* * *
“See? I am fine. Barely dizzy at all now,” Francis said as he walked around the drawing room. Despite his declaration, Josiah followed him regardless. “God’s wounds, you are looking at me like I am a China doll about to fall over and crack at any second.”
“Do you not remember the physician telling you to be careful?” Josiah said, following him around the piano and Hepplewhite chairs regardless.
“I do, but I am doing so much better. Not dizzy at all, see?” he said, doing a quick circle on the spot. Josiah folded his arms, frowning as he watched him. “In fact…” Francis reached for a bowl of oranges that Mrs Goodman had set out on the coffee table that morning. “I’ll prove it to you.” He took three of the oranges and started to juggle them in the air, tossing one at a time and catching each in turn until they were all in the air, dancing together. “Could I do this if I still needed to be lying in bed?”
“Hmm…well, I suppose not.”
Before they could say anymore between them, the door opened, and Francis flicked his gaze toward it. When Diana stepped through, he was able to maintain the oranges being juggled in the air, yet then Phoebe stepped through, and the sight of her made his breath hitch. He promptly dropped all the oranges on the floor, at which point Josiah started sniggering with laughter.
“What happened in here?” Diana said, pointing at the oranges.
“A demonstration that went wrong, I think,” Josiah said, coming toward her. “Diana, there is something I need to show you.” He reached for her arm.
“Show me? Now? We were about to have tea,” Diana said, gesturing to Phoebe.
Francis had asked Josiah if there was a way that he could orchestrate distracting Diana that afternoon so he could be alone with Phoebe, and it seemed his brother-in-law was taking this promise to heart.
“Tea can wait,” Josiah said, towing her toward the door.
“I’m thirsty, Josiah,” Diana said rather insistently.
“I’ll take you to the river.”
“I am not drinking that water!”
“Diana, there really is something I need to show you.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere but here,” Josiah muttered. Francis couldn’t keep his laughter in anymore. Phoebe looked to him in surprise, just as Diana was finally hurried out of the door.
“This is absurd, what on earth is going on?” she declared.
“We’ll be back soon,” Josiah said with a smile before closing the door behind the two of them. Francis had to work hard to stop his laughter as he heard Diana’s repeated complaints all the way down the corridor whilst Josiah dragged her elsewhere.
“What is going on?” Phoebe said as she turned to him with a smirk of mischief and folded her arms.
“My brother-in-law lacks subtlety today it seems.”
“Hmm, you could say that,” Phoebe said in agreement.
“I wanted to speak to you alone,” he said, reaching for a Bergère settee and beckoning Phoebe to follow him. She didn’t hesitate and hurried to sit down beside him. At first, there was half a cushion space between the two of them, but hating the sight of it, Francis found himself moving closer toward her, and she didn’t move away.
“First, tell me how you are feeling today?” Phoebe said, her face taut with evident worry. Francis grew distracted looking at her features for a minute, thinking of how her green eyes were wide as she stared at him, and the skin around her mouth was tensed. It made his eyes linger on those lips, remembering the liberty he had taken in kissing her before.
“I am doing much better,” he said with a small smile. “My dizziness is completely gone.”
“Almost?” she said, pointing toward the oranges on the floor. Laughing and realizing he had left them where he dropped them, he hurried to his feet and picked the oranges up, placing them back down in the fruit ball.
“I was distracted, that is why I dropped the oranges,” he said, then turned his attention back to her.
“And the pain? In your head?” she said, reaching out a hand toward him. He held his breath as she came near, wanting that touch. Her fingers were delicate as she softly brushed the bruise on his temple.
“Gone,” he assured her. “In a matter of days, the physician says all I will have is a scar to remember the event.” Her lips widened into a smile.
“Thank the Lord,” she said, sighing with relief. “Now, why did you want to get me alone?”
