His response surprised her. His hand on her shoulder was... comforting, in a strange way — or was it only that she didn't know until that moment that he was coming down the hallway just to talk and not to kiss her again, and what she was feeling was relief at the latter? In any case, it was pleasant, and then he was changing the topic, which was such a relief she almost sighed. His tone was light, and it was such a stark contrast to him a moment ago, seriously telling her she needed to work on being able to feel her feelings, or whatever.

She hadn't realized it until this moment, but she had been waiting for this: for things to feel easy between the pair of them. She'd thought that kissing would have been the way to get there, but it had only added complications. This was so much better than standing on opposite ends of a hallway and trying to talk about kisses and feelings or lack thereof (because Juliana had been trying to feel things during the kiss, that had been the whole point, and she didn't really think that Lachlan understood what she'd meant when she'd said I'm not very good at kissing, but since she had only the vaguest idea of what she'd meant she wasn't going to belabor the point).

"I want a biscuit," she responded immediately, reaching out to take her teacup out of his hands. "I wasn't finished with this cup yet."