“Miss, you might have been driving all your life!” Becky said.
“Indeed, you may have a curricle in hand by the end of the year.” Joshua clicked his tongue to Molly.
“Only if someone is so kind as to let me take the reins again and again. I should like to be more confident before attempting a curricle. I thank you, sir. That was—” she took a deep breath “—most wondrous.”
What was wondrous was the glow in the lady’s eyes.
Joshua considered the influence of this lady upon his own perspective in just a few days, and could not begin to imagine how she might change his life once she was truly a part of it. He lifted her down to the ground at Mrs. Jameson’s establishment, savoring the fleeting contact, then left her there with Becky and his promise to return as expediently as possible.
He was assured that she could happily spend all the day perusing ribbons and lengths of silk.
Joshua tipped his hat and rode for Haynesdale House, thinking less of the dowager duchess, the duke and his brother than of the lady he had just left.
Perhaps he might propose to Miss Emerson again this very day.
Doubtless she would demand a kiss to prove his identity before she agreed, a prospect that made Joshua Hargood smile.
The dowager was waitingfor Joshua before her teapot. She looked lovely in hues of pink and there was a touch of color in her cheeks, as if she was pleased about some tidings. An open letter reposed on the table beside the tea tray.
“I have had a letter from my son,” she said immediately, then poured for them both. “He will return for the ball.”
“What splendid news,” Joshua said. He had wanted to speak to the duke, but had no reason to expect the duchess to be so concerned in providing him with the news of his pending arrival. “I had hoped he might have arrived already as I have a matter to discuss with him.”
“I expect him on the morrow,” the lady confided, much to Joshua’s disappointment. “He asked me to speak to you in advance about a certain confidential matter.”
“Indeed?” Joshua said.
Her lips tightened briefly and he sensed that she was not entirely pleased by whatever she had learned. “My son, evidently, is bringing his ward.”
“I did not realize His Grace had a ward.”
“Nor did I,” that man’s mother said, her tone arch. “And yet, she will be arriving here within days.”
This might not have been welcome news, by the lady’s reaction.
Joshua waited.
“Damien has specifically asked me to encourage your interest in the young lady. He believes, if I may be blunt, that she would make you an excellent wife.”
Joshua blinked. “Indeed,” he managed to say. “How kind of him.”
“It may be kind,” the older lady ceded. “Or he may wish to undermine any speculation about his own intentions before they begin. At any rate, you are in need of a wife, by all appearances, and Mlle. Sylvie LaFleur is evidently both young and pretty. She has no dowry of her own, but my son declares that he will make a settlement upon her when she is married.” She sipped her tea and met his gaze, her manner expectant.
“I am greatly honored by the consideration, Lady Haynesdale.”
She smiled a little. “But not enticed, even by the very logical nature of the proposal?”
Joshua opened his mouth and closed it again. He frowned and took a sip of hot tea before speaking. “I do have inclinations of my own, Lady Haynesdale.”
“You are smitten with Miss Emerson,” she said with complete authority. “I saw it myself on the day I introduced you and to be sure, I thought you might make a match there. I do not mean to belabor a point, but she has declined you, sir, and I would not have you persist in a suit that shows no promise. Your mother would chastise me greatly if I did not encourage you to be sensible.”
“I am always sensible, Lady Haynesdale.”
She smiled. “Then we are agreed. Of course, you likely wish to see the lady before making the arrangements but let us assume you to be interested. I will instruct Mlle. Sylvie to save her first three dances for you at the ball, and during that interval, you should be able to ascertain for yourself her many charms.”
“But Lady Haynesdale…”
“Tut tut,” she said, silencing him with a wagging finger. “Damien says she is a beauty beyond compare. You will be pleased, sir, rely upon it.”
