“But if you kissed me today in the middle of King’s Square in York, I wouldn’t mind a bit,” he claimed. “I would kiss you back, in fact. In front of God and everyone.”
She sat up in the bed, a look of disbelief on her face. “Really?”
“It’s true.”
“What’s happened, Robert? To change your mind?” She reached up and placed the back of her hand against his forehead. “You don’t feel feverish.”
He scoffed softly and reached for her hand with one of his. “You, I suppose,” he said, bringing the hand to his lips to kiss the palm. When he didn’t elaborate, she gripped her fingers around his hand and continued to stare at him. He finally added, “Christmas Eve, when we were waltzing. I knew all the servants were watching us—probably because they were waiting for us to go upstairs so they could go to bed.”
“They weren’t watching us dancing,” she insisted.
“And they continued dancing long after we left.”
“Oh, they were pretending they weren’t,” he said with ahuff, “but I could feel their gaze on us. Yesterday, too, when we were having Christmas dinner.”
“That’s because there were only a few couples dancing the waltz,” she murmured. “Who else were they going to watch?”
“Besides that,” he insisted. “It’s as if they were waiting with bated breath to see if we were going to do something scandalous.”
She relaxed into the pillows behind her and purred. “So I suppose it was a good thing that I did kiss you,” she whispered.
He nodded. “I kissed you as well,” he reminded her. “But I waited until the waltz was done,” he added. “Until I could get us under the kissing bough.”
Attempting to suppress a grin, Ivy tittered. “It was a bit awkward trying to kiss you whilst we danced, but I couldn’t help myself,” she said.
“The servants didn’t seem to mind a bit,” he said.
“I thought Graves was going to suffer apoplexy.”
“I think he did,” Robert remarked before he chuckled.
She grinned and lifted a bare shoulder. “So... now that I know you like chocolate and you’re fine with being kissed in public, what else has changed about you in the last decade that I might not know about?”
Robert arched a brow. “Well, we have another ten days before Twelfth Night and when we leave for York for you to discover,” he murmured.
Ivy’s eyes darkened. “Is that some sort of challenge?” she asked, suspicion evident in her voice.
He chuckled. “Maybe.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Challenge accepted.”
They remained in bed the rest of the day.
