“Cold?” Darcy tugs you a little closer to him, his actions uncertain and almost hesitant. He had wanted to bring you on a date, a restaurant only a ten minute’s walk away to celebrate his return and to thank you for staying and putting up with him and this awkward marriage.

He was a great admiral, sure. His men respects him and it’s undeniable that there are few who could even hold a candle to him and his ability to lead. When it comes to being a good husband though, he isn’t so certain.

It is hard to be a good lover when he is away for months at a time and when his every return feels as though it is a rendezvous between two people meeting for the first time, bumbling and bashful. It’s almost frustrating, really. Your company always makes him feel as though he is…incapable somehow, the feeling foreign and bitter.

His hand tightens around your smaller, less-calloused one. He’s heard rumors of his men returning home to discover their wives with another lover. You wouldn’t, of course. But the fear still lingers.

“Have you…been well?”