‘I will do my best.’ Napoleon yawned, his weariness creeping up on him like a soft warm shroud. ‘I will find a post for Eugène on my staff. As for your friends, I will make them feel welcome. While the campaign against Austria lasts we can create our own social life here in Italy.You’ll be treated like a princess, I promise.

And I’ll have my family join us. My mother, sisters and brothers.’ He smiled fondly. ‘To have all those I love close to me. I’ve not known that since I was a child. Not since I was sent away to school.’

Josephine shifted next to him, and he sensed a slight stiffening of her body.

‘What’s the matter, my love?’

There was a pause before Josephine replied.‘Your family is the matter.They’ve made little secret of their dislike for me, especially your mother and sisters. It seems that they don’t consider me worthy to be your wife. As if I was some common slut.’

‘That’s the Corsican blood. They tend to see the rest of the world as somehow beneath them.’

‘But not you?’

‘My future is tied to that of France. Paoli and his henchmen threw us out of Corsica. I owe Corsica nothing. But my family still feel as if they belong to the island, particularly the women, and Mother most of all.You must try to ignore them, Josephine. All that matters is how I feel about you. You married me, not them.’

‘I married into your family,’ Josephine responded. ‘That’s how they see it. And for that they treat me like a trespasser, or a poacher.’

‘A poacher,’ Napoleon mused sleepily. ‘Then I must be your game.’

‘Oh, you!’ She punched him playfully, then leaned over to kiss him on the lips, and rested her head on his shoulder as he drifted off to sleep.