually answered with small smile, intended only to dampen Madeline’s concern. “Certain matters are not quite as they seem.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Would you care for a game of pall mall, Lady Belinda?” asked Madeline pleasantly as she walked out of the conservatory with Benedict Emerton, carrying armfuls of mallets and hoops. “The weather is fine and there is room for another player.”
Lady Belinda, nodded her head graciously and laid down the book she had been reading in the sunshine at a table on the terrace. She seemed about to accept when Josephine came tearing up the front lawn with her skirts raised high in her hands.
“There you both are! Did you manage to find another player?”
“I was just asking Lady Belinda…”
As Madeline turned expectantly back to the elegant blonde woman on the terrace, Lady Belinda gave a small, rather mean smile and shook her head.
“Alas, I am too exhausted from yesterday’s excitement. I plan to have a restful day today.”
Josephine frowned and added her voice to Madeline’s. It was obvious that the woman had changed her mind after seeing that the game included Josephine.
“Oh, do make up a six, Lady Belinda,” she added. “It will be fun. We have Mr. Emerton, Madeline, Rose, myself and Vera but that only makes five.”
“We are not all possessed of your unusual energy, Lady Josephine,” declined Lady Belinda, and lowered her eyes once more.
It was a definite snub and Josephine felt it, even though it didn’t surprise her in the slightest. She had only even tried to reach out to the other young ladies at Madeline’s behest, having been instructed that she must make more effort when she was a guest in someone’s home.
