Page 52 of Duke of Emeralds (Dukes of Decadence #2)

“ Y our Grace! How wonderful of you to attend!”

Lady Granger fluttered her fan close to her face, eyes sparkling with interest. Joseph ignored her. He knew she was only there to foist her daughter upon him.

There were many things Joseph did not like to partake in, and the London Season headed that list. He’d done his part.

He’d suffered through the long nights and obnoxiously flirtatious ladies and their ambitious mothers to do what was expected of him as the Duke of Irvin.

And by the grace of God, he’d managed to secure his wife within his first Season.

The fact that he was now a widower, and he was suffering through yet another Season over seven years later, was simply a cruel twist of fate.

“My Lady,” he greeted curtly.

“Have you danced already, Your Grace? If not, then allow me to introduce you to my?—”

“Pardon me, My Lady.”

He was already walking away before she could say another word.

The good thing was that it was quite early in the Season.

Many of the ton had not arrived from their countryside homes yet which meant that Lady Henderson’s ball was remarkably empty.

He wondered if she’d done that on purpose, wanting to get it out of the way before she was subject to the majority of the ton’s critical eye.

Whatever the reason was, Joseph was glad for it.

If he could find what he was looking for this early, then he wouldn’t have to subject himself to many more of these events.

“Your Grace!” Lady Granger was on his heels. Joseph didn’t dare turn around. She was a persistent lady, he recalled. “Your Grace, one moment!”

“I’m afraid I do not have the time to talk, My Lady,” he said when she caught up.

“Of course,” she panted. “I’m sure you have a number of people to greet. But my daughter?—”

He whirled to face her. “I do not wish to meet your daughter, My Lady. Now leave me be.”

Hoping that would be enough, he stalked off again.

Sequestering himself in the corner of the room did not have the desired effect.

In a full ballroom, he might have gone unnoticed—once he arrived early and claimed his spot before anyone took notice of him of course.

Arriving when nearly all of the guests were in attendance would only have the ladies flocking to his side in the hopes of securing a dance with the handsome Duke of Irvin.

He would rather avoid that if he could. But since this ball was not so overpopulated, he did not go unnoticed.

More than once, he noticed a group of ladies looking his way, whispering to each other as if they were conspiring how to approach.

He wore his scowl like a shield in the hopes that they would not gather the strength.

“Oh, Your Grace!” Another lady, a much younger one that Joseph didn’t recognize, dared to approach him with a smile.

He looked at her, and that smile faltered.

“P-pardon me,” she stammered before racing away.

There were no good prospects present. All the ladies were too done up—their faces dusted with powder and rouge.

Those who weren’t, who earned a second glance from him, had various qualities that marked them as unworthy.

Too shy, too loud, too talkative, too haughty.

One by one, he dismissed them. And each time he did, the realization that attending this evening’s ball had been a terrible mistake grew ever more overwhelming.

Until she walked in.

She was not alone. As a matter of fact, of her party, she was the last to enter, drifting in behind two ladies and an older gentleman as if she did not deem herself important enough to enter alongside them.

The other two ladies looked a lot like each other and nothing like her, he noticed.

They didn’t share the same sandy brown hair that fell in natural waves and the moss-colored eyes that could freeze a man on the spot.

Nor did they have the same stubborn tilt of their chins, matching the rigid set of shoulders as if bracing her petite frame of gentle curves for impact.

Their unruly brown hair was dark, almost black in color, and it had been pulled up into identical updos, leaving tight curly strands framing their faces.

From the distance, he noticed dark pairs of eyes that drank in everything with the excitement of children in a confectionary shop, and they were both smiling from ear to ear, their enthusiasm palpable even from the distance.

But she… she seemed seconds away from bolting from the room.

“Aren’t those…” A giggle sounded next to him, but Joseph didn’t take his eyes off the sisters—because clearly, they were sisters—as they drifted further into the room. “Aren’t those the Wallace sisters?”

“They are!” Whoever responded sounded excited, on the verge of laughter themselves.

Joseph still didn’t look to see who it was since he was too busy watching as she followed the older gentleman and her sisters to where the hostess stood.

“I cannot believe they actually attended. I thought that they surely must have known better than to do such a thing.”

“Clearly, they are far more naive than we thought.” The first girl laughed again, drawing Joseph’s attention this time. Two girls stood only a few feet away from him, heads bent together as if they meant to whisper to each other. They clearly didn’t know how loud they were being.

“They must have visited the modiste recently,” the other girl went on. “I have not seen them wear anything so nice before. They must think that having a nice dress on will be enough for them to snag a husband this Season.”

“How delusional. No gentleman in their right minds would pay any attention to such boorish creatures who do not know proper courtesy. Oh, goodness, did you see her curtsy? She nearly toppled over!”

The curtsy in question appeared rather well done in Joseph’s opinion. She straightened and swept her eyes across the room as if she could sense that someone was talking about her.

Then their eyes met. Joseph took a step back, his back hitting the wall, and his breath hitched in his throat. For a moment, his mind emptied of all thoughts.

Just like this morning at the riverside, it felt as if his entire world tilted slightly out of whack.

Earlier, it had been brief, eclipsed by his anger and worry over Dorothea’s disappearance.

But now that there were no other emotions coursing through him, there was nothing to buffet the force of her look, like a blow to his chest. Recognition sparked in her eyes even from the distance, and for those long seconds, it felt as if they were the only two people on earth.

And then, she turned and started making her way towards him.

Joseph straightened. Vaguely, he knew the ladies nearby were still gossiping, their voices growing lower as she got closer, but he could focus on nothing else but her.

“Good evening, Your Grace,” she greeted as she sank into a curtsy. Her voice was like warm whiskey washing through him, the Scottish lilt endearing.

Joseph glanced in the direction of the two ladies, and they immediately turned away, hiding their faces behind their fans as if they had not been staring. Wordlessly, he offered his arm to her.

He didn’t realize how much he had been hoping she would not reject him until she took his arm and allowed him to lead her away from where they stood. When they’d put enough distance between them and the gossiping ladies, he spoke again.

“You know who I am.”

“I did not know at the time,” she informed him easily. Every step she took sent a lovely air of lavender around them. “But my uncle told me of your identity.”

“And your uncle is?”

She gave him a slightly incredulous look, her mossy eyes searching his face. “The Earl of Heaton. Do you not know your neighbors?”

He did, but he’d never put a face to the name before, since he did not make it a habit of socializing with the outside world when he didn’t have to. “Then you must be one of his three nieces. The feistiest of the three, I assume, since you are yet to issue your apology.”

She stiffened at his side. Joseph immediately pulled away as they reached the refreshment’s table which, to her relief, did not have anyone standing nearby. He plucked up a glass of lemonade and offered it to her without a word.

Her lips thinned. “No, thank you.”

How prickly, he thought. With a shrug, he set it back down. “You approached me for a reason, I assume.”

“Yes.” Joseph watched as she pulled her shoulders back and drew in a silent breath as if she was bracing herself. “You were right to demand an apology. It was quite rude of me not to issue one the moment I realized who you truly were. So, I am sorry for how I acted earlier today.”

“It is rather interesting that you care to apologize only after learning who I am,” Joseph pointed out. And when a shadow of a scowl passed across her face, he nearly smiled. How predictable.

“Your title has nothing to do with my change of heart. I simply came to a realization; that’s all.”

“The realization that it is in your best interest to stay in the good graces of a duke?”

This time, she didn’t bother hiding her scowl, and for some reason, the sight of it nearly made him laugh. “Does being a duke require one to be rather full of themselves?”

“It is simply the way of the world,” he responded with a shrug. “You are better off admitting that your change of heart was only brought on when you realized who you might have wronged.”

“And if I admit no such thing?” she asked, raising one brow. The threat in her voice intrigued him when he knew it should have annoyed him.

“Then you are only fooling yourself.”

“I sincerely doubt that I am the one fooling myself, here, Your Grace,” she muttered, the formal title dripping from her tongue with pungent derision. “I think you have deluded yourself enough for us both. Now, if you will excuse me, I have my sisters to attend to. Good evening, Your Grace.”