Page 15 of A Duke to Undo her
“Christ!” he muttered, sitting up abruptly as his blood quickened with the memory of that young baggage’s voice.
“There is no need for bad language, Cassius,” his mother reproved him. “It is perfectly natural that I should wish you to find a good wife so that I may live to see my grandchildren grow. You need not react so violently to the idea.”
The duke took a deep breath. He could hardly explain to his mother and Benedict that it was Lady Josephine who drew such violent reaction from him, not his mother’s well-intended, if unwelcome, suggestion. He distinctly regretted having approached that young lady in the hallway tonight. It felt as though he had deepened a small wound or foolishly inhaled some intoxicating and addictive compound.
Thank God he’d had the presence of mind to walk away. The woman was a menace, body, heart and soul, even if Benedict refused to see it. Cassius had never before met a young woman who challenged his self-control quite as Lady Josephine Thomson did, merely through her very existence.
“We have spoken of this before, Mother, several times,” Cassius stated implacably. “I do not intend to marry. Benedict will be my heir and it is to him you must look for your grandchildren. Why do you not matchmake Miss Peckford with my brother?”
At this, Benedict balked, evidently no more taken with the pale and over-slender charms of Miss Peckford than the duke.
“Don’t bring me into this business, Cassius,” the blond man objected. "I’m sure Miss Peckford is virtuous and respectable enough to be any gentleman’s wife, Mother, but I will choose my own.”
“Of course, dear,” the dowager duchess nodded sympathetically. “I had hoped that Cassius might outgrow this odd idea of making you his heir in time. What man does not want a good wife at this side? A happy marriage is such a comfort and support to both parties. I should hate to see either of you sacrifice the chance to enjoy what your father and I had.”
“Do you think Father would ever have married if he knew he would die so young and so suddenly?” Cassius pointed out, ruing his words almost instantly when he saw the color drain from his mother’s face. “I am sorry to speak so plainly, Mother. I believehe loved you too much to ever wish to inflict such pain upon you.”
Fortunately, the passage of years and the careful years of nursing from her sister had restored Nerissa’s mental and emotional resilience. She only smiled sadly at her son as she considered her response.
“Your father and I would have married one another only to have a single day together. You do not understand love, Cassius. I hope you will one day.”
The three of them sat in silence for a minute to two as the drinks were served and the maid withdrew once more. It was Benedict who picked up the conversation and turned it in a slightly different direction.
“I shall be calling at Elmridge House again tomorrow, just so that you know,” he said, a firm and recognizable challenge to Cassius in his voice although the tone was light.
The duke acknowledged this in kind, with his own light and firm comment on his brother’s words.
“Just so that you know, Mother, Benedict is telling us that he intends to call again on Lady Josephine Thomson tomorrow, against my express wishes. When he tells you that he wishes to choose his own wife, have a care for what he is really thinking and do not be deceived.”
“Why must you interfere like this, Cassius?” Benedict responded with a frown. “I like Lady Josephine. She is more fun to be with than any young lady I have ever met. You’re the one who keeps talking about marriage, not me. I only want to spend time with someone who has a sense of humor and doesn’t try to control me…”
“Lady Josephine was the young lady you spent most of this evening with, wasn’t she?” Nerissa queried, stepping into the conversation before it could become a row. “The one in the cream silk evening gown with such lovely hair and eyes?”
Benedict nodded, appealing for his mother’s support.
“Yes, isn’t she delightful? You should see how well Lady Josephine dances too.”
“Like a wild creature from ancient myth or an inmate of Bedlam,” noted the duke sardonically, to Benedict’s displeasure.
Now it was the duke’s turn to receive a warning work from his mother.
“Cassius,” she pleaded with him.
He held up his hands in truce as the Dowager Duchess Nerissa shook her head at him.
“Lady Josephine did strike me as a lively and amiable young woman, as well as having a very attractive face and figure,” theduchess now said slowly. “However, she is also a little flighty and unpredictable, haven’t you heard? She does not have the quiet manners and steady comportment of someone like Miss Margaret Peckford.”
“Flighty and unpredictable? No, Lady Josephine is of unconventional mind and never dull,” Benedict declared. “I will not be prevented from furthering our acquaintance on that account.”
“Benedict, I am head of this family,” Cassius reminded him but received only a withering response.
“As if you ever let me forget these days. I do not challenge your authority, brother, but you must see that I am not a boy any more.”
“If you’re a grown man, then why don’t you…”
“This is all very silly,” the dowager duchess said, stepping in again swiftly before the disagreement could escalate. “There is no need for the two of you to clash over Lady Josephine.”
“You can’t really intend to take Benedict’s side in this, Mother,” Cassius said. "If your ideal wife for your sons is Miss Peckford, you can hardly entertain the possibility of one of them marrying Lady Josephine.”
