"I'm sure they are," she replied agreeably. Because there was always hope, right? She knew from the things she'd read that someday, Oliver and Chloe were very happy together. And, from what she understood, Mia factored into all of that, too. So maybe there was hope for those three. The others she didn't know but she couldn't dwell on things she couldn't change. It would've been her motto, if she had one.
And then there was that little gleam in his eyes and she had to smile. That look had won her over, after all. That playful grin and the teasing written all over his face and that hint of determination to make things better. She loved it. All of it. She loved him.
And then he was being all adorable and cute and she really did want to kiss him until those rumors started. She followed him, shutting the door behind them with a laugh. "Oh? Nasty rumors like this couple who is very much in love is being rather adorable?" She moved to lean against the back of the sofa, her arms crossed in front of her with a smug smile. "You're right, the shame of it all!"
She wondered for a moment what it might have been like. If things had been different back in Nottingham. If he hadn't gone to war, if they'd married properly and she'd become Lady Locksley, actually running the manor as its mistress. Would they have settled down? Become the proper pair they were supposed to be given their society? Or would this still be them? Playful and teasing and the sort to make the townspeople pause and grin, just as they had when the two of them had been little more than children? There was no point in dwelling on it, she knew, but...it was sort of fun to consider, sometimes.