The thing about affection for Adrienne was that she rarely saw a consistent depiction of it throughout her childhood. Back in France, many of the couples she witnessed interacting together were going through the trials of pregnancy, where sometimes the husband would be disinterested, or the wife would let loose a string of curses upon her husband for making her so miserable.

The situation hardly improved when it was time for the labor pains to start. And her idea of matrimonial affection certainly didn’t make things clearer when she moved into the Selwyn Manor in Wales. There were so many emotions flying about between her father and — her step-mother? aunt? — that it was eventually enough to give her whiplash, and she gave up on trying to decipher any of it.

So when Cash moved towards her, Adrienne could do nothing but keep the smile frozen on her face as she felt his hand on her side. His other hand captured her chin, and then his mouth was on hers, and then something warm bloomed in Adrienne’s chest.

Well...this wasn’t as turbulent as she thought it would be.

She wanted to lean into it, to experience something more, but all of society’s training came crashing down on her, and in for one wild split-second, she almost pulled away from him for fear they might be discovered. Except then Adrienne remembered this was her husband, and such actions were allowed; encouraged, even. So her hand came up to encircle his waist and she leaned in more.

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