Deceived

by Jess Michaels

  “Oh no!” Audrey said. “Not all of us. Mama is better, thank God, but Miss Gray has made it very clear that she is not to be moved yet. So Evan and Gabriel will stay behind with her.”

  “Your brother will be here?” Josie said, perhaps a little louder than she had intended to do.

  Audrey wrinkled her brow. “Yes, both brothers. Oh, I’m so glad you’ll be here. I love Evan and Gabriel, but my mother will be so happy to spend time with you and your mother. And now Jude’s mother Hilda has agreed to stay with her as well. She may even take on a permanent place as my mother’s companion. Knowing she has so many people visiting and staying with her will make leaving her easier.”

  “Yes, well, if we’re all here in such close proximity we’ll come all the time,” Josie said, working it out more for herself than anyone else. “All the time. And we’ll all see each other. All of us.”

  Audrey’s smile fell. “Are you…are you all right?”

  “Of course, why wouldn’t I be all right?” Josie asked. “I’m perfect. And I’m so happy for you. You seem so happy.”

  She was repeating words now, she could hear it. But Audrey was so in love, it didn’t seem to fully register. “Thank you, we are so happy.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” came a male voice from the door.

  Audrey’s smile broadened even before she turned and so when Josie moved to see Jude Samson standing at the terrace entrance, she was not surprised. He was a very handsome man, that was undeniable. He was tall with a rugged face and soulful dark blue eyes. Eyes that seemed to only see Audrey for he never took them off of her. It appeared he loved her as deeply as she loved him.

  And that made Josie even happier for her friend, once she pushed past the irrational flare of jealousy that made her blush.

  “Mr. Samson,” she said, holding out a hand as she moved toward him. “I know we’ve met a few times before and I already said it tonight, but so many felicitations to you on your…”

  She trailed off for as she neared the window that looked into the ballroom she saw Evan in the crowd. Watching them.

  “On my?” Samson pressed.

  She jolted. “On your marriage, of course. Audrey seems deliriously happy, and we all know she deserves that.”

  Samson smiled and caught his new wife’s hand, drawing her to his side. He looked down on her and Josie blinked at the intimacy of the look they exchanged.

  “She deserves that and everything else in the world.”

  Audrey’s lips parted slightly. “All I have ever wanted is right here, I assure you.”

  Josie turned her face. This was intruding, though to be fair they weren’t exactly hiding their passion, their love for each other. And once again that little niggle of jealousy stirred in her belly.

  “Did you come out to fetch me?” Audrey asked, blushing as she shot a side glance at Josie.

  He nodded. “Lady Kitterage’s daughter is to be married at Christmas and she is demanding to know who designed your gown. Your mother is quite engrossed with a few of her guests, and I didn’t want to disturb her.”

  Audrey’s eyes went wide at his statement, but then she nodded. “Of course.” She turned to Josie with a grin. “Won’t she be surprised that it was made by our little country seamstress rather than some fancy London one? I shall enjoy the look on her arrogant face. Will you join me to see it?”

  Josie laughed, but shook her head. Lady Kitterage was one of her least favorite people and her nasty daughter had made Josie’s life quite miserable over the years. She did not want to see them, even if it meant watching the haughty woman be shocked.

  “I am enjoying the air,” she said. “But you go. Describe it all to me later.”

  Audrey hesitated, but then nodded as she took her husband’s arm and allowed herself to be led inside. As they left, Josie watched them and let her gaze slip through the window again. Evan was still there. And despite the fact that his sister had come in to join her party, he still watched. Watched her?

  No, that couldn’t be. Likely he couldn’t even see her. He was probably staring off into nothing or planning which biddable widow he would sneak away with for the night.

  That thought made her turn away with a huff of breath that was far too telling. It was best she stay outside until she cleared her head. Though at this rate, she could be here all night, perhaps even all week.

  Evan folded his arms as he watched through the window. Josie stood at the terrace wall, looking out over the garden. Just as she had been for the half an hour since Audrey and Jude had left her there to return to the party. Now the guests were beginning to slowly make their way out, singing the praises of the new couple and shouting good wishes as they went.

  They were down to just a few stragglers when Evan felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Josie’s mother, Mrs. Westfall, at his elbow. She stared up at him with a slightly tipsy smile.

  “Have you seen my daughter, my lord?” she asked. Evan sighed and slowly motioned outside. Her mother’s smile fell. “Oh, that girl!” she ground out.

  Evan arched a brow. “I believe she is just getting some air.”

  Mrs. Westfall shook her head. “Getting some air, my right slipper. She is hiding from the party, just as she always does. How does she ever think she’s going to get a husband by mooning about on terraces? I declare, she is trying to send me to Bedlam.”

  Evan pursed his lips at the barrage and then shrugged. “Well, there she is, whatever her reasons. And I should—”

  “Oh, your mama and Mrs. Samson are motioning to me,” Mrs. Westfall said. “Would you be a dear boy and go out to tell her we are preparing to depart?” She didn’t wait for his response, but patted his arm. “Thank you so much.”

  Then she spun away and left him still staring at Josie. Irritation built in him, though he didn’t exactly know why. After all, Mrs. Westfall had only asked him to do exactly what he’d been pondering for the past thirty minutes: joining Josie in the moonlight.

  Now he had a reason.

  “As if I need a reason to go out on my own terrace,” he muttered as he moved toward the door. “If anyone needs a reason to trespass, it’s her.”

  He pushed the doors open and stepped outside. For a moment, he considered closing them, but decided against it. An open door would discourage…

  He wasn’t exactly sure what he thought it would discourage. It wasn’t as if he intended to sweep Jocelyn Westfall into his arms, kiss her until she opened for him, press her against the wall while she begged for him, take her until she trembled.

  No. That thought had never crossed his mind. Not even once.

  “Josie?” he asked as he neared her.

  She jumped at the sound of his voice and spun to face him.

  “You scared the devil out of me,” she said as she lifted a hand to her breast, all but forcing his gaze to follow. “Why did you sneak up on me?”

  He pressed his lips together and forced himself to look at her face and not her gorgeous curves. “I didn’t sneak up on anyone,” he snapped, his tone as peevish as hers was, though he rather thought for a very different reason.

  He had his stupid brother’s equally ridiculous words ringing in his head. Words that said that Josie liked him. Liked him. Which was ridiculous. Josie didn’t like him. She hated him.

  Even now, she could barely look at him. And when she did with those wide, clear green eyes all he saw was…was…

  He blinked as he stared down at her. No, that wasn’t hatred in her gaze. Well, perhaps a hint of it, but there was something else there too. Something heated. Something alluring.

  Desire. He looked into her eyes and he saw desire there. She was watching his lips, her breath was short, she shifted uncomfortably, but all that was born of the hot and powerful desire that flickered in her stare.

  Worse, it inspired an equally heated response in himself. All those fantasies he had been forcing himself not to visualize came rushing to the surface, and for a moment all he could see was a dozen w
ays to make her his. A dozen ways to make her quake beneath him, on top of him, around him.

  What the hell?

  “Your mother is leaving,” he snapped, his tone sharp out of confusion and need that would very much go unfulfilled. “She wanted me to fetch you.”

  His words seemed to break the spell between them and she turned her face. “Good,” she muttered, almost more to herself than to him. “It’s high time I left.”

  “W-well,” he stammered, holding out his arm awkwardly. “Let me escort you inside.”

  She shook her head and backed away from his touch. “No, that is entirely unnecessary, my lord. I can very easily find my way myself. Good evening.”

  She scurried past him without another glance or word and disappeared into the house. Evan forced himself to pivot toward the wall where she had been standing just a moment before. He would not watch her anymore.

  Not only because it was pathetic, but because now that he had seen that flicker of wanting in her eyes, he realized that he had to decide what to do about it. And if he wanted to use it to determine what she knew about Claire.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  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.
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br />   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.