The best protection any woman can have… is courage.
~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton
“Mrs. Eames?”
Prim resisted the urge to leap away from James as Nanny came around the tree line. Despite their relative isolation, there was nothing improper about their proximity.
“Yes, Nanny?”
“Master Ellis wanted you to watch him, if you might.” Nanny peered between her and James, bright with curiosity, but Prim responded with a stern look of her own. She had nothing to be embarrassed about. There was nothing to see, nothing possibly could have been overhead.
But those softly spoken words were seared into her mind.
Oh, couldn’t I?
Was he implying that he was physically stirred by her? By her…what? Presence? Looks? For all the words baffled her, Prim warmed from head to toe. The back of her neck burned, the hollow between her breasts, and the inside of her thighs. Something she hadn’t felt in a long while curled low and hot in her belly.
“Mrs. Eames?” Nanny repeated.
Prim cleared her throat. “Of course, I will.”
She started back to the top of the hill, aware that James fell in step behind. Not offering his arm, but allowing her to lead the way. She was glad for that. Touching him, even his arm right now, would have been awkward. What did one say after such an admission? Her mother had never taught her how to respond to conversation of that nature. Mostly because it never happened.
Thankfully, her jumbled thoughts were diverted as they came back in sight of the hill.
Ellis yelled, “Mama, watch me!” and dove belly down onto the waiting sled and took the hill. Headfirst.
“Good Lord,” she whispered, her hand to her heart. Luella and Hazel were jumping up and down, clapping their hands.
Behind her, James chuckled. “Boys will be boys, Mrs. Eames. I wish I’d done that as a lad.”
And diverted even more.
“You never went sledding?”
“There was rarely enough snow where I grew up to make much of a go of it. Even when there was…” His eyes dimmed and for a moment Prim caught a glimpse of something forlorn and lonely before he shook his head, once again filled with boyish delight. “It does look like a grand bit of fun, doesn’t it?”
He was watching Ellis slide to a halt, looking a tad envious now. “Do you want to try it?” She meant it as a jest but Prim nearly laughed aloud at the excitement on his face. “You do, don’t you?”
His grin was sheepish. “Perhaps. I won’t, of course.”
None of the adults present were partaking of the sport. Prim knew he’d appear foolish in their eyes if he were to act so immaturely.
“You’ve been telling me all this time how I need to speak up for what I want? Wouldn’t it be rather hypocritical of you not to do what you want?”
* * *
James heard the dare in her voice. His prim, proper Mrs. Eames encouraging such a thing?
“You think I won’t?”
Her brows rose, a smirk touching the corner of her mouth. No, she didn’t.
“Mama! Did you see me?”
The boy raced up to them, towing the sled by its rope behind him. His light brown hair stood out at divergent angles from beneath the brim of his cap, his face was red, as he panted with the effort of his climb…or the exhilaration of his play.
“I did, Ellis,” Prim answered softly, but after a quick peek at James, added, “Well done. That was quite brave of you.”
