Page 13 of A Duke to Undo her (The Husband Hunt #1)
Chapter Nine
“My word, it is an actual castle!” Josephine remarked, standing up in the open-topped carriage to get a better view of Ashbourne Castle and then sitting down heavily again in her seat as the wheel passed over a small bump in the road.
Today she wore a blue traveling dress with a flower-trimmed bonnet presently hanging at her back.
Her hair was half-down from its pinning despite Vera’s protests, Josephine having argued that it would be covered under her bonnet, before abandoning this headwear.
The two ladies were accompanied by Lady Elmridge’s maid, Betsy, who could not quite hide her amusement at Lady Josephine’s behavior.
“Part of it is a castle,” Vera agreed, smiling.
“Late-medieval, I believe. The Emertons are a very old family and they’ve always kept the original castle whenever they’ve rebuilt the family seat.
“Most of it is relatively modern, rebuilt by the present duke’s great-grandfather.
I take it that your first impression of Ashbourne Castle is a favorable one? ”
“Mr. Emerton did say there was a lake but I swear I can see two,” Josephine said excitedly. “What a forest! How far it reaches. We shall need a map or guide to walk there. I do hope we can go out and explore it straight away.”
“Not straight away,” Vera put in. “We must first spend some time with our host and hostess and find out their plans for the rest of the day. You cannot just go romping off with Mr. Emerton and his young friends without paying your respects to the Duke of Ashbourne and the Dowager Duchess of Ashbourne.”
Josephine gave a long sigh at this unwanted reminder, the dark butterflies fluttering again in her stomach at the thought of encountering Cassius Emerton. She had not seen him since the Gordenford garden party.
Not even her closest friends knew what had happened there. It was not a secret Josephine could yet bear to share, partly from fear of Madeline’s harsh judgement but also because the incident at the bottom of the garden felt so incomprehensible that she didn’t have the words.
“Do not look so glum, Josephine,” Vera urged, smiling. “The dowager countess is kind and sociable. I know you’ve taken something of a dislike to the duke but I’m sure that his bark is far worse than his bite, when you get to know him. He is very well thought of in the House of Lords, I believe.”
Josephine shrugged morosely and allowed Vera and Betsy to begin tidying her hair and bonnet for their arrival.
She did not want to know Cassius Emerton.
In fact, she had lived in dread of accidentally coming face to face with him since the last moment she saw him, fearful that he might accompany his brother to tea at Elmridge House, or pass by unexpectedly in the park.
Sometimes she tried to banish the dread, by reframing the encounter in terms drawn from her favorite novels, telling herself that it only felt rather unreal to think that the awful Duke of Ashbourne had so indecently embraced her in the gardens of Gordenford House.
He must secretly be a terrible rake and a stain on his family name, regardless of his outward reputation.
Yet, every time Josephine tried to summon the required indignance, resentment or outraged virtue to match this account, the tingling of her own body reminded her that not only had Cassius Emerton kissed her, but she had returned those kisses with equal ardor…
She wished she could deny this fact, but the duke knew it too.
Josephine was sure she would see it in his eyes when they met.
“I only hope the Duke of Ashbourne is busy with his other guests when we arrive,” she said pensively to Vera. “That would be best. Then we wouldn’t need to bother him.”
“You silly thing,” laughed her older sister. “You don’t need to be scared of Cassius Emerton. I’m sure his brother will look after you.”
“Lady Elmridge, Lady Josephine,” called out Benedict Emerton cheerfully as he came down the stone steps of Ashbourne Castle to meet their carriage, as bright and debonair as he always appeared. “How wonderful to welcome you to our home! Do come straight in.”
He must have been waiting for them, Josephine guessed, so relieved to immediately see the blithe and uncomplicated Mr. Emerton that she could have kissed him, if only on the cheek.
She felt confident that he would never seize her in his arms in a hidden garden corner and do things that made her feel as though she might be going mad.
“As I said to my sister, it really is a castle!” she laughed, taking one of his arms to walk into the house, the other being offered to Vera.
Betsy accompanied the footman who unloaded their bags in the direction of the servants’ entrance, ready to unpack in the south wing rooms assigned to the ladies.
“I can’t wait to show it all to you,” Mr. Emerton enthused.
“You will love it here, I’m sure. Let’s find Mother and let her know you’ve arrived.
You’re earlier than we expected but in good time for tea with other guests who came this morning.
Cassius has probably gone to ground again.
He’s like a bear with a sore head sometimes when we want him to be sociable. ”
As he chatted, they walked through the front door handing off coats, hats and parasols to servants and then proceeding through the massive and echoing stone-floored hallway.
Nerissa Emerton met them beside the rather grand and imposing staircase at the far end of this hallway, having appeared from a corridor to the right with another lady who seemed to instantly recognize Vera.
Josephine felt glad that her sister would have a friend to occupy her attention and keep her sometimes from her duties as chaperone.
“Lady Elmridge, Lady Josephine, how lovely to see you both again,” the dowager duchess greeted them with the warmth and civility of a practiced hostess.
“You must take tea with me and Lady Barnabas, unless you wish to rest after your journey? We will likely not see my son the duke until dinner. There are no real plans until tomorrow, are there, Benedict?”
As Benedict answered his mother and the older ladies began to talk about tea and compare their journeys, Josephine’s eyes wandered around the walls of the hallway and their eclectic mix of art and artifacts, seemingly drawn from every era since the house’s foundation and every level of artistic merit.
The paintings of old masters rubbed shoulders with amateur daubing, presumably by family members.
Beautifully carved Grecian statues stood alongside rusty old weapons and tattered tapestries.
Antique silver candlesticks and modern Argand oil lamps sat together on side tables.
The massive hallway was both strange and fascinating to Josephine’s eyes and she barely realized how far she was drifting from her companions as she explored it.
In the corridor on the opposite side of the staircase, Josephine was just examining a curiously disproportionate oil painting of a horse when a flash of movement caught her eye from an opening door.
Her hand dropped guiltily from the golden frame as a dark-haired man appeared. He froze upon seeing her.
“What are you doing here?” asked the Duke of Ashbourne rather gruffly, as though she was an intruder who had simply wandered into his house from the road, rather than a known and expected guest on the appointed day of arrival.
“You invited me here,” Josephine shot back. “Had you forgotten, Your Grace? I am here for the week with my sister, Lady Elmridge.”
“You are early,” he said, making the statement sound like an accusation more than an explanation of his question.
“At least Mr. Emerton had the courtesy to welcome us like a gentleman,” Josephine now retorted, her blood and her voice beginning to rise with every word they exchanged.
“Oh, is that what Lady Josephine wants today?” the duke replied with equivalent abandonment of calm, coming forward and grasping her hand before she realized what he was about.
He bent over it with a formal bow.
“Welcome to Ashbourne House, Lady Josephine,” he stated, both mockery and an odd, feverish impatience in his tone. “Is that a more appropriate greeting?”
Josephine regarded him as coldly as she could although her heart was banging like a drum.
“I accept your greeting in the exact spirit you offer it, Your Grace,” she replied and then inhaled sharply as he suddenly touched his lips to her fingers, his deep blue eyes looking up at her from underneath his untidy hair as he did so.
Fire and madness flared briefly but powerfully within her once again at this touch and the meeting of their eyes. Josephine snatched her hand from his and backed away.
“I’m going back to find Mr. Emerton,” she declared. “We shall have tea with your mother in the drawing room.”
“So, you still aim to entangle my little brother, do you?” Cassius Emerton asked her, a rough edge in his voice as he straightened up and then raised an amused eyebrow.
“Entanglement?! Is that how you see two people enjoying one another’s company and wishing to know one another better?”
“Maybe I see two young fools playing juvenile games, disregarding the real world and its rules, along with the real people who live in it,” he suggested. “Do you ever plan to grow up, Lady Josephine?”
“I am twenty years of age and quite grown, thank you, Your Grace. I see no reason to abandon all fun and games on that account. Nor does your brother. If Mr. Emerton wishes to spend time with me, I’m sure that is up to him.
Or should be. You did invite me here, and it would be strange to renew your objections at this point. ”
Cassius Emerton did not immediately answer these pointed statements, but only looked critically at Josephine, his breathing deep and audible.