Page 25 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
“Whatever it is you want to say.I know this is a huge mess and it's all my fault.”
She turned to survey the room.He looked at it, too.It wasn’t much, but he was a simple man.He had a stove, a place to sit and eat his meals if he ever decided to cook himself something—which he never did—and a bed to lie on every night.It wasn’t a proper home, but it was enough for him.
Violet’s perusal of the room stopped on the bed and her cheeks turned pink.He knew what she was thinking without uttering a word.“I’ll sleep in the jail,” he said.“The cots in there are pretty decent as far as jailhouse beds go.”
“I hate running you out of your own home.”
“Well, unless you plan to sleep in the jail or share that bed with me, I don’t have much of a choice.”
Images of her spread out on his bed popped into his head the instant he thought it.He’d had visions of her there before, her hair fanned out around her face, her long arms thrown over her head while thrusting her naked breasts up at him and, as it had then, his body reacted as if he’d been touched.
He made his way to the table in the dark and lit the lantern for her before heading to the door.“Get some sleep.Hopefully by morning Edwin will be gone and life can get back to the way it was.”
Which was boring and predictable, but he didn’t say as much.He gave her one last look before opening the door and stepping outside.He inhaled a breath, looked up at the starry moon-washed sky and tried to forget the fact he was a married man.And his new wife was about to sleep in his bed.Without him.
Running a hand over his face, he rounded the corner of the building and tried to put Violet Campbell—correction, Violet Lincoln—out of his mind.
She had nothing to sleep in.
Violet stood in the silence and stared at Josiah’s bed.She’d not planned on staying here tonight and had been ushered away from her house so fast, she hadn’t had time to grab anything.
She wasn’t sure why she thought she would be able to avoid it, though.The townsfolk didn’t know the marriage was fake, and they hadn’t given her time to escape the entire ordeal and sneak off to her own bedroom, so here she stood, inside Josiah’s tiny home with nothing but the clothes on her back.
She inhaled a deep breath and pulled the flower crown off her head.She smiled while looking at it.A small group of girls had run across the clearing collecting them, then wove them into a crown for her and even though the flowers were starting to wilt, she couldn’t wait to get it home and press it between the pages of a book to preserve it.
It might not be a real marriage but this was the closest she’d get to being a real bride with Josiah being her groom and as silly as it was, she wanted to hold on to any little piece of it she could.
With a quick glance around the room, she saw a large chest at the foot of the bed.Opening it, she found neat stacks of pants and shirts.Josiah was a minimalist, it seemed.He had the essentials one needed and nothing else.
The shirt on top of the stack was large and would pass as a nightdress.She glanced at the window, making sure the curtain was down before she started undressing.Luckily, she didn’t have on too many layers.
Once she removed her corset and let her shift dropped to her feet, she stood in nothing but her short underpants and stockings.Goosebumps broke out on her arms and her nipples hardened to stiff peaks in the chill air.Maybe she should have had Josiah light the stove before he left.
That was the last thought she had before the door swung open.Her head jerked up, her eyes widening as Josiah stepped over the threshold.He froze only a moment before his gaze swept the length of her body clean to her toes before slowly coming back up.When their eyes locked, he slammed his shut, and she let out a squeaking little squawk before turning her back to him.
She threw his shirt on, pulling it down over her bottom as he said, “I’m sorry.I should have knocked.”
Heart pounding, she turned to face him.“You can open your eyes.”
He did so slowly, but kept them on her face after doing so.
He cleared his throat before shutting the door and heading for the table.He unclipped his gun belt and laid it on the table before sitting down to remove his boots.“Edwin was out on the sidewalk.”
“What?”She turned to look at the window.“Is he still out there?”
“Hard to say.”His boots thumping against the floor were loud in the stillness.“He questioned why I wasn’t in here with you, so I lied and told him I was making sure the jail was locked up before retiring.”
Violet blew out a breath and sat on the bed.“That man is really starting to try my patience.”
They stared at one another in the silence as he removed the leather vest he always wore, the badge attached to it glinting in the light from the lamp, before pulling off his hat and running his fingers through his hair.
With only one lantern, the room was dimly lit, shadows dancing along the corners.It felt—intimate.She looked away, smoothing his shirt down over her legs, which she realized he could see.Well, from her knees down, he could.She still had her stockings on, but reaching under her hem to untie the ribbons to take them off seemed inappropriate.
Josiah stood and walked toward her.Her pulse started thumping again.When he did nothing but lift the lid to the chest at the foot of the bed and root around in it before pulling out a blanket, she tried to calm her racing heart.
A case of nerves was making her hands feel sweaty.Josiah opened the blanket and spread it on the floor near the table.Heading back toward her, he grabbed one of the pillows on the bed and tossed it on top of the blanket.He was making himself a sleeping pallet.
“You’re going to sleep on the floor?”
