Page 55 of A Duke to Undo her
“Cassius told me that I should marry so I went to London and proposed to Lady Josephine Thomson. I thought that if we married, I could move out and live independently in the London house, like Cassius promised.”
Duchess Nerissa looked as though she had been struck by a thunderbolt, a horrified sound forced from her throat as a hand flew to her mouth.
“Lady Josephine refused me, don’t worry,” he added quickly, not having expected quite such a strong reaction from his mother. “Here, let me help you to a seat.”
The blond man took his mother’s arm and settled her into a comfortable chair, propping her with cushions and offering brandy. As her color returned, she waved him away.
“What possessed you to do such a thing, Benedict?” she demanded quite crossly, with far more feeling that he had realized she carried on this subject. “Lady Josephine is…not for you.”
“Oh, she has explained that to me already. We are friends again. Do not think too badly of Lady Josephine mother. She is nothing like all the nasty sniping gossips say. I like how fresh and natural she is. I could not like her more if she were my own sister.”
His mother made another odd sound and Benedict saw her blink away tears as she nodded.
“I do not think badly of Lady Josephine at all, Benedict. In fact, I may like her quite as much as you do, after seeing her here this week,” Duchess Nerissa assured her son. “I only deplore so much confusion and misunderstanding, including with your brother. If only there were a simple way to untangle everything.”
“There is. Cassius must live his own life instead of trying to make me live it for him,” Benedict said grimly. “Only he won’t, will he?”
“You are very right,” she agreed, calm again after her shock. “What a wonderful life Cassius might have, if only he could see what is in front of his own nose. My poor boy…”
Benedict laughed now, taking the tray of food that had arrived and settling beside his mother.
“Don’t feel too sorry for, Cassius, Mother. I am the one who is suffering, remember.”
The dowager duchess smiled and shook her silver-gold head.
“You will be fine in the morning, my son. There is no real damage done, since Lady Josephine has refused you. How much worse it might have been… I shall speak to Cassius again about his expectations of you, Benedict. Do not argue further with him, for my sake. The consequences could be…dire.”
“Thank you, Mother, although I do not expect he will take any notice of either of us. He will only go his own way, as he always does, taking no account of anyone but himself.”
“I understand Cassius better than you, Benedict, and I think perhaps there is a way to get through to him. I can only try…”
Cassius ignored the second knock on his study door, just as he had ignored the first. He recognized Benedict’s step in the corridor well enough and did not wish to talk to him.
For three days now, the Duke of Ashbourne had buried himself as deeply as he could in estate business, dealing with every small matter he might sometimes have delegated to his agents or long-running issues that might have waited another week, month or even year.
This also allowed him to avoid meals with his family and he’d had only the briefest of contacts with his mother. Benedict, he suspected was happy to avoid him too, likely still smarting after their quarrel.
Despite this frenetic activity and busyness, every time Cassius sat still, especially when he closed his eyes, his mind conjured up a green-eyed young woman with waves of tousled red-brown hair down to her shapely naked breasts, her arms extended to him and her lips slightly parted in desire…
Sleeping was even worse, his dreams even more vivid and frustrating. In these, Lady Josephine often lay naked across his bed or on the forest floor, damp, moaning and eager to be mounted, but an invisible wall preventing him from reaching her.
Every day was torture, and the nights worse still. He could not even flee to London, where he would run the risk of running into the real Lady Josephine or her family.
“I’m not going away until you let me in, Cassius,” Benedict’s voice called out cheerfully, making Cassius think that perhaps their quarrel was over. “I know you’re in there.”
“I’m coming,” answered the duke unwillingly at last, standing and going to the door. “What is it, Benedict?”
“That’s no way to greet your only brother,” grinned Benedict, with his usual sunny smile. “Anyway, I’ve brought you a gift.”
He held up a decanter of brandy.
“My own brandy,” Cassius said drily, although he could not help smiling back. “How kind of you.”
“It is a particularly fine batch,” his younger brother continued. “I thought we might share a drink tonight since I haven’t seen you for days, despite living under the same roof.”
“You were the one who went missing for a day,” the duke pointed out, although standing back to let Benedict into the room. “You left no word and Mother was very worried.”
“Well, you’ve been missing for three days, by my count, even if you’ve been sleeping here and leaving word via servants. That worried Mother just as much, in its own way. Anyway, I believe your offense and mine together must cancel one another out. Let us call it quits.”
