A Season for Scandal by Golden Angel

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 was not it.

“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 to do.

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 life unwed either. 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.

Not no 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.

“Maybe I will have six refusals this Season. Oh, do not look at me like that. Would any of you want to be forced into a marriage with a man in love with someone else?” Josie scowled at Mary, who had been about to respond before Josie tacked on the last part. Mary had married Rex to save her own reputation.

Thankfully, he had wanted to marry her, and they had been well on their way to falling in love before the wedding. This was entirely different. Joseph not only did not want to marry Josie, he actively wanted to marry another woman. The more Josie thought about it, the more miserable it made her.

She could not possibly marry him now. They would both be miserable. Though she tried to soothe her conscience by acknowledging she should have been safe going into the gardens, the truth was, Joseph had no part in the events of the evening, yet by her actions, he was involved. She had not questioned the note from him but should have. She would still swear it was his handwriting.

Josie had reacted impulsively, based on her own hopes rather than the evidence of the past weeks. Part of her self-recrimination came from knowing she should have realized Joseph did not want to marry her, no matter what the note said.

“The gossips will turn on you if you do not marry someone, preferably Joseph,” Evie pointed out the obvious, if unwelcome, point, though her tone was not unkind. “I would not mind having you as a cousin.”

“What a mess.” The energy that had kept her upright abandoned her, and Josie sat down on the couch, suddenly exhausted. If she could start the whole night over, she would do everything differently. “And I can do nothing about it. Being a woman is awful.”

Evie snorted. “It would not be so bad if the men were not so determined to keep us out of everything.”

Eyeing her speculatively, Josie tilted her head.

“Perhaps I shall become a spy, like you. Surely, a fallen woman can get into places others cannot.” She was only half in jest, but Evie’s expression sobered immediately.

“No, Josie. You are better off where you are. I would not wish some of the things I have seen on anyone.” There was a haunted quality to her voice, and Josie immediately regretted her rash words. They all knew Evie’s life had been hard after her parents passed. There were several years between their deaths and when Evie’s uncle had found her living on the streets of London. She did not speak of that time often, and the little she had revealed had been chilling.

Josie did not wish for that.

“Well, if I do not marry Joseph, I will have to find something to do with myself. Perhaps I could go to France.”

“You will come and live with Rex and me.” Mary put her nose in the air, a stubborn glint in her eye. The transformation from purposeful wallflower to Marchioness had wrought a substantial change in her demeanor, and Josie had no doubt she was willing to take on the world. Her heart filled with love for her friend. As powerful as Rex was, and as little as he cared for Society’s whims and judgments, she could not do that to them. Perhaps as a very last resort, but not until then.

“That is very kind, but—” Josie cut off as the front door opened. Evie was gone and out the window in a flash, leaving them gaping at how quickly she moved. Hmm... perhaps Josie would not make a very good spy, though such speed was likely easier in breeches.

Her mind could not concentrate on Evie’s quick steps as she turned her head to look at her father and Rex. Both appeared worn but not distressed. Josie’s throat closed up, her hands bunching in the fabric of her skirts as her father turned tired eyes to her, his lips lifting in a pleased smile.

Relief poured through her.

“It is done,” he said, walking into the drawing room. Coming to a halt in front of her, he held out his hands, and Josie placed hers onto his palms. There was a peace in his eyes that had not been there when he left, a lightness to his step. “You will be married on Saturday.”

“Joseph does not mind?” The entreaty for reassurance from her father made her sound younger than usual, the desire of a little girl to be told that everything would be all right.

Her father blinked.

“Oh, no, sweetheart. You will be marrying Elijah.”

“What?” Horrified realization washed away everything else. She jerked her hands back, stepping away from her father and bumping into Mary and Lily, who were standing right behind her.

Elijah?No. Impossible. He did not even like her.

“Yes, Elijah.” Her father’s lips turned down, his expression growing stern. Josie recognized it from her childhood when he denied her—the expression she knew indicated there was no point in fighting because she would not win. Except she was not asking for a sweet or a new frock. This was her life! “He offered, and I accepted. We signed the marriage contracts, and under the circumstances, he is securing a special license so you can marry immediately.”

About to open her mouth to protest, to declare she would not, no matter what, Josie was yanked back by a firm grip on her arm.

“Let us speak with her for a few minutes, please,” Lily said, digging her fingers into Josie’s arm when Josie tried to pull away. “It has been a very trying evening, and… well, truthfully, none of us expected Elijah to…” Her voice trailed off, though the surprise was still evident in her tone.

Father’s countenance softened just a bit.

“Of course.” He turned to Mary’s husband. “Hartford. Would you like a glass of brandy?”

Glancing at Mary, Rex nodded his head. “Yes, I think that might be best while the ladies… discuss.” After another look at Mary, Rex followed Josie’s father out of the room.

Finally yanking her arm from Lily’s grip, Josie whirled on her two friends. She wanted to kick something. The only thing that was within reach was the settee, so she kicked its wooden leg, hard enough the whole piece of furniture jolted.

“Elijah! Elijah! I cannot marry Elijah!” she fumed, glaring at Mary and Lily.

“You said you did not want to marry a man who is in love with someone else,” Lily pointed out, taking another step back at the expression on Josie’s face. She held up her hands placatingly. “This really is the best solution, Josie. You must see that.”

Impossible. She looked at Mary, and her heart sank when she saw her other friend nodding her head in agreement with Lily.

“If you were to marry Joseph, it would help some but not all the gossip. After the way he has danced attendance on Miss Bliss all Season, some people would say you trapped him. In fact, if you do marry him, more of them might believe that.”

Josie closed her eyes. Swallowed. The gossips of London were vicious. She could see that. Worse… at home, things would be no better. Mary, Lily, and Evie were hardly the only ones who had guessed her feelings for Joseph. The gossip would likely be far worse in Derbyshire than here in the city, and none of it complimentary to her. She opened her eyes again, nodding at the truth of Mary’s words.

“How does marrying Elijah change that?” she asked hollowly, sinking down on the settee she had kicked. Lily and Mary moved to her sides again, taking her hands as they had when they arrived. Their sympathy was palpable, which she both wanted and hated, hating that it was necessary.

“It frees Joseph to marry Miss Bliss,” Mary said quietly. Pain stabbed Josie’s heart, but she pushed it aside. There were far more important things now. “The gossips will assume Elijah was the one who met you in the gardens. Or that he did indeed rescue you, and he will be cast as the hero.”

“And he is the heir, the future Marquess. That has weight.” If anyone would know, it was Lily. Her parents were not ton, but with their connections to the Duke and Duchess of Frederick, Lily was treated far differently than she would have been with less lofty godparents. “The ton will treat a future Marchioness with more respect than the wife of a second son.”

“Some might even find it romantic if they think Elijah saved you from a villain, then saved you again by offering marriage,” Mary speculated. As the most experienced in society and with an aunt who was particularly savvy at social maneuvering, Josie had to bow her head to Mary’s expertise.

It seemed it truly would be best for everyone.

If she truly loved Joseph, she should want him to be happy. He would not be happy forced into marriage with her, and she would not have been happy, either. Elijah had saved them both from that fate. She supposed she should be grateful. Instead, she felt hollowed out, as if someone had scooped out her emotions, leaving her an empty wooden shell.

Joseph deserved to have the life he wanted. He should not be dragged into her mess. If Elijah was willing to sacrifice himself on the marital altar to save his brother’s future—and hers—she could hardly do less. She only hoped Joseph and Miss Bliss chose to settle somewhere other than Camden Hall in Derbyshire, so she did not have to watch them live out the life she had always imagined for herself.

“Then I suppose I marry Elijah this Saturday.” The wrong Stuart brother. The one who did not like her. That was who she was to marry. If she had any tears left after such an awful night, she would have wept.

Her friends crowded in around her, murmuring everything would work out, but Josie knew better. Nothing would ever be right again.