“How many lines?” Rowena repeated.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because my brother is famous for dispatching one sentence notes. Here is what I received, in case you doubt me.” She handed Josephine a piece of paper with one short sentence:Dinner at the Park View tomorrow evening? Devon. “What he willnotdo is write a letter with words filling an entire page. So if you received one, Josephine, it has to be because he cares for you a great deal.”
She’d suspected it from his phrasing alone, but it had never occurred to her that receiving a letter from the duke was such a rare thing, she might be the only woman in the world to ever have done so. The thought of it made her heart swell and her entire body warm with appreciation. Because it wasn’t just a question of him caring for her. It was a question of him showing her the extent to which he did so. And while she’d been hurt by the prospect of him wanting only seduction, she was starting to realize his physical need might be intrinsically tied to his growing fondness for her as a person. And if that were the case…
“May we accept the invitation?”
“By all means.” A maid arrived, and Rowena asked for some tea to be brought up, before addressing Josephine once more. “But I was of the impression you did not wish to share Devon’s company.”
“I didn’t.”
“Past tense. How fascinating.”
Josephine raised her eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “Very well, I will admit I might have changed my mind.”
Rowena snorted and came to join her on the sofa. “That must have been quite the letter he wrote.”
It was, written by quite the man, a man whom Josephine now looked forward to seeing with great anticipation. If only to let him know she felt exactly the same way as he.
