He inched his hand towards her, shaking with irrational fear. His stomach clenched. The worst that could happen was Lady Vivienne would recoil, and he would understand her reaction. Or maybe he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to do.

He offered her his hand, palm up, incapable of controlling his shivering.

When she slid her hand into his, he barely contained the storm of sensations inside him. She closed her hand around his, and he became painfully aware of how rough his skin was, how big his hand was compared to hers, and how homely it looked.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Samuel,” she said in a low voice.

He had to lower his gaze because her clear blue eyes held too much compassion and saw too much. He pulled back his hand slowly, staring at the tips of her shiny boots. Surely that hadbeen the first and last time he would ever touch her. While that made sense and sounded right, it was also sad.

“While we are here.” Captain Jackson showed Vivienne the book on sign language. “Samuel needs to know how to read and write so he can learn this.”

She flipped through the pages, her fine eyebrows drawing together. “Sign language. That’s perfect.” She looked up and gave Samuel a warm smile. “We’ll start immediately.”