‘That will present a problem, as we’ll need to agree on a time and date, once I’ve obtained a licence, if I in fact manage to do so.’
‘I trust you to.’
Thorn’s frown deepened—two lines against either brow tipping inwards to form an almost triangle, and Hypatia understood the gesture, for inwardly, she frowned too.
There is time to think on all that later, along with everything you haven’t given yourself time to consider.
The vows have not been spoken; you have not fully cast your bets yet.
‘Have you ever written with lemon?’ she asked, choosing to abide by her own declarations, though something inside her knew her betshadbeen fully cast the moment she first opened her mouth in Thorn’s presence.
‘Aye, I did, as a boy,’ he chuckled, nodding his head. ‘’Twas mostly maps; I pretended I was some great spy that would defeat Napoleon.’
Hypatia grinned, once again caught off-guard by the sparkling of his gaze, and the piece he offered somewhat unknowingly, and unpretentiously, of himself.
‘You could write, pretending this time to be some matron or other I met tonight, whom I promised to give my stain banishing formulas to,’ she suggested after a moment, their smiles not dimming, but reminded of the semi-urgency of the situation. ‘Write the time, date, and place we are to be wed in between the lines, and I shall respond accordingly to confirm receipt.’
‘You have stain banishing formulas?’
‘Developed over many years,’ she nodded.
‘How eminently useful.’
‘I suppose I might’ve listed that in my favour earlier, as an offset to my lacking five hundred pounds in desired dowry.’
‘With the money it might save in garments, I suppose so.’
They stared at each other, smiling softly for a few moments which seemed to stretch longer than that, the sounds of the party trickling towards them on the growing and cooling breeze.
‘I shall do as you direct, then, I need only your address.’ Hypatia gave it to him, and he nodded, before sharing his own temporary one. ‘You will manage to slip away when the time comes?’
‘I will manage. You will find us witnesses and any other necessaries?’
‘I will. Should I plan for you to return to your home after the ceremony?’
‘As much as I would like to say no, if only to avoid further issue, it would be advisable that I return, tell of the news, and collect what little I must.’
‘Very well then.’
‘May I kiss you?’
Thorn’s surprise manifested itself as she realised now it likely always would: by him freezing, eyes blinking wide like some animal caught in a lantern’s light in the dark.
‘Um…why?’ he asked, with slight trepidation.
‘Have you some aversion to it?’ she asked in turn, and he shook his head slowly, waiting for the rest of what she might say. ‘Well, then, I thought, despite our allowing each other certain discreet freedoms, and despite this being a business transaction, perhaps in future we may wish to indulge in some intimate benefits, and so best to know now whether or not that is a possibility, or whether I shall be shackled to someone whose taste I cannot abide.’
‘In which case those benefits would be removed from the equation of our transaction?’
‘Precisely. Unless you would like the possibility removed now, which I would understand and respect, of course.’
‘Of course. Well then, I suppose I can see the wisdom in your request.’
‘Excellent.’
Unhesitatingly, Hypatia took a step closer, so they were toe-to-toe, having been standing thus far at much less than the Society-prescribed distance which equated toproper.
However, sensing his own awkwardness, and hesitation, Hypatia paused.
