Deceived (6 page)

Josie sat down at the breakfast table and forced a smile toward her mother. It was returned before Mrs. Westfall said, “Good Lord, you have a shadow beneath your eyes. Are you not sleeping well?”

Josie groaned. Why did her mother have to notice every dratted thing about her?

“A gentleman will notice, my dear,” Mrs. Westfall added helpfully.

Josie smiled up at the servant who set a plate before her and then returned her attention to her mother. “What gentleman? We are in the country. Unless you count the man who runs the country store—”

“You hush your mouth,” Mrs. Westfall interrupted with a sharp look. “You know I would never mean that.”

Now Josie’s smile was more real. It was a
little
fun teasing her mother. “Then I’m not certain which gentleman will notice the lack of sleep on my face.”

“What about the Woodley men?” her mother pressed.

At the mention of the family title, Josie’s appetite vanished on the wind. She had been thinking far too much about just those men—well, one of those men—since Audrey’s wedding three days before. Evan had haunted her days and her nights, making her relive every exchange she had been forced to have with him. He was the damned reason for the circles under her eyes, after all.

But her mother didn’t know that. Her mother didn’t know that she was making everything worse for Josie by bringing
him
up.

Josie set her fork down on the edge of her plate and forced herself not to reveal too much emotion on her face. “Considering Lord Evan and Lord Gabriel are not here and we have not seen their family for three days, I suppose I am not that concerned about it.”

Her mother let out a long-suffering sigh. “My darling, you do test me.”

“How this time?” Josie asked before she took a long sip of her tea.

“Are you determined to remain a spinster?” her mother asked. “Do you want to live your life alone? Or be forced to remain with me for all of your days?”

“When you aren’t haranguing me about the men I must entice into marriage, I rather like remaining with you,” Josie said. “Or are you so sick of me?”

Mrs. Westfall shook her head. “I push you. Of course I do. I want to see you settled, as your older siblings are. I want to see you…”

“Married, I know,” Josie said to fill the space her mother left unsaid.

“More than that.” Mrs. Westfall reached a hand out to cover hers. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you happy and taken care of.”

Josie blinked at the sudden stinging in her eyes. Her mother could be flighty and gossipy and oh-so-pushy, but there was no doubt her motives were pure.

“But Mama, what if I cannot be happy the way you picture for me?” she asked. “What if my future is not one of a husband and babies?”

“Why?”

Josie shifted. “B-because no one wants me.”

Mrs. Westfall shut her eyes tightly. “You were teased as a girl, ignored. I know it hurt you, but it does not have to guide your entire future.”

Josie shrugged. “And you think making some kind of impression on Gabriel or Evan Woodley will change the course of my life?”

Mrs. Westfall stood and walked to the tea service on the sideboard. As she poured, she said, “Well, perhaps not Gabriel. He seems to be interested in that pretty little healer who takes care of his mother. What is her name?”

“Juliet Gray,” Josie said as her eyes went wide. “I spent some time with her at the wedding celebration and she is lovely. Does he really like her?”

“He couldn’t stop watching her,” Mrs. Westfall said with a shrug. “Honestly, that poor family. Between Claire running off with that criminal and Edward’s second marriage to a girl who is all but penniless and now Audrey marrying a servant…Susanna must be ripping her hair out.”

Josie pursed her lips at the gossipy judgment. “Claire’s situation is unfortunate, I’ll give you that. But the new Lady Woodley, Mary, is lovely, no matter her origins. And Jude Samson has long been close to the Woodley family. He’s the grandson of a viscount at any rate, so you could hardly call him a common servant.”

“Perhaps. Still, if you were to align yourself with Evan, there is no way the dowager wouldn’t approve.”

Josie blinked. In fact, all she could do was blink. “Wait, do you honestly think I am going to match myself with
Evan
?”

“Who else would I mean?”

Now Josie leapt her feet and backed away, as if distancing herself could make that question go away. “You cannot mean that! Not after our past.”

Her mother shook her head. “Are you still angry with Evan about that Horsey comment he made fifteen years ago?”

Josie sucked in breath through her teeth. “Because of that comment, every cruel girl and arrogant boy called me Horsey! In public. In private. I heard them mutter it when I walked by. Sometimes I still hear it! His cruelty inspired over a decade more of it!”

“But he apologized to you,” Mrs. Westfall pointed out. “That day. A few times since.”

Josie sighed. He had done that, but what good had that done her? His slip of the tongue, his attempt to impress someone mean and awful, had haunted her the rest of her life. He had been able to just walk away from it, untouched and unbothered.

But her mother wouldn’t understand that. Her mother had been a Diamond of the First Water, as had both her older sisters. They could never understand the pain and cruelty of being an outcast.

“Even if I didn’t have that past with him, trust me that he doesn’t like me,” she said instead. “The last thing Evan would ever have on his mind when it comes to me is courtship.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. He certainly was watching you quite closely at his sister’s wedding.”

A frown was Josie’s first response. Yes, she had found Evan watching her throughout the day, and evening as well. But he had also asked her about Claire and she had stammered in a moment of weakness. It was likely only his interest in her relationship with his missing sister that drove him to seek her out in the crowd.

“Perhaps I had something on my face,” she offered instead of the truth.

“Oh, Josie.” Her mother frowned. “Whatever you say. But today when you see them, be sure to be polite, at least.”

Josie’s eyes went wide. “Today? See them? What are you talking about?”

“I was trying to tell you at the beginning before you started arguing with me about your future that we have been invited to spend the afternoon at Briarlake Cross with the remaining Woodleys.”

Returning to her abandoned chair, Josie flopped down. She had known this time would come. There was no way that her mother wouldn’t arrange to spend time with her friend the dowager, both because the women liked each other and for the attachment to such an important family.

“And why did we not do this sooner?” she asked softly.

Mrs. Westfall shrugged. “Lady Woodley only had a few days remaining with her daughter and son and their new spouses before their foursome returned to London. I wanted to allow her family time. But since the others were to depart this morning, I received an invitation requesting we join them today. I accepted on both our behalves.”

“I think I feel a cold coming on,” Josie muttered.

“Oh no,” her mother said with a hawkish glare. “None of that now. You’ll come and you’ll have a lovely time and everything will be well.”

“While I’m wooing Evan, you mean?” Josie said with a glare of her own.

A laugh was the response. “Just don’t rule the man out. He may not be the ogre you have wanted him to be and you are most definitely not the pariah you’ve made yourself out to be. Give nature a chance to run its course. At least consider it.” Mrs. Westfall stood. “And now I have a few things to do before we make our way to Briarlake Cross. Good morning, darling.”

Josie halfheartedly returned the goodbye as she stared at her plate. Consider Evan, her mother had said. Consider that he might actually…
like
her? It was a foolish notion, but it tapped into every secret desire she had held before that long ago afternoon when he broke her heart.

And even though she knew her mother was blind to the truth, her suggestion was likely all Josie would consider until she saw Evan again and proved to herself that she meant nothing to him and he nothing to her.

Josie shifted on the settee and tried to look anywhere but at Evan. It was difficult when there were so few people in the room. Oh, the day had started out benignly enough. When they arrived, Lady Woodley had informed them that Gabriel and Evan were out on a ride around the estate. And though there had been a mild disappointment in that fact that Josie had pushed aside, she had been able to settle into a very nice conversation with Lady Woodley, Mrs. Samson, Miss Gray and her mother.

But as soon as luncheon ended and they had retired to the parlor overlooking the gardens below, Gabriel and Evan had returned and suddenly the room was now filled with masculine energy and Evan’s odd stares.

Why did he keep looking at her? And why did he have to be so dratted handsome while he did it? Couldn’t he have had a hunchback or crossed eyes or a pockmarked face if she was trying to hate him?

“You have a very faraway look, my dear,” Lady Woodley said.

Josie jolted and blushed at being caught with such thoughts in her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, searching for an appropriate lie. “I-I was just admiring your gardens.”

Lady Woodley nodded. “Are they not lovely? Our staff takes such good care of them and have been bringing in fresh flowers for my room every day of my convalescence.”

“You’ve always had the prettiest roses,” Josie’s mother said with a sigh.

“They are,” Josie said, encouraged by the fact that she caught Evan yawning from the corner of her eye. Perhaps he would grow bored of their conversation and just go away.

“You should take a walk in the conservatory if you like the roses so much, Jocelyn,” Lady Woodley said. “The hothouse flowers are also doing very well this year.”

“I would love that,” Josie said, both because she meant it and because Evan’s eyes were glazing over.

“Evan, why don’t you escort Josie to the conservatory?” Lady Woodley said.

Josie jolted and turned her full attention to the dowager, even as Evan did the same. “I—” she began.

At the same time, Evan said, “Mother—”

Their eyes locked and Josie folded her arms. Seemed all this talk about him liking her was pure poppycock. He didn’t want to walk with her any more than she did with him. And while that should have pleased her, for some reason it did not.

“I think your son would not like to leave you, my lady,” Josie said, ice in her tone that she could not control.

Evan’s eyes narrowed and for a moment she thought he might defy her words. But he had no chance. Lady Woodley waved her hand. “Oh, ridiculous. I do not need to be handled like I am made of glass. Evan, take our guest. I insist.”

Slowly, Evan rose to his feet and held out an arm. “Of course. Miss Westfall, if you would like to come with me, I’m happy to show you the conservatory.”

“And take some cuttings if you’d like, my dear,” his mother said as Josie got to her feet and stared at the arm outstretched to her.

It was a very muscular arm. And she knew if she touched it, she would be connected physically to this man she had been avoiding for over a decade. Was she ready for that?

She had no choice but to be, because every eye in the room was on them, watching and waiting for her to act politely. And probably wondering why it was taking her so long.

Tensing, she took the arm and tried to ignore the way his muscles flexed as he drew her forward. The way his spicy, male scent filled her nostrils. The way her hand curled perfectly around him, like it was made to go there.

“Take your time, we are having a lovely talk,” Josie’s mother called out.

She squeezed her eyes shut. There was never any subtly to Rachel Westfall. No one could accuse her of that.

Evan guided her into the hall and down through a maze of twists and turns that led them to a large set of double doors. He released her and she found herself finally able to breathe as he pushed them open and revealed the conservatory.

For a moment, Josie forgot her discomfort, forgot everything except for the beauty before her. The conservatory was a flood of green deliciousness, with trees and flowers and fruits in all directions. She stepped into its steamy heat with a sigh of pleasure and hardly noticed that Evan moved in behind her and shut the door softly.

“It has been years since I was here,” she breathed. “We used to play hide-and-seek in this very room. You could be lost forever, I think, and I used to imagine how I would build myself a little house and live off the fruit.”

The moment that confession left her lips, she wished she could take it back. She hadn’t meant to tell something so intimate to a man she didn’t trust. She shot Evan a side glance and found him watching her intently.

“Of course, those were silly, girlish thoughts,” she said, trying to distance herself.

“I rather like the idea,” he said with a shrug. “You could hide a long time here and not be found if you wanted to.”

Josie’s retort was on her lips, a quip about why would
he
want to when he had everything he wanted outside those doors. But she held it back. If she were rude to him, it would only drive home the point that she gave a damn. Her best course here was to be calmly polite and hope that would put the distance between them that she so desperately wanted.