Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,43

it his mission to watch over me—as if he was determined to protect me from anything bad happening. But even I couldn’t make him let down his guard when we were children, not even with those of us who loved him dearly. I think he was afraid to care for anyone after he lost his mother so brutally. And his defensiveness was only compounded when he also lost his adopted parents some years later.”

Sophie felt her eyes burn with tears. “That is understandable.”

“Yes.”

“How did he come to be adopted?”

“His natural father eventually came to England to fetch him, but Jack refused to have anything to do with him. After that, my Uncle Stephen legally recognized Jack, but it took many years for him to feel as if he belonged. Ours is a tight-knit family, very loving and devoted to one another, and our bonds helped to heal him for the most part. But there are still little signs that he never fully recovered.”

“Such as?”

“His stomach is a bottomless pit, for instance. He endured near starvation, so now he eats frequently, and he always keeps food handy—nuts or fruit or cheese.”

Was that why he had brought her breakfast early that morning when they met by the bridge? Sophie wondered. And why he had eaten an apple so shortly after tea when he’d come to her bedchamber last night?

Her speculations were cut short when Skye went on with her disclosures. “Jack also learned how to excel at fighting in order to defend himself. He is extremely skilled at fisticuffs and a master with swords, pistols, knives … even better than Ash and Quinn. Jack once admitted to me that he was determined never to be helpless again.”

Skye paused as if recalling a painful memory. “It hurts to remember how driven by fear he was as a boy.” Then she forced her mouth into a semblance of a smile. “But the effects of his suffering are not all adverse. It has made him more compassionate, certainly. Jack has long supported a London orphanage, and he regularly visits the stews of London to deliver food and clothing to the street children there, especially in the dead of winter.”

And he helps to finance a home for unwed mothers, Sophie thought to herself, something Skye probably didn’t even know about.

“But the most crucial thing is, Jack is leery of trusting anyone but family. He has buried all his feelings so deeply, he won’t let anyone in. He may act the lovable rogue and indulge in reckless, even outrageous exploits, and he rarely appears serious, but his devil-may-care image is deceptive, Sophie. Under all that irreverent charm lie hidden depths that he conceals from the world.”

Sophie found herself nodding in agreement. She had sensed his reticence to share his own past, but now she knew why he hid his emotions behind a roguish mask.

“Jack is a wonderful man,” Skye added earnestly, “and I believe he can learn to love and trust again. However, it will require a special kind of woman to make him open his heart. The kind of woman I think you are, Sophie. He will be very well worth the effort, I promise you.”

She held Sophie’s gaze for a moment longer. Then suddenly some of Skye’s somberness disappeared. “Please, don’t tell Jack I told you any of this. He would murder me if he knew I was revealing his secrets. And he would never tolerate coddling or sympathy, much less pity.”

Before Sophie could respond, Skye rose to her feet. “I had best go and allow you to dress for the assembly. I just thought you should know the difficulties you are dealing with.”

“Thank you for telling me,” she said sincerely, swallowing the ache in her throat.

After Skye had left, Sophie slowly, mechanically, resumed brushing her hair, but her chest was tight with emotion. She couldn’t stop thinking about her dark-eyed troublemaker … or the grieving child who’d lost his mother to a murderous Parisian mob and then been locked away as a prisoner in a miserable garret, huddling with a tiny mouse for comfort. Part of Jack was still a wounded little boy inside, she realized.

Their grief was something else they had in common, Sophie reflected sorrowfully. They both had lost loved ones—she her young brother, Jack his mother and his adopted parents—although his loss had been far more traumatic than hers. His ordeal explained not only why he secretly supported the Arundel Home, but also his puzzling protectiveness of her … why he