not already warned Pen about.
Pen was stubborn as a mule.
Pen’s jaw hardened. “As you wish it. But if he asks, I won’t lie, Caro.”
“Why would he ask?”
“He is perceptive.”
“He is a drunken wastrel who spends all his waking hours gaming and whoring,” Caro countered.
“If you are going to be hateful about Aidan, I’ll not keep your secret.”
Caro glared at her sister. They were at daggers drawn. “Fine. I need you to do this for me, Pen.”
Her sister raised a brow. “Then apologize for what you said about my friend.”
Caro heaved a sigh and barely resisted rolling her eyes. “I am sorry.”
“For?”
“For speaking honestly about Lord Aidan Weir. Henceforth, I will endeavor to lie and tell you he is a paragon of virtue who is selfless, brave, and true.”
“Caroline Sutton.” Pen scowled.
“Keep my secret and I will not tell Jasper Lord Aidan has been sneaking you into prizefights.” It was Caro’s turn to raise a brow at her sister. “You must have dressed as a cove to find yourself in the audience.”
Pen’s scowl faded. “I did, and it was glorious. I regret nothing.”
“Pen,” she said softly. “I worry about you.”
Her sister’s chin went up. “You needn’t. I do just fine as I am. And I will keep your secret for as long as I am able, Caro.”
It was not the promise she wanted, but it was all she was going to wrestle from Pen, and Caro knew it. She inclined her head. “We have a bargain, sister. I won’t say a word about your excursions with Lord Aidan, and you will hold your tongue about the patient.”
“Aye. I’ll hold my tongue about the patient. You just best keep yours out of the patient’s mouth.”
With that, Pen swept past Caro, leaving her standing alone in the corridor, cheeks aflame.
Chapter 5
He stood in the small room for what seemed an eternity. The chamber was easily one quarter the size of Caro’s room, which had already felt terribly cramped for a man of his size. And for a man who had been kept on one side of the door for far too long.
But here, in this space that was undeniably Caro’s territory in a way her chamber was not, he felt even more like a great, lumbering beast. His head nearly scraped the beams of the ceiling. His arms were too long, his fists too large, his shoulders too wide. After attempting to mop up her spilled ink, he had proceeded to knock a tidy pile of books to the floor with his bleeding elbow.
The spine of one of the books had cracked.
He would have to see it restored for her. If indeed he could ever earn the funds to do so or find a goddamn bookbinder. The restrictions of not just his size but his lack of memory weighed heavily upon him in these charged minutes after he had kissed her senseless. His body was still aflame from her response. His attire was yet marked by the ink-stained hands that had caressed him and attempted to undo the pathetic knot he had tied in his cravat.
The cravat felt deuced odd.
He didn’t suppose himself the sort of cove who would have often worn one. Seemed too restrictive on his thick neck. Like a noose, ready to choke a man. The darkness of his mind disturbed him. He wondered, once more, who he was. What he had done. Was he a violent man? A criminal, perhaps?
Hell, until he knew, he had no right to touch Caro. No right to kiss her.
Regardless of how much he wanted to, and despite the inconceivable way his mouth on hers had affected him. His cockstand had been rigid and ready, despite the sudden appearance of her sister, which should have been the equivalent of a pail of cold water being poured over his head.
Instead, he was awaiting Caro like a good dog, pacing the length of her little room in five increasingly frustrated strides. Bumping into the bloody table with his hip and emitting a howl of pain. Too big for this room. Too empty-minded to know anything.
Utterly lost and adrift.
He didn’t know his name. Didn’t know a damned thing about himself. He felt as if he had been a passenger on a ship that had taken on water and sunk to the bottom of the sea, leaving him behind, clinging to the flotsam. And the flotsam was Caro.
He ground his jaw, used his good hand to rake his fingers through his hair, and stalked to the door. Where