Page 13 of A Duke to Undo her
“What in the world are you doing snooping out here, Your Grace?” she countered defensively. “You’re meant to be having port and cigars with the other gentlemen. I thought I was alone.”
“I’m on my way back to the dining room but decided to investigate the suspicious figure I could see skulking in theshadows. Obviously, I should have known it was only Lady Josephine Thomson up to her usual tricks and not some burglar after Lord Kemp’s valuable bronzes.”
With a sinking heart and anticipated humiliation, Josephine realized that he would likely go back to the dining room and regale the gentlemen there with a further tale of her outlandish behavior. There was no point in playing the perfect lady card any more.
“Why must you try to monopolize and control Benedict so much?” Josephine demanded accusingly instead, going on the attack since defense appeared impossible.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from my brother?” the duke said, his audible breathing making Josephine conscious of how close they were in the darkness.
“Didn’t I make it clear enough that I wouldn’t?” she shot back with equal force.
“You were the only one monopolizing Benedict at dinner tonight, Lady Josephine. As far as I could tell, you spoke scarcely a dozen words to anyone else at the table.”
“Shouldn’t you have been attending more to the worthy and virtuous ladies in the party rather than watching me?” Josephine continued to fight against him while unable to deny anything he had said.
Had the duke moved even nearer now, or had Josephine done so? Either way, they were standing only a step apart, like two boxers squaring up to one another for a physical fight. Cassius Emerton was tall and well-built and if he bothered to make himself personable, she supposed he would even have been handsome. Not that she cared when he made himself such a bore…
At this proximity, Josephine detected again that faint scent of cologne and overheated male skin that she had noticed when she confronted him in the park. The duke’s breath stirred a few loose strands of hair at Josephine’s temple and her belly contracted with an intensity that was both shocking and mystifyingly pleasurable.
“Watching you…?” he muttered, staring straight down at her face with an expression that was simultaneously bewildered and bewildering.
Josephine felt her skin flushing bright red although it would hopefully be invisible to him in the dimness. Why was he still standing here like this? What could he even want from her?
Did the Duke of Ashbourne feel Josephine's breath on his face too? Her eyes were somehow drawn to his lips although it felt almost indecent to even look at that well-shaped but unsmiling mouth. They were both breathing harder than they should be and Josephine felt bewilderment at this on top of all the other strange sensations running through her body.
How strange and wild his eyes looked, when Josephine forced her gaze back up to his again. She could not imagine what lay behind them, and both longed for and shrank from the idea of finding out.
Abruptly, Cassius Emerton straightened up, took a step back and turned on his heel, departing without another word.
Josephine sank back against the wall, panting, and put a trembling hand to her heart. What in the world had just happened? And what if it happened again?
“I hate him! I hate his messy hair and his untidy clothes and I hate his rude manners and his presumption and…”
“What was that, dear?” called out Vera, passing Josephine’s room as her younger sister brushed out her hair at the dressing table, muttering against Cassius Emerton under her breath as she did so. “Shall I send you a maid?”
“No, I was just talking to myself. Good night, Vera!” Josephine answered, biting her lip, as Lady Elmridge put her head around the door.
She was glad that she hadn’t been completely overheard. Vera and her husband simply wouldn’t understand. Josephine was not sure she understood herself.
On the coach ride home after dinner and even now, readying herself for bed, Josephine could not get the Duke of Ashbourne out of her head. He seemed to be everywhere her mind turned, needling her and blocking her hopes of future happiness.
Nor did she have the comfort of feeling better tomorrow, expecting that matters like the ladle incident or her lurking in the shadows of the hallway would have been well laughed over by him among the other gentlemen over port. They would in turn pass these little anecdotes on to their wives, sisters and mothers, and they would laugh directly at at Josephine in turn.
Indeed, the sinking feeling of negative anticipation was still with Josephine the next morning when she rose and came downstairs to breakfast, taking her seat without a word.
“You seem to have got out of bed on the wrong side today,” observed Norman with a smile. “Well, cook has made a batch of her best crumpets and they’re still warm from toasting. Butter one of these and the world will look far better, I promise.”
Vera laughed and pushed the butter towards Josephine as her husband passed the wrapped basket of crumpets. Josephine sniffed the air and smiled appreciatively, young and healthy enough not to lose her appetite over minor worries.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t as well-behaved as I would have liked at dinner last night,” she admitted after swallowing a first bite of crumpet. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“About what?” Vera asked, puzzled.
“Oh, that silly misunderstanding with the ladle,” realized Lord Elmridge. “Is that what you mean? Don’t fret over that. People laughed at the time but then forgot all about it. It was funny but hardly the scandal of the season, little sister.”
“I expect they didn’t really forget,” Josephine said dubiously. “I shall be teased about my manners next time I go out, I expect.”
Lord and Lady Elmridge exchanged a glance and shrug of incomprehension.
