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It was only later, after her breathing had returned to normal, that she chanced another glance at Conrad. Her eyes landed on his scar.
“I am sorry for it,” she said, realizing the man who’d reacted so quickly back there was hardly the one she’d first met all those years ago. Not yet knighted, slightly more than a boy.
He’d lost what remained of his innocence that day, but then again, so had she.
He seemed to know exactly what she spoke of.
“I know it. And I would do it again, every day of my life, if ’twas necessary.”
He looked at her. Not past her, but at her.
“I’ve never been ashamed of it,” he said, speaking of his scar. “It may have scared away some women—”
“Good,” she blurted without thinking.
Conrad smiled. “And mayhap a would-be attacker too. But not once have I thought of it as anything less than part of me. Part of the man I quickly became after that day.”
They’d never spoken of it directly before, and hearing him say those words, and seemingly mean them, made Cait feel slightly better for having been the source of his disfigurement.
“It does make you look quite fierce. Especially when you scowl so.”
His scowl deepened. “I do no such thing.”
If only he could see himself.
“You do. Whenever you are displeased.”
“As I should be now. We ride to the manor of a man with little honor to beg for a favor he’ll be disinclined to grant us. My friends travel to London to attempt something that has never been done before, a peaceful coup against our king. We were set upon by thieves. And most importantly, I was robbed of an evening alone with a woman who stubbornly refuses to take herself back to safety.”
“However?” She could sense there was more to this story.
“However . . .” All traces of Conrad’s scowl disappeared, his gaze intense and . . . something more. Cait’s insides clenched in anticipation of his next words. “There’s much to look favorably upon as well.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Such as?”
“Such as”—Conrad moved his mount closer toward hers—“such as tonight. When we can have that discussion, finally.”
Again, she clenched tightly at the words he did not say.
“Discussion . . . ?”
“Aye, my lady. The one where I show you precisely what you’ve missed these past years hiding away at Bradon Moor.”
Cait’s breath caught at his implication.
That kiss had been such a small taste, one that had merely left her ravenous for more.
“I . . . I’ve missed you,” she said sincerely.
“Oh no, Lady Cait. You’ve little notion of what you have missed when you stopped corresponding with me.” But his tone wasn’t bitter, as it had been just a few days earlier, and he ended with a grin. “But I plan to rectify that. This eve.”
