Page 50 of Forget Me Not

After a time, she turned to face him. “Thank you for bringing me here. I love it.”

“I had hoped you would.”

She sat on the blanket, closer to him than he would have predicted. “Do you come up here often?”

He nodded. “Weather permitting.”

“Might I join you sometimes?”

Lucas took her hand. “I would like nothing more.” He raised her hand to his lips and lightly kissed the back of her hand.

Whether the cool air or the kiss brought the extra color to her cheeks, the effect was the same. She looked beautiful, enchanting. If he gently kissed her palm or her wrist, would she color up even more? It was a surprising thing to think about his childhood friend and unexpected wife.

Lucas shook off the idea and set himself more firmly to the task of their picnic conversation. They spoke of her educational interests and the topics of study she most enjoyed. But his mind returned repeatedly to the shockingly intriguing idea of coaxing another blush from Julia. That her eyes continued to sparkle and her complexion remained rosy only added to the strength of the pull he felt.

Did she feel it as well? Or was he simply desperate enough for some kind of future for this marriage that he was imagining connections where none existed?

“I am hopeful there are books at Brier Hill that I can study,” she said.

Though she was still working through her sandwich, he had finished his entire meal. Did she always eat so slowly, or was she simply hampered by her enthusiasm for their discussion? “Every book at the house is at your disposal.”

She scooted closer. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course I do.” He brushed his fingers lightly along hers, where they rested on the blanket. “I like to study and learn as well. Books are the very first thing I added to Brier Hill upon taking up the role of master.”

She adjusted her position and faced him more directly. “I remember the day I found out you were leaving Lampton Park. When I ran you to ground in the library you were amassing a stack of books. I assumed at the time that you were taking them with you.”

“I was,” he said.

She sighed a little. “You broke my heart that day, you know. It wasn’t that you were leaving—I really did understand the importance of you claiming your independence, even if I didn’t like it. What hurt was that I had to learn of it from Robert Finley. You were my dearest friend, and you never told me you were leaving, never mentioned it, never did anything to soften that blow.”

He reached out and ran his hands gently down her arms. “I am sorry. I wish I could blame it on my youth at the time, but even now, I am not as thoughtful as I ought to be.”

The previously cool breeze whipped around them as a cold wind. Lucas tugged Julia’s collar upward, hoping her coat would be warmer that way.

“Perhaps you aren’t entirely thoughtless,” she said, a quiet smile playing on her lips.

“Then allow me to nudge that ‘perhaps’ toward ‘certainly.’” He took her hands in his and held her gaze. “I promise you, Julia Jonquil, that I will not leave home, be it to climb a mountain or visit a friend or jaunt up to Town, without first telling you that I’m going to be leaving.”

A hint of worry hovered in her eyes. “Isn’t that what the Town bucks refer to as ‘petticoat rule’?”

“Showing one’s wife a little consideration is hardly the same as being crushed under her thumb.”

“I don’t want you to resent me, Lucas.”

He slipped a hand free and brushed it along her cheek. “I don’t resent you. I swear to it.”

Again, her cheeks colored. A bubbling of something began in his chest, something he needed only a moment to identify. He was finding her increasingly intriguing and alluring. Little Julia, with whom he’d climbed trees and played countless silly childhood games and shared an abiding but purely friend-like connection, was tugging at his interest.

He had less than a moment to be upended by the realization before a rumble of thunder forced his thoughts in an entirely different direction. Clouds, thick and dark, had gathered overhead.

“The sky looks ominous, Lucas.”

It did, indeed. “Let’s gather the picnic things and head down. We don’t want to be caught up here if this storm breaks.”

“Do we have time to get off the mountain? It took more than an hour to reach this spot.” She helped repack the leather bag.

“We have time enough to reach the shepherd’s hut,” he said. “We’ll simply have to wait it out there.”

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