Yet he had craved it. She knew that. She could feel it.
Valerius grew silent. If she didn't know better, she'd swear she saw tears in his eyes.
"They raped her in front of me and I couldn't help her."
"Oh, Val," she breathed.
He moved away from her as she sought to touch him. "I couldn't even close my eyes or turn my head. I lay there completely helpless as they took pleasure violating her. The more she screamed, the more they laughed, right up until the end when Markus ran her through with my sword." The words were torn from his throat as tears welled in his eyes.
"What good was I?" he asked between clenched teeth, his nostrils flared by impotent rage. "What good did I do her in the end? Had I never taken her into my home, they would have at least allowed her to live."
Tabitha choked on her own tears as he finally allowed her to pull him into her arms. She tried to blot out what must have happened after they killed Agrippina.
She'd seen the scars on his wrist and knew from him that they had crucified him. The horror that must have been that night! No wonder he didn't want to remember the past.
And she would never again ask him anything about it.
He was rigid for several seconds before he relaxed. Then he wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close.
"What kind of man am I that every act of kindness I ever attempt ends up hurting the very people I seek to help?"
"You didn't hurt me or Marla or Gilbert."
"Yet," he breathed. "Agrippina lived in my home almost ten years before the Parcae hurt her."
"No one's going to hurt me, Valerius, trust me."
He brushed his hand lovingly over her scarred cheek. "You have so much fire inside you. It warms me every time you near me."
"Warms you? Most people are consumed by it. My ex used to say that I was completely exhausting to be around. He'd tell me that I wore him out and that he needed at least two to three days to recoup for every hour he spent with me."
He offered her a small smile. "I don't find you exhausting."
"And I don't find you pathetic."
That succeeded in bringing out a laugh from him. "What is it about you, Tabitha? I've only known you a few days and I feel as if I could tell you anything."
"I don't know, but I feel the same way about you." She reached up and pulled his head down so that she could kiss him.
Valerius moaned at the taste of her. At the feel of her. In her arms, he didn't feel pathetic or rigid. She allowed him to laugh and to feel joy again.
No, she allowed him to feel joy for the first time in his life. No one but Tabitha had ever reached out and embraced him.
She knew he was stodgy and she accepted it. Instead of turning him away, she poked gentle fun at him and then worked around it.
She didn't write him off.
In all of history, she alone had befriended him. And that made her the most precious woman on earth.
Tabitha pulled back. "How much time do we have before Otto gets here with food?"
He checked his watch. "Probably twenty to thirty minutes. Why?"
She smiled. 'That'll do."
Before he could ask her more, she pulled her shirt off and wrapped it around his neck, then crooked her finger for him to follow her.
"Come with me, General. I'm going to rock your world."