“More pleasure?” Caroline trilled, giggling as she leaned forward with even more avid interest.
“More than just that appreciation,” Josephine corrected with a laugh. “I enjoy his company. We have much more in common than I would have imagined. We enjoy the same literature and seem to align in many of our values …”
“Only you could make attraction sound so staid,” Caroline complained. “Come now, Josie. When first we spoke of it, you made it seem like you expected a marriage of convenience alone. Two statues sharing a home and a last name. Has that changed?”
Lord, yes. It had changed.
Josephine couldn’t even pinpoint the exact moment that it had. Rather, it was a string of small instances she had missed along the way.
“I do wonder if our marriage might possibly be more than just an agreement between one another,” Josephine admitted slowly. She chewed over each word, choosing them carefully so she didn’t get swept away in her friend’s romanticism.
“More than just an agreement?” Caroline pressed when Josephine didn’t automatically continue.
Josephine chewed the inside of her cheek, pushing back to sit on her calves as she gave up weeding for a moment to really consider her words even more fully.
“It is easy enough to say that we might be friends.” Josephine didn’t actually have any doubt about that being the case.
“Friends …” Caroline repeated, disappointment lacing the word.
Josephine didn’t let her friend’s reaction stop her, though.
She stared past Caroline to the green hills beyond, her brow furrowing.
“There is an attraction there,” she admitted.
“An attraction?” Caroline’s voice rose in pitch. “I know you said he was attractive; is that what you are referring to, or …?”
“Yes and no,” Josephine’s lips twitched. “An attraction … on both sides.” She ignored Caroline’s squeal just as she had everything else, shooting her a half-chastising look before sighing. “There was from the very first night, but since he kissed me–”
“Since he WHAT?”
Caroline’s voice echoed around the garden, bouncing off the wall she sat on as she became a flurry of pink skirts and all but toppled off the perch she’d been holding for the last half hour. “Kissed you?” she screeched, the dirt and her hate for it forgotten as she fell to her knees in front of Josephine.
Her cheeks were pink with intrigue, her eyes wide as she leaned forward and waved as if to encourage Josephine to continue.
“Lord, Caroline, don’t announce it to the entire countryside!” Josephine laughed through the heat that suffused her face at Caroline’s reaction. Her smile was unsteady, her stomach twisting in knots as Caroline scooted forward, expecting Josephine to start whispering.
Josephine almost thought that she ought to.
“He kissed me last night after dinner,” Josephine said casually. Or as casually as she was able to.
“Where? How? On your hand? On your cheek?” Caroline’s questions were rapid as she tripped over some of the syllables, her lips pressing into a giddy line as she all but bounced in place with obvious difficulty, waiting for Josephine to answer even just one.
“No, not on my cheek,” Josephine bit out. “On the lips.”
Caroline barely restrained her squeal.
“We were given a modicum of privacy after dinner, and he kissed me.” Josephine wasn’t quite willing to go into more detail than that. It was silly, she was sure, but it felt personal, private. That moment and the ones that had come before it.
“And!” Caroline prompted impatiently.
“And I enjoyed it,” Josephine said primly.
“Of all the times to be so concise!” Caroline sat back on her calves with a huff. “You enjoyed it! I don’t suppose I have to ask if he did. He is a man.”
Josephine’s cheeks coloured even further as she remembered his look as he pulled back. That barely restrained desire. She didn’t know how she knew, but she was certain that if her mother and father hadn’t been present, he would have gone even further.
And a very large part of her wished that he had.
