Had from almost the moment they met.
But something surprised him more when he freed her right arm—and was confronted with the bruises lining her wrist.
For a split second, Daniel thought he’d been too rough on her that first night. But then sanity prevailed. Lord knew he’d seen enough bruises in his life to know these weren’t fresh. Had to be several days old. There were individual finger marks as well as some deeper yellowing, indicating it hadn’t been the first time someone had used force on her.
Rage stormed his gut; he hated seeing anyone abused by bullies. He’d lived with it enough as a child, seen how cowed Ellie had been around their father, experienced his own fortitude and will draining away too many times to count to stomach it happening again—to anyone he cared about.
The overpowering need to protect Thea flooded through him.
Her eyes were still sparkling with their shared laughter while he had to exercise every bit of restraint he could summon. Keeping his grip on her loose, he raised her arm between them. “Who…did…this?”
She looked completely startled for an instant, then her eyes flicked to the discoloration before jumping back to his. The laughter withered and she pressed her lips into a tight line.
“Thea?” His thumb smoothed over the old injury, his gaze pinning hers, demanding answers.
He watched her gather determination around her like a cloak. “Nothing you need concern yourself with.”
He refused to let her get away with that. Unintentionally, his hold constricted until the subtle start she couldn’t hide reminded him to temper his anger at her unknown assailant. “I am concerned.”
“Just my troublesome old landlord.” She tossed her head as though to prove how unaffected she was. The gesture was ruined by a long hank of damp hair slinging onto her shoulder, bringing to mind the day she’d had. “He won’t bother me further.”
Daniel purposefully gentled his grip, giving no indication how ferociously he wanted to throttle the absent man. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
Despite her tone, he could see the thought of the bastard flustered and frightened her. Daniel would make damn certain no one would ever put that look in her eye again. He’d send Swift John to her first thing tomorrow, tell the boy to stay. From now on, if she needed him, he’d know in a hurry.
Before he could reiterate she was to use the servant as her own, Thea leaned down to step from the sludgy dress. Then she stood, not quite shivering, in her chemise. Instead of meeting his gaze, she addressed a point some three inches above his shoulder. “If you’ll wait in the bedchamber, my lord, I’ll wash and be out to join you directly.”
So that’s how she intended to play this? He glimpses a teeny bit of honest fear and she pokers up stiff and pushes him away?
Not hardly. Blocking the door with his body, Daniel jerked at his neckcloth, wincing when his knuckles protested the stubborn knot. Working it loose, he leaned to the side and snared her gaze. “We’ll wash together.”
He watched comprehension sink in as he dispensed with the neckcloth and undid his shirt cuffs, the mild protest of his ribs worth it when he ripped the shirt overhead and tossed it behind her. Worth it because the prim, detached look dropped from her face and she exclaimed over the fresh mottling on his side.
He’d never thanked a flush hit more.
Stripped to the waist, he reached for her chemise—ready to bare the rest of her—but she hauled out of reach. “Wait. Do you care to tell me why Sarah thought Lord Penry did this to you?”
So he is out to smack some sense into me?
Daniel smiled grimly and sidestepped her question. “Never saw him.”
“My lord…” There was a threat in her tone, as though she chastised a sword-wielding grasshopper bent on terrorizing her begonias.
The image had him laughing again. “’T-tis true. Crossed paths not at all with him—”
“Nor with a door, I’d imagine.”
He had the grace to look ashamed. Why hadn’t he just told her he sparred?
Because Elizabeth always made it out to be so much more? Father beat it into you until you came to believe it—you think you deserve being punished because you lived while David died.
That wasn’t true. Not anymore.
However, an uncomfortable piece of honesty made him recall how he had thought he deserved a pummeling today for his treatment of Tom.
The sudden burst of clarity was startling.
But it paled when she stepped forward and touched an old scar on his shoulder. “There now. I shall badger you no more. Only tell me what—or who—caused this…”
It was a ragged, several-inch line that Louise had never once noticed or remarked on. Not in all their years together.
“Trouble with a tree branch.” When Thea rose up on her toes to rain kisses over the puckered and drawn skin, the rest escaped without forethought. “The day my brother died.”
How easily the confession slipped out—physically and emotionally. Part of Daniel wanted to question why it was that touching Thea seemed to loosen his mouth, to make the words come easier. The rest of him simply marveled at the flash of compassion in her expression when she leaned back to stare into his eyes.
“Climbing,” he explained. “We were eight.”
“Both of you?” She grasped the significance immediately. “He was your twin? Oh, Lord Tremayne…”
The soft sympathy was nearly his undoing.
Daniel, dammit! He wanted her to use his name.
But then her gaze and the light graze of her fingers moved to his lips.
“What about this? How did you scar your mouth?”
Instead of tightening as they always did when he thought of that day, Daniel found his lips opening, confiding, “My father.”
“He did this? On purpose?”
He jerked a hard nod and his hands flexed on her waist. How long had he been holding her?
Rather than drop to her feet or back away, she came closer, blessing him with her tranquil presence. Like a man addicted to drink, he craved more.
“I can tell the memory pains you.” Her voice became a whisper. “Shall I kiss it away?”
Too stunned to speak, he nodded.
This beautiful, bedraggled woman then began searching out every mark and blemish his exposed body possessed, kissing each, murmuring words of comfort and solace…incredibly, not shying away from his “fierce and fearsome” self.
He was tempted to tell her the truth. All of it. His dreadful difficulties with speech. His—
Don’t be stupid! You’ve known her less than a week.
But still, he was tempted…
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Release Date: February 11, 2021
(Initial Release: September 8, 2020)
ISBN
• 9781949426083 ebook
• 9781949426106 print
• 9781949426304 large print