Page 64 of A Duke to Undo her
“Josephine!” broke in Constance’s scandalized voice, and the younger woman stepped back slightly although one of her hands remained tightly entwined with the duke’s. “You cannot do suchoutrageous things, certainly not in public! What can you be thinking?!”
“Cassius and I will be getting married,” Josephine declared politely but defiantly to her eldest sister. “He came here to propose to me and I have accepted him. Look, he has given me his ring already and he is a man of honor. Why can I not kiss him?”
“This is most improper, Your Grace!” Constance persisted with a pained expression, now addressing the Duke of Ashbourne, as if she hoped that he might see sense even if Josephine did not. “There has been no discussion with us as Josephine’s family or consultation with our lawyers on wedding contracts. You really cannot just…”
In the small crowd, someone actually booed.
“Constance,” Vera interrupted gently but firmly, now approaching Josephine and Cassius, arm in arm with Norman. “Josephine and His Grace, the Duke of Ashbourne, are getting married and we should congratulate them. The details are better worked out in private than here in the park, are they not?”
She kissed Josephine’s cheek with a smile while Lord Elmridge shook the Duke of Ashbourne’s hand. Seeing the wisdom of Vera’s words and actions, Ophelia too came forward with her husband and followed her sister’s example. After a short pause in which consternation, concern and exasperation followed one another in quick succession, Constance and Victor finally followed suit and completed the public reconciliation.
Soon after this, the crowd around their group began to disperse, the show evidently being finished and the watchers only eager now to pass on their gossip to friends and acquaintances across London. These events would likely be all over town within an hour.
“May I walk Josephine back to Elmridge House?” the duke asked Lord and Lady Norfield in a more measured and respectful tone. “We have much to discuss.”
Constance looked briefly horrified all over again until Vera stepped in.
“Norman and I will walk with them, Constance. There will be no impropriety. You may all go back to Elmridge House and we will meet you there. Doubtless Victor will want to send word to our lawyers as soon as possible.”
“Vera is right,” Lord Norfield agreed, taking his wife’s arm and regarding Constance with encouraging affection. “Come along, my dear. There is nothing more to be done here and, with your assistance, I should write to the lawyers immediately.”
“Matilda needs to be changed,” Ophelia added. “Percival and I will meet you at Elmridge House shortly, Constance.”
Although not entirely happy, Constance allowed herself to be removed from the scene as Lord and Lady Kilderhorn made for their own coach. Josephine and Cassius watched the two carriages roll away, leaving only Vera and Norman beside them.
“We shall walk ahead to give you some privacy,” declared Lady Elmridge with an indulgent smile before she and her husband moved off together along the path again. “Be sure not to fall behind or I shall be in trouble with Constance more than you, Josephine.”
“There shall be no impropriety, remember,” Josephine laughed to Cassius Emerton as he laid an arm around her waist.
“Not yet, at least,” the duke returned with a glint in his eyes and a catch in his voice. “But I shall not stand for a long engagement, Josephine. Be sure of that. You must be mine very soon.”
“I have always been yours, Cassius,” she answered, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“You are not yet completely mine, although you will be soon enough,” the duke returned, kissing Josephine’s hair lightly and sending a pleasurable shiver of anticipation through her body. “I promise I will let nothing more stand in our way.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Josephine, what have you done?” inquired Madeline urgently, almost running down the hallway at Elmridge House in her unusual haste. “Your name is all over town! The rumors at the Bedingfords’ garden party were so alarming that Father did not like me to come here alone, especially since no one from your family was there to quash them. He is waiting in the carriage outside.”
Josephine laughed aloud hearing this and embraced her disconcerted friend warmly.
“What have I done? I am betrothed to the Duke of Ashbourne, Madeline. That is all I have done. He pledged himself to me this morning in Hyde Park. Look!”
She held up her hand with its little golden ring, delighting in its display and feeling as though Cassius had left a piece of him with her rather than only an item of jewelry.
“Oh my!” Madeline reacted, the sound she made somewhere between a laugh and a yelp. “Oh Josephine, I do not know what to say! How could this happen? Was it true that he fought all three of your brothers-in-law, wrested you from your sisters and carried you off from the park in front of everyone?”
Josephine descended into giggles at how gossip had already distorted Cassius Emerton’s admittedly controversial proposal.
“I wish he had!” she replied. “How fine it would have been to run away to Gretna Green and be married at a blacksmith’s forge!”
Madeline tried to look scandalized but then laughed too, Josephine’s happiness proving infectious.
“Josephine Thomson!” admonished Vera, emerging from the drawing room on hearing the sound of Madeline’s voice. “Do not let Constance hear you say such improper things. I know that you are joking and would never hurt your family in such a way, but others may not. Poor Madeline looks beside herself already without you adding to her worries.”
“Do not worry, Vera, I almost never do the things I want to do,” Josephine sighed happily. “Madeline knows that. Cassius and I shall be married in a church before a vicar like everyone else and Constance will be content. Anyway, Constance and Ophelia are both resting upstairs and won’t hear anything I say.”
“Indeed you shall be married in a church before a vicar, young Josephine,” remarked Norman, Lord Elmridge having just come in from the front door with a sheaf of papers in his hand. “TheDuke of Ashbourne has already obtained an ordinary license from the Bishop of London. He called on the bishop directly after leaving us this morning.”
