Page 69 of An Unwilling Earl
Jacob and Charlotte stepped into the queue while Charlotte looked around in wide-eyed, childish wonder. “This is fabulous,” she said.
Jacob laughed and squeezed her hand, and for a small moment he was happy. Happier than he’d been since Cora’s death. Their marriage might be a farce—a temporary farce at that—but for right now he would enjoy it for what it was. A glorious day, with a beautiful, witty woman.
“They say there are ten miles of exhibits,” Jacob said as he handed money over for their entrance fee.
They walked every bit of the ten miles. Jacob’s head was stuffed full of new information about dinosaurs, fire engines, and flying apparatuses. But the real show was watching Charlotte take it all in, her mouth gaping at the enormous dinosaur or the Egyptian tombs.
His life had not been filled with adventure or excitement, but he had to remember that Charlotte had lived in the country her whole life until she’d been taken to her aunt, where she’d lived in seclusion, her only outings to church and back.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you smile so much,” Jacob said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever smiled this much. Oh, Jacob, this was such a wonderful day.” She hugged his arm and looked up at the soaring glass ceiling to glimpse the blue sky and puffy white clouds above, and Jacob’s heart turned over and a funny feeling overtook him.
Love? Surely not.
She quickly let go of his arm and fluffed the skirts of her new gown, color tinging her cheekbones. She was filling out, her bones not nearly as prominent, her cheeks fuller, her eyes not as sunken. And just as he thought, she was turning into a real beauty. He noticed men glancing at her as they walked the exhibits, and he wanted to draw her closer, to proclaim to everyone that she was his.
His wife.
He really was getting barmy.
Tomorrow he would insist that she purchase more gowns. Now that she was in one of her choosing he could see that Cora’s gowns did not suit Charlotte at all. Besides, she needed something of her own.
He cleared his throat. “How about an ice?”
“That sounds wonderful.” The awkwardness had returned.
“This truly is one of the greatest wonders of the world,” Charlotte said as they ate their ices inside the main part of the building with the glass ceiling soaring above them.
“And the sad thing is that it’s only a temporary exhibit. It has to come down next year,” he said.
“No.” Charlotte set her spoon down and stared at him in disbelief. “But why? It’s such a wonderful opportunity to educate people on all sorts of things.”
“I hear they are going to try to relocate it.”
She made a sound of distress as she dug into her ice. She had lemon. He had orange.
“What was your favorite display?” she asked between bites.
“I liked the Roman exhibit and the Egyptian. What was yours?”
“Can I count the building as an exhibit?”
Jacob laughed, and that warmth grew inside of him. They were having a normal conversation, eating ices, sitting under the clouds at the Crystal Palace, and it all seemed right. “You can count the building as an exhibit. You seem to be impressed by it.”
“Oh, I am.”
When they left the exhibition, Charlotte looked back longingly. “I don’t want to leave. I could go through it all again.”
“Maybe we can return on another day,” he said, hesitant to make plans, although he didn’t know why. They were married. They should be able to make short-term plans, at least.
It was getting dark when they exited, the sky turning a light purple. Just that morning they had been married. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
They’d never discussed their wedding night, and Jacob found himself anxious to know what she expected. He knew he wanted a marriage in full, with a healthy, active life in the bedroom. Just thinking about it made his trousers tight, but it had been so long since he’d been with a woman—Cora, before she’d become too big and ungainly with their son. He wanted to make love to Charlotte, but he didn’t know if that was his body responding to a normal, basic need or his heart thinking that he wanted to get closer to Charlotte.
All he knew was that he wanted to take her home and straight up to his bedroom.
Good Lord, but all the blood had drained to his cock, and it was standing at attention, ready and willing to make the sacrifice. He hoped to God he wasn’t walking funny.
