Father drooped again, his shoulders dropping. He and the squire had been lifelong friends, but here they were at odds. To save the future of Pennyworth’s daughter, he would have to sacrifice his son’s.
You know what you have to do. It is not that great a sacrifice. Perhaps it is not what Josie would want, but it is better than being married to a man who wishes he was married to someone else, and this way, at least Joseph will be able to find happiness.
Though he would be saddling himself with a wife who was in love with his brother.
Still.
Did he have any other choice?
When Squire Pennyworth walked into the room, his usually cheerful face was grave with the seriousness of the situation, and he looked as old as Elijah’s father did. This was weighing heavily on both of them, and it was within Elijah’s power to fix it.
Hartford looked at Elijah, his golden eyes contemplative. He lifted an eyebrow. Elijah thought Hartford anticipated what would happen. He knew Elijah too well.
“Welcome, Squire Pennyworth,” Elijah said, stepping forward before anyone else could say anything. This was the only solution that would free his brother and lift the burden from his father. Adam could make the same offer, but it would not have the same effect as it would coming from him, the future Marquess. Suspicion of exactly who had caused Josie’s dishevelment would shift, and everyone would consider the matter resolved once she was married to him. “I am glad to see you this evening as I would like to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
Chapter 4
Josie
“What is taking them so long?” The wait was becoming interminable.
Josie paced around the drawing room, Lily and Mary watching her from their places on the couch. After her initial show of support, her mother had devolved to her usual histrionics and taken to her bed. Josie had passed some of the time by changing her dress—which had caused her to cry all over again as she was forced to face the tattered fabric and the memories came rushing back—before taking up camp in the drawing room with the door open, so they would know the moment her father and Rex returned.
“I cannot imagine the discussion is easy,” Lily said soothingly, but Josie did not want to be soothed. She wanted to be there and to have a say in her future. Everything about her was jittery right now, as if her skin was too tight around her body, and her insides were being squeezed and squished.
A soft knocking at the window on the far side of the room had her spinning around. She did not know what she expected to see, but Evie’s face under a boy’s cap wasnotit.
“Evie!” They all whispered her name together and rushed to the window to open it and pull her in. Not that she needed their help, despite the window being at her shoulder height, but Josie needed something todo.
Dressed as a boy in rough breeches and a loose shirt, her dark curls tucked under a brown cap, and smelling faintly of horse, Evie looked out of place in the fancy drawing room.
“Where on earth have you been?” Lily asked, frowning as she gave Evie’s outfit a once-over.
“Listening to the gossip in the stables,” Evie said, shrugging one shoulder. “No one pays attention to the grooms and tigers.” Interesting. Josie could only imagine the tigers, the young boys who were actually seated on the carriages behind their patrons, overheard quite a bit.
“What are they saying?” Josie’s hands gripped her skirts, fingers digging into the fabric. She already knew it would not be good, else Evie would not have come.
Dark eyes met hers, full of sympathy. Blast. It was worse than Josie thought. Evie was rarely sympathetic.
“It is flying already, despite Elijah’s confiscation of the note. It might have been better for you had he not taken it, though not for Joseph.” Evie’s lips twisted in an unamused smile. “Some are quite sympathetic to you, feeling Joseph played on your long acquaintance to lure you out. Others think you two must have been meeting in secret all this time and playing Miss Bliss for a fool.”
“And?” Josie asked when Evie hesitated. There was more. There had to be, else Evie would not have paused—a definite pause, not a finish.
“A few think you must have set it up to try to trap him into marriage,” Evie said in a rush, and Lily and Mary both gasped in indignation. Josie closed her eyes, guilt seeping through her. Was that not exactly the outcome part of her had hoped for?
“As if she would need to trap anyone into marriage.” Mary snorted. “The gentlemen are lining up to beg for her hand. She has already turned down five proposals this Season.”
Yes. Yes, she had, although now, she almost wished she had not. She hadn’t wanted to marry any of them, but she had not imagined a lifeunwedeither. Even after realizing Joseph was likely to propose to Miss Bliss, Josie thought she would have time. Time to go home to lick her wounds and heal her battered heart and eventually find someone to marry. She had not thought it would be difficult, considering the five proposals she had received in her first season.
What a little fool she had been, not realizing how quickly it could all be taken away through no fault of her own.
Notno fault.You did not have to go out into the gardens.
Shut up. The risk was small if the note had truly been from Joseph. We would have walked out together with no harm done to my reputation, thanks to our long acquaintance. This is the fault of the villain who tricked and assaulted me. Young ladies should not have to worry about such knavery. It is that man’s fault!
Though it did not assuage her guilt, she clung fast to the knowledge that her person should have been perfectly safe. Even her hysterical mother had thought so. Any man who would intentionally assault a young woman alone at a ball rather than assist her was a blackguard in gentlemen’s clothing. Josie was not responsible for his actions, only her own.
“Joseph will have to marry her now,” Lily said, shaking her head and casting a glance at Josie.