Deceived by Jess Michaels Read Free Book Online

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