Josie
Joseph Stuart was an unmitigated, undiscerning, unintelligent, and completely insensitive ass. A dunderhead. A stupid, thoughtless, ratbag.
If she heard his name one more time in connection to Miss Bliss, she would not be responsible for her actions. An engagement announcement was expected imminently. Josie glared down at the ballroom floor where the pair was currently dancing, oblivious to everyone around them.
Five years.
Five years she had mooned over that… that… nodcock. Done everything she could to gain a single moment of his attention. Learned how to behave like a lady to impress him. Followed him all the way to London when she would have been much happier in the countryside, riding her horse. But no, she had come to London, worried he might find a wife… and he had.
It did not matter how many gentlemen had crowded around her, singing her praises, Joseph had still not noticed her as anything other than his cousin’s little friend. He only had eyes for Miss Bliss, a young lady who everyone agreed was beautiful and accomplished but in no way compared to Josie, who had made a splash as a Diamond of the First Water and an Original. But it did not matter because Joseph did not see things that way.
She felt like Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
How happy some o’er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.
He will not know what all but he do know.
“Are you reciting Shakespeare in your head again?” Her friend Lily’s question was a murmur, but the accuracy dug under Josie’s skin. While she was grateful Lily had suggested retreating to the gallery when they saw Joseph and Miss Bliss making their way to the dance floor, so Josie would not have to tolerate the inane conversational gambits of the gentlemen courting her, sometimes, her friend was very annoying. “You should stop pining over Joseph and pay attention to one of the many men who does want you as a wife.”
Josie just barely managed to keep from making a face. She had never wanted a London husband. She did not want to live in London. She wanted to live in the country with a husband who loved her, doted on her, and cared about horses as much as she did. If Joseph would just fall in love with her, he would make the perfect husband. She knew he preferred country living, he loved horses as much as she did, and they had always gotten along very well together.
“I do not want any of them.”
“Of course not.” Lily rolled her eyes. “You only ever want what you cannot have.”
“That is not true!”
Rather than answering, Lily bestowed one of her ‘all-knowing’ looks before turning away.
“I just do not think Joseph should marry before Elijah.” They both knew that was not true. “Elijah is the elder and should marry first.” Since Josie could not imagine any woman tolerating him, that would take quite some time. None of the Stuart brothers were pushovers, but Joseph and Adam were far more easily managed than Elijah. It was why she and Elijah were forever butting heads—the man was impossible.
“Perhaps you should tell Joseph… oh, what is he doing here?” Lily stiffened, drawing Josie’s attention to peer in the same direction Lily was now looking. Captain Jones and Elijah had entered the ballroom together, both of them casting glances around as if looking for someone.
Two someones.
They had been keeping an annoyingly close eye on Lily and Josie since Mary’s abduction, with Captain Jones dogging Lily’s footsteps, and Elijah stalking hers. Pressing her lips together, Josie shook her head.
Bloody men. She was sick of all of them. Maybe she should become an eccentric spinster.
If it wasn’t for Evie’s request to help her uncover a traitor, Josie would be well on her way home already, no matter how dismayed her mother would be. Of course, technically, the traitor had been found—the man who had planned a duke’s assassination—but he had not been the mastermind. Josie was determined to see this mission through to its end. Even if it meant watching Joseph Stuart courting Miss Bliss while her least favorite Stuart brother breathed down her neck.
Thank you for reading A SEASON FOR TREASON!
I hope you loved Mary and Rex. Find out what happens to Josie, Elijah, and the hunt for traitors in A SEASON FOR SCANDAL.
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The Marquess of Dunbury didn’t marry Lady Cordelia for love, but she hopes their marriage can become something more...
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