and pale, others stiff and stark.
“What happened?” she asked quietly, pressing a kiss to every patch of skin, scarred and unscarred.
“Horses,” he said flatly. “Father was furious that his heir was a lesser rider than the daughter of his enemy. A girl! It could not stand. Hadn’t I seen the tricks you could perform?”
“But...” She ran her fingertips over his ridged skin.
He shrugged. “What’s a little blood, or a broken rib? I’ve been tossed onto fences, into trees, on rocks... After a while, you get used to being kicked when you’re down.” His voice grew harder. “And then one day, you’ve had enough.”
She swallowed. “He stopped making you try?”
“I was finally stronger than him.” He flexed one of the muscles she’d so admired. She hadn’t known they were armor to protect him from his own father. “He couldn’t make me anymore, and I was too big to be a jockey anyway. I swore never to ride a horse again. I was finally free.”
Never to ride a horse again.
Until she’d made him.
“Elijah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know...”
“How would you? You didn’t know anything about me.”
Nothing except he was the son of the devil incarnate. When the marquess had caught them behind the stables, he publicly mocked a child. Then later, ruined a young girl’s chances of a season—and marriage—just for sport.
As much as those two events had wounded her, she hadn’t been forced to live with the marquess day by day. Taming a fractious horse was dangerous enough when the rider was competent and confident. Attempting to ride one with limbs shaking of fear, bruised ribs making it impossible to maintain proper control of the reins...
“You didn’t have a chance,” she whispered.
“I made my chance. Just like you did.” He whipped his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. “Some scars are visible, and some are not. They all sting when the wound is fresh. These are old. So am I. I’ve covered them up with new memories.” He gently cupped her cheek. “Better memories.”
Had she thought he lacked confidence around horses?
It must have taken an infinite amount of courage to get back on, to try again, day after day, year after year. An infinite amount of courage to stand up to his father, who was not the sort of man to take defiance lightly.
An infinite amount of courage to try again, here, for her, for no other reason than because he wanted to make her happy.
“Forget about Duke,” she said. “That whole arrangement—”
“I was never going to ride Duke,” he pointed out. “It was an impossible mission to start with. That’s why you gave it to me.”
Yes. She’d assigned him a task at which she’d known he would fail spectacularly.
Just like his father had.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry I was awful, and that your father was awful, and that your experiences with horses were awful, and that I’ve made it all the more awkward by going on and on about it. I’m sure you’re tired of explaining your scars to people who have no right to ask about them.”
“I’ve taken care never to be fully naked in front of anyone else before.” He lifted a shoulder. His muscles rippled. “You’re the first one to see them.”
She reached for him and kissed him hard.
Had she thought the moment intimate before, as though they were a bride and groom in their nightrails?
He was baring himself to her in every way that he could. Risking vulnerability. Either because he trusted her not to hurt him with this new ammunition, or because he hoped she was worth the risk.
“No man has ever seen me even partially naked,” she murmured against his mouth. “Until you.”
She could taste his smile.
“May I?” The words were husky.
She nodded. “Please do.”
He pulled off her shift and let it float to the floor. She’d expected to be nervous. For someone who had spent a lifetime hiding her smile from people she loved, being fully nude ought to be terrifying.
But if he could be brave, so could she.
He looked as though he wanted to consume every part of her. Perhaps he did. She blushed in remembrance. She hoped he “kissed” her there, again.
She reached for the buttons of his fall and startled when the fabric twitched against her fingers.
“Sorry.” He did not look sorry. “All of me is pleased to have you naked in my arms.”
His member jutted free of his fall before the last button was undone. Olive’s heart beat faster. Soon, he would be inside of her.
As