‘I’d like to fuckyou, actually.’
Thankfully, David puts an end to this increasingly dangerous conversation by announcing we’re ready to roll. Someone from props hands Josh his book, and he holds it up in position. We’re rolling. Most of the dialogue will be shot close-up in another take, and we’ll probably do some pickups too, at a later date, but we say our lines to ensure perfect continuity.
‘Do you have much knowledge of Michelangelo, my darling?’
‘I dare say I do not, Your Grace.’
‘Tell me what you know.’
I hesitate. Georgiana considers herself a well-educated woman compared to her peers, but in the world of art she suspects she is something of a philistine.
‘I know that he was a famous sculptor and painter. I know that he sculpted David and the Pièta, and that he is best known for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.’
‘Very good. Do you know what the Sistine’s ceiling depicts?’
‘I… I do not.’ My hand twists into the velvet throw below me.
‘It depicts nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. The wonder of creation. The separation of darkness and light. The creation of Adam. And Eve.’ His voice drops. ‘I should like to see them. Very much.’
‘Have you ever journeyed abroad, Your Grace?’
‘I have toured through France and Spain and northern Italy. I have not yet visited Rome. I should like to, though.’ He lowers the book and lays it face down on his chest. ‘I should like to go with you.’
Josh stares up at me, a world of hope and possibility etched on his features, and I raise my hand tentatively from the floor. Because, despite their intimacies at night, in the darkness of the duke’s bedchamber, Georgiana does not yet have a casually intimate relationship with her husband. She is still cautious with him. Nervous. Closed off. As he is with her, for wholly different reasons.
I lower my hand to Josh’s temple and stroke the soft place where his skin meets his hair. I stroke downwards, over his sideburns, towards the perfect firmness of his jaw. Raise my hand and place it in his hair. Aside from the sideburns, he has no hair extensions in for this scene, so his hair is soft enough for me to run my fingers through.
Which I do. Again and again.
‘I should like that very much indeed.’ The words come awkwardly from Georgiana’s mouth. She wants so much to please her husband, and she’s beginning to understand that evidence of her contentedness pleases him more than many other things.
I add another hand to his head. Dragging my fingers softly along his scalp is like a form of therapy. Josh’s eyelids drift closed and I sit there, feasting on his beautiful features in private awe. I see the faint lilac veins in his eyelids. The slightest fluttering of his thick eyelashes. My head is lowered. The camera can’t see my expression.
Georgiana is having a true epiphany at this moment: that this act, this closeness she’s finding so rewarding, and which is stirring up such a well of emotion inside her, is at the very core of what it means to be husband and wife. She’s not only staring her future in the face, she’s immersing herself in it with growing confidence.
Josh’s eyes open. He reaches up and takes one of my hands, stilling it. Staring into my eyes. I continue to stroke the baby hairs of his hairline with infinite tenderness.
‘Do you think you can be truly happy here, with me, my darling?’ His voice has the gruff edge of withheld emotion. ‘I will do anything to ensure your happiness, you must know that.’
‘I do,’ I say, and I bend my face to his.
CHAPTER 36
Josh
Ihaven’t arranged to catch up with Elle tonight, but as I knock on her door, I hope to God she’s on board. Because I’ve been bursting all day. Obviously, if she turns me down, I’ll go straight back to my room and jack the hell off, but I’d rather give it to my girl.
Don’t call her that. You have no fucking right to call her that.
She answers the door in those freaking yoga pants again. They’re flesh-coloured and, at a glance, they look just like skin. Fuck. But unlike last time I was here, the hostility in her expression has gone, and there’s a knowing. An understanding that I’m leaning against her door jamb because I want the same thing she wants.
‘Hi.’
I twist my neck, and my eyes dart along the corridor. ‘Hey. You busy? Can I come in?’
‘Sure.’
She gives me the ghost of a smile and stands aside. Her hair is damp and her bare face is glowing. I dunno how she looks this good on the hours we’re pulling at the moment.
