‘Not at all. I’ve wanted to spend a little time with Lady Elizabeth—my brother has hinted we may be family one day soon.’
Lady Hummingford preened a little at the comment as he’d known she would. Josh was aware it was underhand, playing on her hopes in this way just to get a few moments alone with Lady Elizabeth, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel too much remorse.
‘Well, if you’re sure, Mr Ashburton. It really would be kind of you.’
‘Wonderful. It’s a pleasant day for a stroll.’
Despite the warm temperatures he paused in the hall to put on his jacket, silently cursing these English aristocrats who thought it scandalous to walk around without at least three layers even on the hottest of days. In India he would often be found just in his shirtsleeves, rolled to the elbow, and his shirt open at the neck. He longed for that freedom again but dutifully reached for the heavy hat once he’d donned his jacket.
‘Will you walk with me, Lady Elizabeth?’ He flashed her the most innocent of smiles.
‘Of course, she will,’ Lady Hummingford said. His comment a few minutes earlier must have lodged somewhere in the Countess’s brain as she’d realised he was as good a route into his brother’s favour as any. ‘You young people walk ahead, I’ll follow.’
Josh bowed his head, then offered his arm to Lady Elizabeth. She hesitated just a second, but he knew she could hardly refuse him with her mother standing right there. The Countess would demand an explanation and neither of them wanted that.
‘Are you well rested, Lady Elizabeth?’
‘I slept poorly,’ she said abruptly, not taking her eyes off the pavement in front of them.
‘Is something the matter?’
‘No.’
‘Good. Why do you need to see my brother with such urgency?’
Lady Elizabeth exhaled loudly and started chewing on her bottom lip. He thought she was going to ignore his question for a moment until she turned to look at him, her expression deadly serious.
‘I can’t do this,’ she said, an almost pleading look in her eyes.
‘You can’t do what?’
‘This.’ She waved her hand vaguely between them. ‘Talk to you. Be with you. Be anywhere near you.’
Josh raised his eyebrows. Yesterday she had clutched his hand whilst fleeing the fire and today she could barely look at him.
‘I’m confused.’
‘I need to marry your brother, Mr Ashburton.’ She shook her head. ‘I will marry your brother. In a matter of a few months. I have to focus on that and not allow myself to be distracted by...’
‘Me?’
She nodded, her expression forlorn.
‘Has something happened?’
‘My mother reminded me of my responsibilities and I realised just how important this marriage is. I need to marry your brother.’
It wasn’t anything she hadn’t said before but Josh felt a stab of something that felt suspiciously like jealousy. He wasn’t a jealous man and the last person he wanted to be envious of was his brother.
Lady Elizabeth glanced up at him and he realised she was on the edge of tears. He had the urge to stop and sweep her into his arms, his fingers twitching before he reminded himself of Lady Hummingford walking just a few paces behind them. She couldn’t hear what they were discussing in hushed tones but she could see every movement, every gesture. In the end he lifted his hand to adjust his collar, allowing his fingers to brush against Lady Elizabeth’s arm on the way. He saw her respond to the brief touch, saw the flush of heat on her cheeks, and felt his hand twitch as if contemplating less subtle contact. Next to him she pressed against him, her hand seeming to burn into his skin where it rested in the crook of his elbow. Josh had never known such an innocent touch could be so agonising.
‘You’ve needed to marry my brother the whole time we’ve been acquainted—what’s changed now?’
‘I have to focus on my future, not what I wa...’ She trailed off halfway through the word.
‘Not what you want?’
Finally she looked at him, her eyes large and filled with angst.
‘I think about you all the time,’ she said so quietly he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the words. ‘Ever since that first night in your brother’s garden.’
‘I think of you too.’
‘But I can’t. I shouldn’t. I won’t, not any more.’
He saw the turmoil inside her and knew he should do anything he could to calm it. Still there was something stubborn that didn’t want to let this woman he barely knew go.
‘Sometimes our desires won’t be ignored.’
‘Then I can never allow myself to be in a situation where I could make a mistake again.’
‘The kiss we shared wasn’t a mistake.’
‘It was not...’ she hesitated as if she couldn’t bring herself to lie about it ‘...not an earth-shattering mistake, but a mistake all the same.’ She looked at him again, her expression more resolute now. ‘I need you to promise you will not stand in the way of me marrying your brother.’
‘I would never do that.’
‘Thank you.’
They were entering Hyde Park, treading the same ground they had walked the morning of Lady Elizabeth’s attack, and Josh knew the moment she set eyes on the path that led to the spot she’d been ambushed. Her grip on his arm tightened a little and her step quickened.
Luckily a distraction came in the form of his brother on horseback a few hundred yards away.
‘Leo,’ he called, raising his voice to almost a shout. No doubt eyebrows would be raised at his ungentlemanly behaviour but right now he couldn’t bring himself to care. He understood everything Lady Elizabeth was saying, agreed with it to an extent, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Leo frowned as he looked around, the frown relaxing a fraction when he caught sight of his brother. Josh knew Leo would not tolerate being called from such a distance by anyone else, he would find it rude, but, a stickler for the rules of society, he seemed to have a blind spot
