Chapter 20
Their shared moment the night before had changed nothing.
And yet, it had changed everything at the same time.
Henry didn’t allow Josephine to be moved from his side the next day. Not by guests. Not by her own family. She stayed with him, at his side, hand in hand, as he should have demanded from the start.
And somehow, it changed everything still more.
Henry’s temper was less present and his mood more stable. Their guests, even those less welcome, annoyed him less. As silly as it was, it was as if the sun shone brighter. As if the very air was clearer and more pleasant to breathe.
Josephine, at his side, carried herself with all the grace and aplomb of a duchess, her auburn hair clipped back from her face and her eyes shining as she kept those around them entertained. And Henry watched her, his eyes tracing the way one side of her lips lifted higher than the other when she smiled. The way that her nose started to wrinkle just that second before she laughed.
“You cannot spare her for even a moment?” Lisbet pressed, dragging Henry’s attention away from his bride-to-be and back to their group once more.
“Are you not visiting with her now?” he countered, one eyebrow lifting as he bit back a laugh.
“I – What? Of course I am, He – Your Grace.” Lisbet sniffed, lifting her chin and narrowing her eyes in admonishment. “You know very well what I meant.”
“Oh, leave him alone, Lisbet,” Simon chuckled as he came up behind his wife. It was a rare show of him being the one to temper her, his hand on her shoulder as he grinned over at Henry and Josephine. “Do you not see how happy the man looks? Let him have it.”
Lisbet quieted, her eyes turning thoughtfully to Henry as he snorted.
Happy?
He supposed he was that. He certainly felt more like himself today. More like himself than he had managed in years. It was an odd phrasing, but he knew what Simon meant by it. As did Lisbet, apparently.
“You do look … more like yourself,” she murmured, her voice slipping slightly as her eyes misted.
Henry felt his throat tighten, his eyes slipping to Josephine at his side to ensure they weren’t making her uncomfortable with all their sentiment and circle-speak. But she was looking up at him with a smile all her own, an understanding in her blue eyes that he knew he didn’t deserve.
“I am happy,” he said simply, not looking away from Josephine as he said it.
Because he was.
Lord, what a feeling that was.
“See?” Simon grinned, drawing all eyes back upon himself as he pulled his wife to his side. “So let them be. Let them enjoy one another. We cannot have been married so long for you to forget how sparsely you are allowed such in the first few months.”
“And how much more sparse it becomes again once you start producing heirs.” Lisbet sighed, sinking into her husband’s side with a resigned nod. “We won’t monopolize you any further … for now. Go dance with one another before someone not as understanding sets upon you. I’ve seen the Lady St Vincent eying you both thrice now.”
Henry followed his friend’s sharp eye, seeing Josephine’s mother doing just that again.
“And she is not a woman to be put off for long,” Josephine acknowledged with a laugh. “Henry?”
He looked down, Simon and Lisbet forgotten at the impish dimple appearing at the right-hand corner of Josephine’s lips.
“Did you want to dance?” he teased as if she hadn’t mentioned it at least twice since they’d finished their last number.
He might have found it annoying, had she been anyone else. He had hardly imagined wanting to dance so often again himself. Really, he had, when he’d first come up with such a plan, imagined that he would fulfill his duty with one dance and beg off any other.
Dancing, though, he found, allowed him to have Josephine close to him without any fear of repercussion or gossip.
“We thank you–” Henry stopped mid-sentence as he turned to say goodbye to Lisbet and Simon, blinking as he came face to face with empty air.
“It seems they have already gone.” Josephine laughed, tucking her hand into the bend of her arm. “I think they took advantage of our being distracted.”
Distracted. That was a good word for it.
