Page 19 of Denying a Rakish Duke
The Dowager’s brow lifted in curiosity as she looked over to her grandson. “Then perhaps she possesses a brain inside of her pretty head after all. You are terrible, and your handsome face only compensates for a portion of it.”
“I believe that my personality was inherited from my grandmother, or so I have been told.”
The Dowager smiled slowly, an expression that only lifted the very corner of her lips. It twisted her elderly face in such a way that despite it being amusement, she looked almost as if she were scheming. “You should speak to the Earl of Evans this evening then, and there shall be no more room for debate.”
“Whatever would I need to speak with him about?”
“Well, you have already declared your intentions to me, and it appears that you are decided, so there is no reason that you should need to delay any further. After dinner is over, ask for a private audience with the Earl and officially ask for Lady Amanda’s hand in marriage. Then all will be well with nothing else to worry about. You can have the contracts and such drafted in the morning and have the banns announced for the union without delay.”
She said it as if it were the simplest thing in the whole world. Yet, the finality of it all seemed too sudden for Joseph. He was still not willing to admit to himself one of the possible reasons for his hesitation.
The carriage pulled around, and their footman pulled open the door for the Dowager to enter with the assistance of her grandson’s supportive, guiding hand before he followed her into the carriage as well. She had a point; there was no arguing that … and yet, every time that he pictured himself sitting in the parlor with Tobias Farbridge, asking for his niece’s hand in marriage, it was not Amanda’s face that swam into the forefront of his mind but Vanessa’s.
How terrible a union that would be. He could imagine it now: he would attempt to bed one of his mistresses, and Vanessa would chase her from the home, threatening to ride Apple over the poor girl’s head. He could imagine how picky she would be, and how nothing would ever be good enough for her.
Joseph stared out the window of the carriage, the night sky casting shadows in strange patterns between the lamplight posts that they passed on the way to the Evans Manor. His imagination ran away from him: how angry Vanessa would be all of the time, how she would pick fights with him for no reason, how she would needle at his temper until he lost control ... how soft she would turn in his arms to soothe him back down once again.
As the carriage started to slow once more, he willed himself to think of Amanda, of the lady whom he had already decided would make the perfect Duchess to parade around on his arm to appease his Grandmother, and he could not.
* * *
Joseph expected to be the only guest in attendance. Perhaps it was his sheer arrogance that had him believing that, as this was to compensate for a perceived slight, the focus would be on him. However, the sheer number of bodies moving into the main doors and exploring the well-lit Manor had him thinking that somehow, yet again, Vanessa had managed to insert herself into this in order to ensure that there were too many people here for him to have a single decent conversation with Amanda.
He tried to be offended, but he was merely impressed by the planning that she must have gone through to enact such a seamless intervention.
“Well then, this is not exactly what I had expected … though now I expect to be served a much higher caliber of wine,” the Dowager said dryly as she tapped the end of her cane against the carriage door to be let out. The footman attended to her at once, and Joseph followed. Cheerful music wafted out the front door as it was opened for them. Merry conversation and bouts of laughter ran from every hallway and around every corner despite the serious air that tended to engulf the air around the Dowager.
A floral aroma permeated the Manor. Flowers were beautifully arranged and positioned on what seemed to be every single surface. He recognized a few as some of those that he had had delivered here. The scent was nearly overwhelming but somehow managed to make the foyer and hallways seem cozier. The entryway grew quiet as they were announced and entered, the tap of the Dowager’s cane the most prominent noise as she moved inside, drawing all eyes toward them.
“Achoo!”
Just like that, all of the attention, including the Dowager’s harsh gaze, turned to the thin man now nervously glancing from one face to another as he covered his nose with a white, monogrammed handkerchief. Joseph smirked; he knew that man now muttering blanket apologies to all of those around him. He was the man who had lent him his coat yesterday. Joseph stepped away from the Dowager and moved toward the man with an extended hand.
“Deepest apologies for that, Your Grace; how embarrassing. It is the begonias! While they are spectacularly beautiful, I confess they trigger my allergies unlike anything else!” Thomas Farbridge chuckled softly as he pocketed his handkerchief once more. “Welcome to our Manor— my father’s Manor— the family home, I mean; I know that you have been here before, but welcome in an official capacity. Heh— well, I am fumbling all of this up, but I hope that you understand my meaning.”
“I do, good sir. Thank you once again for your generous assistance the other day; I will have your coat returned to you shortly.”
“Think nothing of it! I am Thomas Farbridge; we did not have the chance to be properly introduced to one another amid all of the hubbub. Thank you for coming; it is marvelous to see you!”
“Yes, I thought that I heard your name— thank you for having us here tonight; I was not expecting so many people,” Joseph said as he released Thomas’ hand. Joseph had never had an abundance of male friends in his life for reasons that he felt were fairly obvious. Low moral standards on his part had sabotaged a great many of relationships, and the few men that he did consider himself to be friendly with were very dear to him.
“Please, let me show you around!” Thomas gestured to the hallway and began speaking about the tapestry on the wall, but Joseph could hardly hear a word that he said. He found himself looking around for a raven-haired woman but expecting to be shown to Amanda. In fact, the man at his side seemed to be painstakingly describing every architectural detail that they passed, and after twenty minutes of one-sided conversation had passed— it occurred to Joseph that the man might be stalling.
What he could not figure out was why.
ChapterTwelve
“IfIwere the Guest of Honor to a dinner party,Iwould not dare to be late!” Tobias Farbridge groused from the seat of honor at the head of his massive dining table. The staff had been in an uproar since Petunia had arrived home yesterday afternoon and had been pushed to work into overdrive. When the sun had set yesterday, and Tobias had arrived home from his stroll, he had taken it upon himself to toddle around after Petunia, repeating all of the instructions that she gave to the staff.
“Perhaps you would like to go and greet the guests, My Lord, to make the time pass more quickly?” Amanda suggested as she fiddled with the place settings on the long table so that everything was placed just so. She knew that the servants had measured and placed everything perfectly, but she was feeling uncharacteristically anxious this evening.
The room had been decorated with floral arrangements placed at intervals around the room, and creations of fruit had been placed as decor on the table between the various platters and serving trays laden with food.
Tobias had pulled a silver service platter toward himself and had taken to plucking up bits and pieces of meats and stuffed olives for himself to snack on while waiting for the guests to attend. As Thomas was greeting people that entered the Manor, Tobias had excused himself from all of his duties in favor of ‘assisting’ his wards. It was entirely uncommon, but as the head of the family, there were none who wished to enter into a verbal sparring match with him about it either.
“Where is Petunia, anyway? She ought to be in here by my side!” Tobias huffed and popped an olive into his mouth. He continued to grouse further under his breath, harrumphing as he lifted an empty wine goblet to the nearest servant who poured him a generous amount of red wine. Tobias snatched it back to himself so quickly that small droplets of the wine splattered over his cream-colored shirt. Not that he noticed.
Vanessa and Amanda exchanged knowing glances from across the table to one another. Vanessa had to bite down on her tongue to keep from commenting that it was unlikely that Uncle Tobias would have ever been late for a meal of any kind in his life. It was bad enough that he had kept Amanda in here when she so badly desired to be out socializing. She wanted to be speaking with those in attendance. The whole intention of inviting the esteemed, select few members of thetonto come was supposed to be in order to keep Amanda at the forefront of everybody's minds.
