“There is no façade when I am touching you.” Jasper’s answer wasn’t at all what she expected. “Not just in a sexual way, but when I am holding you while we’re driving, or when I take your hand in mine.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s what I want to be doing. I don’t check myself. Do you?”
“I try,” she admitted. “But I usually fail.”
This was a very different kind of intimacy. With the physical kind, she made her body vulnerable. Talking like this, however, she bared her mind.
Flustered, Nia turned her attention back to the meal and then searched to change the subject. “I can’t believe we are actually here already. In Gretna Green.” She moved some food around on her plate and then feigned a nonchalance she did not feel. “Were there any messages waiting for you? From Malum?”
“Nia.” Something in his voice commanded her attention. She lifted her gaze and locked it with his.
“Yes?”
“It would not have mattered.”
“But—”
“Our marriage. It is a foregone conclusion.” His stare revealed his unwavering conviction but also something else. Doubt? Regret?
“It doesn’t have to be.” Nia’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“Yes, Nia. It does.” He reached across the table and captured her hand. “But it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, does it? We would both have to marry eventually, and I like you. After drawing up our agreement, I’m inclined to believe we’ll make a fine match. On paper, but also…” His eyes turned smoldering. “In bed.”
“And other places,” she added.
“Yes.” He squeezed her fingertip, not so much that it hurt, but enough to convey his earnestness. “It is foregone, but that does not mean it’s unfortunate.”
She wished more than anything that she could read his mind. Was he only saying what he thought she needed to hear?
At his own expense?
But what choice did either of them have? She dipped her chin in agreement. “It is not unfortunate.” Because she liked him as well.
She more than liked him. The thought came unexpectedly, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“With that settled, we have other, very important details to discuss. What would you like to do after we’ve sealed the deal? Do you want to return to London and face the music right away, or would you prefer to take a nice, long wedding journey?”
Nia knew the answer to this question as it was something she’d been thinking about since the moment he told her about the difficulties he was having with his stepmother.
“I’d like to go to Somerland Castle.”
Jasper’s brows shot up, and releasing her hands, he leaned back. “Indeed?”
“I think it’s important we address the… situation with the current Lady Westcott without delay,” she explained.
“Because she will be displaced after we wed.”
“No. Well, yes, but not in a distasteful way. There are certain signals, not warnings, nor threats, exactly, but gestures a newly married lady can set into motion while stepping into her role as lady of the manor and—”
“You were trained in these.”
“Yes.” And it was the least Nia could do for Jasper, after everything he was giving up for her. He’d said their match didn’t need to be an unfortunate one, and she’d like to think she had something to bring into the marriage as well.
Outside of the bedchamber.
He went back to eating, and Nia dropped her hands onto her lap. “Unless you’d rather not.” Perhaps there was more between him and his father’s widow than she realized.
