Page 20 of A Wicked Duke's Arranged Marriage
The duke turned from her father, his green eyes skewering her to the spot. That distance was still within them like he was staring at her from down some long corridor, butthere was something else as well. Something vaguely unsettling, as if he could see right through her social facade.
“Are you?” he asked bluntly, one eyebrow raised.
Josephine could feel the weight of her parents’ gazes. Of their hope. Still, the immediate reassurance that she was stuck in her throat, unable to move past the sudden blockage there.
“I endeavour to be,” she said honestly.
Lady St Vincent made a small, distressed noise, but for the first time since they had sat down to dinner, Josephine could almost swear that the ghost of a smile played about the duke’s lips once more.
And her stomach did a somersault seeing it.
Lord, he really was handsome. Her stomach tightened, a foreign feeling filling her as she watched the green of his eyes darken. All thought of their conversation, the strange change in his demeanour, and everything else fled her mind as she stared at him, her heart hammering in her throat.
“You are a very singular woman, Lady Josephine,” Lord Wallburshare murmured, his eyes moving slowly over her face.
Josephine’s breath caught all over again.
She’d heard that line before, just never in that tone. As if he were admiring her for it. As if he desired for her to be.
Heat flooded her, her lips opening and only the smallest breath whispering out.
But, just like before, the moment was short-lived.
The duke’s gaze shuttered again, a pained pinch of his lips all that he allowed to show before he turned and put on a polite smile for her parents.
“I will send over the necessary arrangements if you are willing,” he said to her father, his eyes cutting only to Josephine at the end.
She didn’t know why. She didn’t have a voice to speak with, even should she recover hers. The arrangements to be made were between her father and her intended. And yet the duke looked to her as if he were also waiting for her agreement.
She nodded, a small precursory movement just in case. And the duke’s eyes shifted back to her father once more.
“Of course, we are still amenable.” Lord St Vincent laughed. “You have shown us what a wonderful match you will make, sir. And I can say that I quite enjoyed tonight much more than I anticipated.”
“Darling,” Lady St Vincent groaned.
The duke smiled, but Josephine could tell that it was forced once more. “I see where your daughter gets her honesty, Lord St Vincent.”
“Bluntness,” Josephine’s mother corrected him with a long-suffering sigh. “They’re both inescapably blunt. It’s really lost on most polite company, you know.”
“I find it a breath of fresh air,” Lord Wallburshare contradicted. “I find it far easier when one says what they mean instead of speaking in circles to get to the same outcome.”
Josephine could feel her lips twitch; her agreement, she was sure, as plain as day on her face.
“I do want a quick engagement,” the duke added, “speaking of bluntness. I would prefer to be married as soon as possible, given that there are no objections.”
Josephine’s parents shared a quick look.
“I can think of none, as of now,” Lord St Vincent said slowly. “Though I beg leave of you to consider how quick we are comfortable with. When we write to discuss arrangements further, I should have a better timeline for you.”
The duke nodded.
“Until then,” he murmured, dipping his head graciously as he walked them out the front door and all of the way to their carriage.
Josephine watched her mother flush as he helped her into the carriage and had to fight doing so herself when her turn came.
She tried to remain and appear unaffected, her eyes carefully downcast well after their carriage door had been shut. It was only when the horses’ hooves sounded against the crushed gravel that she dared to look up again.
The duke stood outlined by the torchlight from behind him, his green eyes glowing embers and that wall he had built around himself for one moment completely lowered.
