“I don’t want to hear about this experience of yours.”
Leopold laughed. “Fair enough, and with that settled, I think it’s time I went off to join your meemaw.”
“But not because you want to kiss her.”
Leopold got up from the rocking chair and gave Owen a clap on the back. “You just keep telling yourself that, son, if it makes you feel better.” With that, and with the echo of chuckles following him, Leopold ambled off the porch, leaving Owen standing by himself until he spotted Camilla walking over to join him.
“How’d the talk go with Leopold?” she asked once she reached his side.
“Not as well as I’d hoped.”
“He didn’t agree to abandon any and all thoughts of kissing Beulah?”
“I think he might have just wandered off with kissing Meemaw on his mind since I just put that idea into his head.”
The corners of her lips quirked. “An unexpected result of your little chat?”
“Too right it was.”
“Then allow me to suggest that we get on our way back to the country house so you won’t do something ridiculous like shadowing Leopold, just like you threatened to do with Charles.”
Owen blinked and glanced around, frowning a second later. “Where is Charles?”
Camilla took hold of his arm. “Relax. He’s talking with Nems, who’s getting his beard trimmed by Bernadette, and Luella’s talking to Lottie and Edward, so none of them have stolen away to take any of Elma’s advice.”
After giving his arm a bit of a pat, Camilla pulled him into motion and steered him over to where they’d left their horses. Climbing into their respective saddles a moment later, they headed down the path leading to the country house.
Silence settled around them as they rode, which was somewhat unusual since Camilla normally enjoyed chatting away with him.
He couldn’t help but wonder if something troubling had been said when she’d been speaking with Meemaw, although other than the fact Camilla was determined to stay as far away from the apple pie recipe as she could, he couldn’t think of anything she might have discussed with his grandmother that she’d find disconcerting.
He, on the other hand, was finding it difficult not to dwell on what Leopold had said because now that kissing and Camilla had been introduced in the same sentence, he found himself unable to helpbutthink about kissing her, a thought he’d already entertained on numerous occasions due, no doubt, to the topic of kissing dominating so many conversations of late.
The problem with kissing in connection with Camilla, though, was this—she seemed to approach that type of business in a rather no-nonsense fashion, probably because she was a matchmaker and talking about kissing went with the territory. However, she’d never lent him the impression she was personally pondering kissing, which suggested she, unlike him, wasn’t spending her time wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Frankly, there was a possibility that if he took Leopold’s counsel and broached the matter of wanting to kiss her, she’d take to boxing his ears like Aunt Elma was fond of doing.
Realizing it was less than productive to continue considering kissing in general, especially when such considerations were leaving him rather depressed, Owen cleared his throat, drawing Camilla’sattention, which drewhisattention to her lips, something that wasn’t all that surprising given the contemplation he’d just been doing.
“Were you about to say something?” she asked, which had him pulling his gaze from her lips and settling it on her nose, which seemed far safer than her lips were.
“I was, ah, just going to say that I thought it was very considerate of you to tell Bernadette that she didn’t need to accompany you back to the house to help you change” was all he could think to say as he forced himself not to allow his gaze to drift to her lips again.
Her brow puckered the slightest bit, and it almost seemed as if her gaze lingered for just a second onhislips, but then she shook her head ever so slightly right before she frowned. “I, ah, wasn’t, um ... what were we talking about again?”
His mood suddenly improved by leaps and bounds.
“Bernadette not helping you change.”
She gave herself another shake. “Oh, right, well, ah ... I couldn’t very well put an end to Bernadette’s impromptu barber shop when she had men waiting in line to get their hair cut and beards trimmed.”
“Her services do seem to be in high demand.”
“Word has certainly gotten around about her skills with a pair of shears and a razor, although I hope she isn’t overcharging the men for her services today.”
“She isn’t charging them at all. I told her to send the bill to me since she’s doing work for my family members or men who work for me.”
Camilla’s eyes began to sparkle. “It does speak very highly of your character that you’re so attentive to your family and employees, but I’m afraid Bernadette will probably inflate her rates by at least twenty-five percent since you’re paying.”
“I would expect nothing less of Bernadette, especially when I’ve been coming to the conclusion she possesses quite the head for business.”
