The duke stared at her still, his expression unchanged despite the fluctuating emotions in his green eyes. For a long moment, he said nothing, making Josephine’s stomach clench.
“I appreciate your sympathies,” he said at last, his voice carefully even. “And your candour.” He paused, his gaze searching hers. “And your use of the present tense.”
The heaviness behind his last sentence hit her, though she didn’t quite understand it. At least not at first. Present tense? She cast about for what she had said, mentally repeating the words before it hit her.
Love, she’d said. Love, not loved.
Her sympathy deepened, understanding then what he meant.
“I assure you it will not hinder me from trying my best to be a good husband for you,” he said softly at her lack of response as she processed the information.
Her laugh was sudden, catching in the back of her throat as she looked up at him.
“I don’t need your love.” Again the words tripped out of her lips, entering the air before she could think better of them. “I don’t expect it, Your Grace. It is not as if we met by chance, andyou promised me any such thing. Ours is an arranged marriage. I have my own reasons for having agreed to it beyond simply just out of societal expectation.”
The duke’s eyebrows rose, his chin tilting slightly, and Josephine only just stopped from offering an apology for how forthright she was being.
The damage was done. She had already spoken, trying to backtrack would only be painfully obvious and make things more awkward besides.
“My father’s estate isn’t what it was,” Josephine admitted slowly, trying to think of how best to phrase it. “There’s little chance that the two of them could live comfortably without help, and while my elder siblings married well enough, they did not do so well as to be able to provide for them in their old age – or perhaps they are just unwilling.”
“And so the duty falls to you,” the duke surmised, his tone betraying nothing as to his opinion on the matter.
Josephine nodded.
“Marrying you suits us both,” she continued hesitantly. “You were in need of a wife and I of a husband who had the means to provide for my family.”
It was uncouth, admitting such things aloud, but the duke didn’t flinch in the face of the facts. Neither did he move away from her as if her words offended him.
He only continued to stare at her, seeming to ruminate on her words before he snorted.
“I have no intention of falling in love with you either, Lady Josephine.” His tone was wry, his eyes sparking with an unexpected humour. “I don’t mean that any more rudely than I think you meant it when you said it either. I don’t think it is possible for me to fall in love with anyone now. I do love Martha, you are right. I am not certain there is room for me to love anyone else alongside that.”
Josephine’s shoulders relaxed hearing him say it, relief pouring through her. Though there was a second unnamed emotion there alongside it as well that she didn’t much care to examine more deeply.
“I’m glad to hear that we are both on the same page regarding our expectations for this marriage then,” she quipped, unable to keep the teasing from her tone.
The duke surprised her with a sudden laugh, the deep sound filling the air like a rich velvet that travelled right through her.
“Matched expectations and the ability to so forthrightly discuss them are important factors in a successful marriage, so I’ve been told,” he answered cryptically.
Josephine didn’t quite understand the humour, like a secret joke that she wasn’t to be let in on, but she returned his grin all the same.
“I think that is more than most people can expect, is it not?”
The duke nodded, leading her out of the ‘private library’ with a wry smile still in place.
Lord but he was even more handsome when he smiled.
It was difficult to look at him head-on as if his good looks were hard to look at for too long.
“It is,” he agreed. He looked at her as they walked, a familiar look in his eye that twisted Josephine’s stomach in an entirely different manner.
“Is this where you tell me that I’m a singular creature again?” she asked archly, unable to keep from meeting her discomfort with sarcasm.
She was surprised by another sudden burst of laughter from her side.
“No, although I think it would be fitting.” The Duke chuckled. “I was thinking something similar.”
