Luke sighed and their lips separated with a soft kiss. The loss made her feel like crying again.
He didn’t release her right away but instead drew her into the shelter of his arms, tucking her head beneath his chin. “It doesn’t need to make sense for now. Nothing does.”
He was so sweet—too good to be true. Naomi trailed her hand down his arm and a tremor ran through his solid frame. And then she pressed her face into his neck and inhaled. Leathery, spicy, and masculine. Raw.
Real.
What was happening?
COMFORTING
Luke kept one hand on the ribbons but rested his other on the bench, lost in the fabric of her skirts, cradling her much smaller hand between them. He’d told her that none of this needed to make sense right now, and he’d meant it. Because althoughheunderstood exactly what was happening and knew exactly whathewanted, it wasn’t fair to think she did the same.
Luke had been attracted to her in London, but he hadn’t expected he would feel the same seeing her again. And God help him, this wasn’t the same. This was more powerful, far more compelling than what he’d felt for her before.
He’d come to Milton Cottage as a gesture to honor Gil’s memory. If he’d done so for any other reason, he wasn’t sure he could live with himself. He’d wanted to kiss her last spring but then she’d gone and fallen in love with his oldest friend.
Luke rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand.
Gil was dead, gone forever, and yet not for the first time, Luke was having misgivings as to what kind of man his friend had really been.
Luke was not mistaken in that he had informed Gil of his intentions to court Naomi immediately after the garden party.Because after spending those few moments alone with her, rowing her around the picturesque little pond, Luke had already believed himself halfway in love with Miss Naomi Augustine. He’d wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Instead, he’d gone to his friend.
He dared not admit even to himself the feelings he had for her now, after spending the last two weeks seeing her every day. And he dared not hope that he hadn’t ruined everything by kissing her.
“Am I a horrible person?” Her voice sounded small beside him. “Are we?”
“We haven’t done anything wrong.” He cleared his throat, wondering what he could do to keep her from berating herself. He didn’t want her considering the affection between them wicked or sinful in any way.
Gil was gone and, God willing, he and Naomi had long lives ahead of them. But Luke needed to exercise patience. Rushing into something now could cast a shadow on the future they might share.
Her reputation mattered to him. Far more than his own. He would do whatever he could to protect it, even if that meant denying himself now.
“You’ve suffered a great loss, not just recently, but with the rejection of your family last spring. It’s only natural that you needed comforting.” He tried not to stumble over his words.
She nodded beside him. “Is that what that was between the two of us? Comforting?”
He’d already burdened her with too much today. She must take the time to mourn Gil before giving her affection to another. “It cannot be easy for you. Any of this.”
If he was going to win her love, he must exercise patience. She’d suffered a scandal, the loss of her family’s support, andnow Gil’s death. Now was not the time to saddle her with his own selfish desires.
Indeed, a simple kiss did not need to make sense right now. She’d needed comforting, and he’d been there to hold her.
If only his heart would accept such an explanation. That kiss had surpassed all his expectations.
“You are a good friend, Lucas Cockfield. I don’t know what I would have done without you these past few weeks.” She touched her swollen belly. “I don’t know whatwewould have done without you.”
Ah, yes. She would require a good deal of time. In less than half a year, she had become a wife, then a widow, and soon she would be a mother.
He would wait. He could be patient.
He relinquished her hand and snapped the reins to set the cart to moving again. The two of them were quiet as they drove into the small village of Hull Crossings and parked at the end of the small cluster of buildings lined up along the single road that ran through town.
Before he could jump down to come around and assist Naomi, a boy of about eleven or twelve appeared and offered to watch the horse. Luke wasn’t concerned anyone would steal Naomi’s old pony in this sleepy little hamlet, but he tossed the boy a coin nonetheless.
It was the most natural thing in the world to place his hand on her back as they approached the various storefronts. His desire to protect her and the baby she carried had become powerful. How much more strongly would he feel if the child was his? He shoved the question away without answering it.
“I’ve only come to town a few times,” Naomi offered. “It’s quiet compared to the village near Somerhill House, my father’s home.”
