Page 39 of A Duke to Undo her (The Husband Hunt #1)
“You are causing a far worse public scene than I have ever managed,” she told him.
“You realize that you will never live this down, Cassius, Duke of Ashbourne? It will be in all the gossip columns and scandal sheets for days, weeks, even months. There will likely be cartoons in which we will both look like scarecrows.”
“I don’t care about any of that, as long as you accept me, Josephine,” Cassius responded, his hands now at her waist, despite their audience and Josephine’s brothers-in-law muttering and bristling nearby.
“Yes,” Josephine said for everyone else to hear and then rose on her toes to whisper into her lover’s ear. “I have always accepted you, Cassius, haven’t I?”
Now the clapping from their little audience was joined by whistles too.
“I hope this was part of your plan,” remarked Josephine, blushing and slightly rueful in the dawning awareness of how this public display must be received by her family although she was unable to really regret anything of the past few minutes.
The Duke of Ashbourne removed a golden signet ring from his little finger and the metal glinted in the sun as he held it up.
“My only plan was to find you and tell you that I loved you, Josephine,” he confessed, slipping the ring onto a finger of her extended hand.
“I am terrified of hurting you, but I am yours if you will have me, broken or not. This is my pledge. Can you still love me, after everything? Tell me that you can, that you do.”
Josephine didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at such a question, her love for Cassius Emerton being so strong and so present in every part of her.
They were both flawed and imperfect in the eyes of the world and therefore well-matched in a way that could never have come about with anyone who fitted her former stated ideal for a husband.
Did he really need to ask her this? Did he really need to hear the words? There were tears in her eyes as she looked back at him.
“If you don’t answer me in five seconds, Josephine, I swear I shall kiss you,” the duke warned her, a broad grin accompanying the plea in his gaze, seeing the truth of her feelings in her face but wanting the words anyway.
“I might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, might I not? Five, four, three…”
Before he could reach the end of this count, Josephine reached up and pulled Cassius Emerton’s face down to hers for a kiss that drew further sounds of amazement and rowdy good cheer from the watchers.
“That is my answer,” she murmured, her heart fluttering wildly and her heated blood demanding far more than kisses.
“Josephine!” broke in Constance’s scandalized voice, and the younger woman stepped back slightly although one of her hands remained tightly entwined with the duke’s. “You cannot do such outrageous things, certainly not in public! What can you be thinking?!”
“Cassius and I will be getting married,” Josephine declared politely but defiantly to her eldest sister. “He came here to propose to me and I have accepted him. Look, he has given me his ring already and he is a man of honor. Why can I not kiss him?”
“This is most improper, Your Grace!” Constance persisted with a pained expression, now addressing the Duke of Ashbourne, as if she hoped that he might see sense even if Josephine did not.
“There has been no discussion with us as Josephine’s family or consultation with our lawyers on wedding contracts. You really cannot just…”
In the small crowd, someone actually booed.
“Constance,” Vera interrupted gently but firmly, now approaching Josephine and Cassius, arm in arm with Norman. “Josephine and His Grace, the Duke of Ashbourne, are getting married and we should congratulate them. The details are better worked out in private than here in the park, are they not?”
She kissed Josephine’s cheek with a smile while Lord Elmridge shook the Duke of Ashbourne’s hand.
Seeing the wisdom of Vera’s words and actions, Ophelia too came forward with her husband and followed her sister’s example.
After a short pause in which consternation, concern and exasperation followed one another in quick succession, Constance and Victor finally followed suit and completed the public reconciliation.
Soon after this, the crowd around their group began to disperse, the show evidently being finished and the watchers only eager now to pass on their gossip to friends and acquaintances across London. These events would likely be all over town within an hour.
“May I walk Josephine back to Elmridge House?” the duke asked Lord and Lady Norfield in a more measured and respectful tone. “We have much to discuss.”
Constance looked briefly horrified all over again until Vera stepped in.
“Norman and I will walk with them, Constance. There will be no impropriety. You may all go back to Elmridge House and we will meet you there. Doubtless Victor will want to send word to our lawyers as soon as possible.”
“Vera is right,” Lord Norfield agreed, taking his wife’s arm and regarding Constance with encouraging affection. “Come along, my dear. There is nothing more to be done here and, with your assistance, I should write to the lawyers immediately.”
“Matilda needs to be changed,” Ophelia added. “Percival and I will meet you at Elmridge House shortly, Constance.”
Although not entirely happy, Constance allowed herself to be removed from the scene as Lord and Lady Kilderhorn made for their own coach. Josephine and Cassius watched the two carriages roll away, leaving only Vera and Norman beside them.
“We shall walk ahead to give you some privacy,” declared Lady Elmridge with an indulgent smile before she and her husband moved off together along the path again. “Be sure not to fall behind or I shall be in trouble with Constance more than you, Josephine.”
“There shall be no impropriety, remember,” Josephine laughed to Cassius Emerton as he laid an arm around her waist.
“Not yet, at least,” the duke returned with a glint in his eyes and a catch in his voice. “But I shall not stand for a long engagement, Josephine. Be sure of that. You must be mine very soon.”
“I have always been yours, Cassius,” she answered, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“You are not yet completely mine, although you will be soon enough,” the duke returned, kissing Josephine’s hair lightly and sending a pleasurable shiver of anticipation through her body. “I promise I will let nothing more stand in our way.”