and turned away. He reached up and turned her face back toward him.
“Please, look at me.”
She did, and he saw tears clinging to her lashes like tiny diamonds. “You must be furious with me. I put you in this position. You are in danger because of me.”
“You can be so silly.” He said this teasingly, but she bit her lip, her eyes watering even more. “I was in danger long before I met you.”
He brushed her lips with his thumb. “Letty, I’m the reason you were hurt. You are in danger because I put you there, not the other way around.”
“But I followed Lady Edwards,” she insisted.
“That was her decision to let you. She could have stayed in the ballroom and left her hair alone. She chose to risk your safety.”
Letty still didn’t meet his gaze. “But you had to marry me, and—”
“Would you like to hear a confession, darling wife?” he asked.
“A confession?”
“Yes. A dreadful confession. I’m not sure if you can ever forgive me.”
She waited as he drew in a breath.
“I could have said or done anything I wished to avoid marrying you. The men who saw us kissing were friends of mine. No one would have called me out on that, not even your brother. He knows what I am, what I do. And the others—well, they would have let things go as I wished, in whatever direction. Not one of them would have breathed a word about what they had seen. You see, I let the situation justify my secret desire to have you. I was the one who wanted it, wanted you. I am the villain, my darling. Do not hate yourself—hate me, if you must.”
“Hate you?” she echoed softly. Her face was so adorable in that instant. “I do not think I could ever hate you, and perhaps that is exactly my problem. I fear I like you far too much.”
“You love me far too much,” he reminded her. He hadn’t forgotten what she’d said just before they had parted that awful night at the inn.
“I do.” Her smile sent flutters of excitement through his chest.
“And I love you.”
She finally met his eyes, such hope burning in her gaze.“You do?”
“How could I not? You are everything to me.” He almost told her that she mattered more than his need to avenge John. He wouldn’t deny it, but she didn’t need to know that she had at one point been vying with vengeance in his heart. All she truly needed to know was that he loved her, and she came before all else.
He leaned toward her, his lips brushing over hers as he tried to show her what she meant to him. That delicate kiss stole his breath in a way no kiss ever had before. It was a kiss of love, of undying devotion, and a promise of always being there for her, in whatever way she needed.
When he moved back a few inches, he saw her eyes were closed and she was smiling dreamily. He leaned back against the headboard, and fresh pain sparked in him as the spell of that perfect kiss faded. Letty opened her eyes and swept a fretful look over him.
“You should rest.” She helped him back down on his stomach, and then she applied more salve to his wounds. He had to focus his energy on healing as quickly as possible. He had a terrible dread that this was far from over, and he had to be ready to face whatever came next.
15
Letty and Tyburn walked together through the gardens inside the courtyard of his castle.
“Has it really been two weeks?”
“Aye, lass. Some say time passes differently here in Scotland.” He patted her hand where it rested on his arm. “A kind of magic, ye might say.”
They paused as she caught sight of Adam and his cousins standing on an open patch of grass, holding dull practice swords in their hands. Adam was taking turns sparring with both Angus and Baird.
He’d lost much of his weight and still looked far too thin, but his wounds had healed and were now only angry red raised marks. The last few days he’d taken care to work his muscles, and he’d spent much of his time outdoors, walking, riding, and now sparring. Angus and Baird were being careful with him, and she could tell Adam wasn’t pleased.
“You’re hitting like a child, Angus,” Adam shouted.
Angus muttered a curse but didn’t fight back any harder.
“And you, Baird, since when do you fight like