Page 21 of A Duke to Undo her (The Husband Hunt #1)
“There you are!” said Benedict Emerton with a sunny smile, evidently seeing little to be concerned about. “Did you get lost? I expect that was my fault. Mother and Cassius certainly think so.”
“Apollo was frightened by a badger and hurt his foot,” Josephine explained. “Then we got lost.”
“Dear me, you silly old boy,” said Benedict to the horse and then gave a little laugh. “It looks likes someone has seen to your foot already.”
“I’ve done what I could with my pocket knife, a handkerchief and Lady Josephine’s brandy but he’ll be out of use for a week or two at least,” the Duke of Ashbourne said brusquely, returning the flask to Josephine from the grass and stuffing the wad of petticoat in his own pocket as if to hide it.
“It sounds like you’ve both been having fun out here,” joked Benedict. “At least we’ll have a good story for dinner tonight.”
Neither of them gave any answer to this remark, Josephine feeling herself blush bright red, and the duke turning away to examine Apollo’s foot one more time.
“It’s good you found us, Benedict. Now you can give Lady Josephine a ride back to the house on your horse and I’ll lead Apollo. If he’s limping too much, we’ll drop behind but I don’t want to slow you down. Mother is doubtless worried by now, and Lady Elmridge too.”
“Yes, Captain,” said Mr. Emerton, with a smart salute to his commanding older brother. “I shall deliver Lady Josephine straight back to Mother and all will be well.”
“Are you ready?” the Duke of Ashbourne asked Josephine, coming to stand behind her.
She turned to look at him, aching to be pressed against his body once more, his lips on hers. When the duke boosted her up onto his brother’s horse, Josephine gave a gasp that had nothing to do with nervousness or fear and everything to do with being lifted again in those strong arms.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” said Benedict Emerton cheerfully. “I shall ride carefully, or at least more carefully than you ever do.”
Despite herself, Josephine laughed.
“I feel quite safe with you,” she told the blond man quite truthfully.
Indeed, it was true. She felt not a whisper of nervousness or excitement of any kind, despite sitting across the front of his saddle, supported by his arms. If Benedict Emerton had not come, would she have had to ride back to the house with Cassius Emerton?
At that thought, her heart began to race again. Looking back she saw the duke mount his own horse and take up Apollo’s reins, his eyes still fixed on hers.
“I am so glad that you’re both here,” Josephine told Madeline and Rose once the three of them were all ensconced in her bedroom back at Ashbourne Castle. “I’ve so missed having you to talk to. The other young ladies here are such miserable wretches you wouldn’t believe.”
Madeline had arrived in the early afternoon and Rose a few hours later. Both had been disturbed to find Josephine missing from the party and spent their first hours at Ashbourne House comforting and calming Lady Elmridge. Now the three of them were meant to be dressing together for dinner.
“That is not a kind remark, Josephine,” Madeline chided her. “Nor is it judicious given an acquaintance of only three days.”
“Well, anyway, they don’t like me,” Josephine shrugged this off, “even though I’ve never done anything to them. I can tell that much with my own eyes and ears in less than three days.”
“Oh never mind all that,” Rose dismissed these pedestrian concerns, eager for a different kind of story. “Tell us about how Mr. Emerton rescued you from being lost in the forest. That is what I want to hear about. How romantic he looked, carrying you back on his horse like that!”
She clasped her hands and sighed, rather as she had done on the driveway to Ashbourne House. Josephine herself rather wished that there hadn’t been a small reception committee to witness her return with the two Emerton men. It had given everyone entirely the wrong idea.
“He didn’t really rescue me, in the way you mean, Rose. It was only that my horse had gone lame so I had to ride with him. The duke boosted me up to the saddle. It was all very mundane and a little embarrassing, to be honest.”
Madeline laughed.
“Mundane and a little embarassing? Welcome to the real world, Josephine. How do you like it?”
For a moment, Josephine felt herself back in the Duke of Ashbourne’s arms, rolling on the forest floor, their clothes in disorder, a cut on his handsome face and her own skin moist with both sweat and kisses.
The jolt that passed through her was strong enough to make her hug herself tightly.
Was that the real world? If so, she both liked and feared it.
Rose, however, was not to be so easily denied her share of romance.
“But he searched for you for hours and found you when you were lost, didn’t he? That has to be the act of a man in love.”
“The Duke of Ashbourne found me,” Josephine said quietly. “Mr. Emerton came later after we’d patched up Apollo’s foot. Madeline, could you please help me unbutton this habit? It’s impossible to take off without assistance.”
She shivered again with the memory of the duke’s hands roaming her curves, and the mingled sound of enjoyment and frustration in his throat as he found no entry to her bodice.
Practical Madeline came to her assistance and began to unfasten the garment, while Rose mulled over her disappointment.
“Well, I suppose it could have been worse,” said the blonde-haired woman after a time. “If Mr. Emerton hadn’t found the two of you, you would have had to ride back with the Duke of Ashbourne.”
Rose pulled a face at this idea but Josephine could only stare at her. A week ago, she might have been the one making this very joke and now she could find no humor in it at all.
Indeed, if Mr. Emerton had not arrived, she would have had to ride back with the duke. The thought made her feel almost light-headed. Or perhaps, that was the thought of what would inevitably have happened on the forest floor before the ride back.
Should she be thankful for the interruption, Josephine pondered? She was not.
“Are you well, Josephine?” Madeline asked quietly as Rose turned away and began to change her own dress, Josephine having poured cold water on all her most romantic imaginings. “Did something happen?”
Josephine hesitated and frowned before answering, doubting that either of her friends could possibly understand the events of the last three days. She barely understood herself.
“But nothing is wrong, is it?” Madeline probed further, sensing the turmoil that Josephine sought to conceal.
Josephine shook her head. Nothing was exactly wrong, only so very different from all her fantasies and preconceived ideas.
She could no longer pretend even the slightest belief that she was in love with Benedict Emerton, no matter how well they got along.
Nor could she ever again delude herself that she hated Cassius Emerton, however much they might provoke one another.
“Ask me next week,” Josephine eventually answered with small smile, intended only to dampen Madeline’s concern. “Certain matters are not quite as they seem.”