“He was reluctant,” she admitted.
“No doubt. But you brought him around.” Laura’s eye took on a curious gleam. “I do wonder about that. How did you manage such a feat?”
“I asked him.”
“That was it? Such a great man brought low by such a simple request?”
“Well…” Christiana’s cheeks heated still more. “We kissed.”
“And?” Laura blinked, her eyes going wide. “Wait, you mean—for the first time?”
“We never agreed that we would be—physically and intimately engaged. In fact, he said quite the opposite.”
“And yet you kissed, anyway? Tell me everything!”
So Christiana did—from arriving at the house, meeting Amelia, all the way to the single kiss and the carnival she had gotten Hugh’s permission to attend with him.
“Since then, I haven’t—” She cleared her throat. Every other time she’d seen him, there had either been other servants about, or she hadn’t dared continue what they’d started. And he had never asked her, either.
“That has been your only kiss?” Laura demanded.
“Yes.”
“And you’ve done nothing more?”
“We have not,” Christiana said, pacing to stand by Laura at the window. Summer was coming to an end—the August carnival was its final hurrah before harvest arrived. The world seemed golden in the sunlight.
“But you would like to,” Laura surmised.
“I’m not entirely certain it’s possible.”
“Have you asked?”
Christiana whirled, partially horrified, partially amused. “What an indelicate question.”
“A perfectly delicate one for a wife.” Laura shrugged. “You ought to have asked him before you ever committed to him, but it’s not too late now. At least you’ll know.”
“We never discussed children,” Christiana said. “Save for him to say he has no expectations.”
“An oversight on your part.”
“Hardly. I have no need for children. And he said he had no expectations for intimacy—what more is there to say?” She clasped her hands before her, trying to sort through and quieten her thoughts. Finally, she had someone in whom she could confide, but emotional vulnerability never came easily to her. “If he is capable, why does he not expect children from our union?”
“Well, even if heisincapable, there are other things you could do.”
“Such as?”
“Well, his hands and his mouth. Those all work, one would assume. He could offeryourelief, even if he can have none. Poor fellow,” she added, almost as an afterthought. “I would not envy being him if that is the case. Always wanting, never able to be sated.”
Always wanting. Perhaps thatwasthe case. When he’d kissed her, it had felt as though he’d wanted very much—she was no expert, but she could recognize enthusiasm when she saw it.
She placed her glass back on the table. “The coachman is waiting. We should return to the house so you have time to change before dinner.”
Laura grinned, fluffing her curls coyly. “Are you saying I don’t look my best after three full days of travel, dearest? You wound me.”
“You,” Christiana said, taking Laura’s arm and squeezing it, “are a menace. And I’m so glad you’re here.”
As Laura washedand changed for dinner—and after several hushed exclamations about how very grand the house was—Christiana knocked on the adjoining door between her chambers and Hugh’s.