“I—I simply had a dream, nothing more,” she murmured,her hand bracing against the brocaded wall for support. “We’re nearly there.” The rolling green fields of Southampton spread out beneath the unblemished deep blue skies. This was reality; she wasn’t in a cemetery, and Tuck was not deceased. Yet, this was the third time she had dreamt this since Frank Witt’s passing. It was as though the looming reality of becoming a widow haunted her, forcing her to confront all the careless words she had uttered about it in the past. Despite the tight ache in her stomach and the throbbing in her chest, she couldn’t bring herself to plead for Tuck to stay. Not if his health declined again and something unfortunate occurred. She would never forgive herself.
“Hey now.” He slid his hand over and took hers. “Your breathing is speeding up.”
“I suppose I’m feeling a bit fatigued,” she said with a forced cheeriness.
“You sure that’s all?” He searched her face. “I’m here if you need to talk.”
“You may always talk to me. But I’m perfectly well, thank you.”
He appeared as though he might resist for a moment, and her throat constricted with apprehension. If he insisted on having this conversation now, she feared she would break down in tears. And once she started, she doubted she would be able to compose herself before reaching the Woodlands.
“Georgie and Jane will be glad to see you. Last they saw you, Henry got on the chase right after.”
“They both sent me letters cursing his name. If he possesses any morsel of wit within his small head, he would be wise to steer clear of the area. Their capacity for holding grudges surpasses that of most.”
“It feels like six years since I crawled out of that pond.”
“Everything has changed, hasn’t it? And yet out there?” Shegestured to the rural scene out the window. “The world continues as it always has. How many others like us are out there, people whose entire worlds have shifted, and yet the sun rises and sets regardless. Some days are warm, others bring rain. The seasons inexorably change.”
“You are acting like we are facing death.”
“I’m sorry,” she said automatically.
“Don’t do that. Apologize if you’ve done something wrong and you want to make it right. But don’t say sorry because you think I’m getting annoyed; that’s not who I am, and that’s not what we are. I respect you too damn much to need you to make yourself small in the hopes that I’ll listen.”
He didn’t pen her sonnets or odes, but something in his plain speech sent her swooning just the same.
She poked out her lower lip. “Please kiss me, immediately. Right here.”
He smirked. “I just have to say a few nice words and you want to kiss me?”
“Truthfully? I always want to kiss you. But right now, I want to kiss you as properly as possible.”
“Because?”
“I need no reason. But if I am to offer one, it’s for my own pleasure and hopefully yours as well. You make me happy.”
“In that case? I accept.”
He leaned in and she watched him the whole way. She never got tired of noticing the small ways the brutal hard lines on his face eased when he looked at her. Or how his mouth, wide and stern, softened. She put a hand on his cheek, and he closed his eyes for a long moment. His lashes were so dark and thick. When his lips brushed hers, they both released a sigh, the heat from their breath warming her face. She began to pull back, but hegrunted his refusal, his hand reaching up to cup the back of her head.
His subsequent kiss was firmer, more exploratory. As she parted her lips, his tongue slid across hers in a languid manner, as if time were of no concern, when in reality, it was slipping away rapidly. It felt surreal that this moment, so intensely real, would soon become nothing more than a fleeting memory. He pressed in and her neck tilted back as he deepened the kiss, taking his time to taste her properly. She clung to his wide shoulders and let him steal everything he wanted, because the great mystery was that for everything he took, he gave her back twofold.
The carriage jolted with a hard bounce and they knocked apart.
“That’s enough. I want Jane and Georgie to be glad to see me. Not to pull into the Woodlands with the idea that if this carriage is rocking don’t come a-knocking,” he said.
She slapped a hand over her mouth as she swallowed back a giggle. “Rocking?”
“I’m serious.” He grinned. “I’d never hear the end of it.”
The carriage slowed as the large redbrick home came into view. Somewhere a dog’s deep bark began. “Goliath knows we are back.”
“That means everyone else does too.”
Sure enough, as they stepped out of the carriage, Georgie came rushing out the front door. Before Lizzy could even raise a hand in greeting, her cousin enveloped her in a warm embrace.
“My, what a tumultuous time you’ve had,” Georgie exclaimed, checking her over. “Come inside, come inside. Let’s have you fed and rested. I’m eager to hear every detail.”
