Page 23 of A Duke to Undo her (The Husband Hunt #1)
“Yes,” he said very softly and the excitement of their intimate connection seemed to swell and overwhelm her previous intense social discomfort.
“Take off your glove,” Josephine whispered to him and he smiled at this suggestion, before temporarily releasing her to do exactly as she had suggested.
Her fingers felt lost and empty in these few seconds.
She sighed with relief when the duke reached out again and removed her damaged glove too.
When he clasped her hand once more, it was skin on skin and Josephine gave a pleasurable shiver, finding the contact in this environment almost as shocking and compelling as Cassius Emerton’s bare hands on her naked thighs.
Holding his hand, squeezing it, stroking it, exploring his strong fingers and the light scattering of hair on his knuckles, Josephine no longer found the music an irritation, but part of a fuller harmonious experience, partly erotic and partly something undefined.
By the time the music stopped, she no longer wanted it to end. She certainly didn’t want Cassius Emerton to withdraw his hand as he did, and was bound to do. Josephine looked up at him, bereft, as he stood and replaced his glove. Was it normal to desire the touch of a man so much? Was it right?
When he gave a small bow and smile to his mother, Josephine realized that the older woman was indeed looking at them and turned to her, somewhat anxiously.
The duchess might not be happy if she had caught sight of her eldest son holding hands with her, especially gloveless.
However, Duchess Nerissa’s face was as blithe and cheerful as Benedict’s.
“I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did, Lady Josephine. My eyes might be failing me but I can still hear well enough.”
“I did enjoy the music,” Josephine confirmed. “I thought I might not because I find it so hard to sit still, but then…it was not so very hard after all.”
“I am glad to hear that,” laughed the dowager duchess, her eyes crinkling amiably, and her humor shared by Mrs. Halford beside her. “Well, I heard that some of the young people are going to take a walk in the moonlight after that. Cassius, perhaps you could…”
Duchess Nerissa looked to Josephine and Josephine’s eyes opened wide at what she suspected the older woman was about to suggest. Did she really want her son the duke, not only to sit with Josephine during the chamber music recital but now to take a romantic moonlight walk with him?!
“Alas, I have some business to attend to before bed, Mother,” Cassius interrupted before she could finish the sentence. “You will have to arrange your moonlight walks without me tonight.”
He bowed to all three ladies and Josephine thought she saw both hunger and regret in his eyes when he looked at her, calling out the answering responses from deep in her own body.
The duke’s departure pained her, even though she thought she understood his reasons.
His mother could not possibly guess the danger of sending them out together into the darkness, arm in arm.
Josephine knew. Still, she struggled both to keep her eyes from Cassius’ departing back and to smother her instinctive sigh of disappointment. The dowager duchess patted Josephine’s shoulder.
“Never mind, Lady Josephine. Come, let us find you some companions for a walk in the upper gardens. Ah, there are your friends. Perfect.”
“Oh dear,” said Vera as Josephine handed over her damaged glove and stray buttons. “I shall give this to Betsy in the morning. You do have other evening gloves, don’t you? You do seem to be creating more than your usual mischief this week, Josephine.”
“Do I?” asked Josephine warily, wondering if her sister and chaperone could possibly guess at the improper but delightful activities she had engaged in with the Duke of Ashbourne.
“Your game of brag, getting lost in the forest, pulling your glove apart,” Vera listed with an amused smile. “But don’t worry about all that now. Let us all just enjoy our walk.”
She dropped back to talk with Lord and Lady Sudbury as Josephine, Madeline and Rose walked together on a short circuit around the great fountain and its surrounding sculptures.
“Should we circle back and try to find your true love?” Rose whispered to Josephine and for a moment, Josephine could not think what her friend meant.
“Benedict Emerton might have been able to shake off Lady Belinda and Lady Penelope by now. I’m sure he’d much rather walk with us so that he can be with you. ”
“I’m sure he’d much rather walk with us because they are so mean spirited and small minded,” Josephine corrected Rose. “Yes, let’s do a circuit and see if we pass them. I’m sure they’ll run away when they see me and Mr. Emerton will thank me for it.”
“You are both incorrigible,” Madeline sighed. “Ladies should show their moral superiority through their good behavior and perfect manners, not plotting and scheming. You run the risk of lowering yourselves if you set yourself against inferior persons.”
“They were whispering about me during the concert but the duke overheard them and made them stop,” Josephine confessed to her friend, hoping that Madeline would better understand her dislike for these young ladies.
“Well, then, why not think about the good light in which that shows the duke’s character rather than the bad light in which it shows Lady Belinda’s?” Madeline suggested sensibly.
“I suppose it is better to dwell on positive things and take our inspiration from those,” Rose mused and Madeline nodded her head.
“It’s also possible that ill-feeling can be the result of mistake or misunderstanding, Josephine. A week ago, you didn’t have a good word to say about the Duke of Ashbourne, remember, and now he appears to be your champion and a most honorable and estimable gentleman.”
Josephine couldn’t help laughing aloud at this rather grandiose description.
A most honorable and estimable gentleman?
When she thought of Cassius Emerton, these were not the words that came to her mind, although she could not exactly say that he had been dishonorable.
He had certainly done nothing that she had not welcomed, nor that had harmed her.
Honorable or anything else, there were few descriptive words at all in that part of Josephine’s mind now dedicated to the Duke of Ashbourne.
It contained more thoughts of his deep blue eyes under locks of disordered dark hair, the damp flush of his skin when he was excited, and the way he always seemed to know how to touch her.
If Cassius Emerton had taken her for this walk in the moonlight, they would have been in one another’s arms by now in some hidden corner, her dress loosened for his hands and mouth and all thoughts of decency abandoned to the winds…
“Why are you laughing, Josephine?” Rose asked in puzzlement at Josephine’s reaction, not at all able to understand her friend in recent days. “Do you like the duke or not? I am very confused.”
“I don’t believe I could like any honorable and estimable gentleman more than I like the Duke of Ashbourne,” Josephine said, and then held her peace.