Rebecca entered Home Farm through the back door. "Joe?" she called urgently. She crossed the kitchen and went through the hall into the lounge, where Joe was sitting.
"Hi," he said. "Did you forget where you live again?"
"Robert told me what he did. I'm so sorry." She walked over to the sofa and sat down, looking at Joe's face.
"It's fine. I've had worse."
"Let me see." She put a hand out to touch his face but he moved away.
"Rebecca…" He sighed. "I don't care what Robert does to me, but I don't want to cause problems for you and Seb. Maybe we shouldn't see each other any more."
"Is that what you want?" She stared at him.
He shook his head. "I value your friendship, you know that. But if Robert thinks I'm using you to get to him…"
"Are you?" she asked bluntly.
"No."
"I don't want to stop seeing you."
Rebecca reached out to touch Joe's face, her fingers brushing his bruised lip. She leaned in and touched her lips against his.
"Rebecca—"
"Shh. It's okay." Rebecca raked her hands through his hair. "I know what I'm doing."
"You might not remember later," Joe pointed out gently.
"You'll have to remind me."
They gazed at each other for a moment, then Joe took Rebecca's face in his hands, stroking her cheek with his thumb. They kissed slowly and delicately, then Rebecca pressed her face against Joe's shoulder, wrapping her arms around him.
"Maybe we should just—"
"Shut up, Joseph."
"Okay."