Page 119 of A Troublesome Circumstance

“Then speak to Lord Pendryn,” Josephine encouraged. “If you don’t wish to believe me, believe him.”

Alexander leaned forward, kissed her cheek, and whispered, “Safe travels, Josephine,” before walking away.

She sighed. Her brother was too blinded by Lady Gwendolyn’s charm to see the obvious truth.

“Shall we, my dear?” Uncle Leroy asked.

“Wait,” her mother said, sweeping Josephine into one last hug. “One more.”

“I love you,” Josephine whispered into her mother’s shoulder.

“And I love you, too,” her mother replied, stepping back and wiping at her eyes.

“This isn’t goodbye,” Josephine assured her. “I’ll see you in a few months when the Season ends.”

“That is far too long,” her mother murmured, her voice cracking.

Uncle Leroy offered his arm. “We should be on the road before it grows too late.”

Josephine accepted his arm, allowing him to lead her towards the waiting coach. Once inside, she settled her skirts and folded her trembling hands in her lap. Doubts swarmed her mind like gnats. Leaving felt cowardly. She hadn’t told Jude she was going. Because if she had… he would have tried to stop her. And curse her foolish, traitorous heart—she might have let him. But this was what she had to do. To protect him. Besides, he would be better off without her.

At least… that was what she kept telling herself.

Josephine pressed her fingertips to the cool glass of the window just as the coach lurched forward, jolting her slightly. She focused on the passing townhouses and let the rhythm of the wheels soothe her. She didn’t feel like talking since her thoughts were too tangled, too raw.

But her uncle, it seemed, did not share in her silence.

“So…” Uncle Leroy said, folding his hands over his waistcoat as the coach picked up speed. “We are doing this?”

A shaky laugh slipped out of her. “Yes,” she breathed. “We are. And thank you for accompanying me.”

“I figured it would be better than letting you face the highway robbers alone,” he teased with a smile.

She tried to force a smile but failed miserably. “I daresay we will be all right. We have never encountered one in all my years of traveling these roads.”

“Times are changing,” he remarked. “People are growing desperate. Food grows scarce. Those poor souls.”

Her heart pinched. “Those poor people, indeed.”

Her uncle watched her a moment before asking, “And what of your Lord Pendryn? Does he know you are leaving Town?”

She bit her lower lip. “No.”

“I wonder why that is?” he asked, though his tone suggested he already knew.

She clasped her hands in her lap to keep them from trembling. “He would have tried to convince me to stay… with him.”

“And that is not what you want?”

“No.” The lie scraped her throat raw.

Her uncle raised a brow. “Yet you love him.”

“I do.”

Uncle Leroy let out a soft chuckle. “In all my days, I have never been able to understand the woman’s mind. Perhaps that is why I never wed.”

“Any woman would be lucky to have you,” Josephine said earnestly.