She could only imagine the pain he had endured. Did his wounds still hurt? she wondered. Or was it the internal wounds that pained him more?

“Good morning, Addy. What are you up to today?” Jack asked, taking a seat and wiping his face with his shirt, which he had flung over a chair.

“I don’t know. What are the two of you doing?”

Jack frowned. “Well, I was considering going into London. Perhaps take a ride through the park.”

“Can I come?”

Roan set his blade aside and quickly donned his shirt. He didn’t make eye contact with her and she wondered what it was he was thinking. Had she shocked him with her kiss last night? Did he think her unseemly? Especially after catching her kissing Lord Seeton right after? Something in his expression said he was not entirely pleased with her. She desperately wanted to set things to rights.

“I don’t see why not. Perhaps Seeton would like to join us?”

Roan’s jaw clenched tight.

“He is busy today,” she blurted, wondering why her brother was so keen to have Stephan join them. “What do you say we all meet in the parlour at eleven o’clock sharp?”

“Very well,” Roan said, walking past her towards the door. How she yearned to reach out and touch him, to tell him exactly how she felt about him.

She watched Roan’s retreating back from the corner of her eye, liking the way the loose shirt hung on his wide shoulders. He looked like he had just come from a tryst, she realized, and her heart quickened, imagining him leaving her chamber after a night of passionate lovemaking.

Jack cleared his throat abruptly after Roan disappeared and Addy gave him her full attention.

“What are you playing at, Addy?”

Her stomach clenched into a tight knot. “What do you mean?”

“Roan is my friend.”

“He is my friend, too.”

Sliding his shirt on, Jack released a deep breath. “He is too old for you.”

“Father was fifteen years older than mother. There is only a ten-year age difference between me and Roan.”

“Oh dear God, you are serious.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Bloody hell,” he said, running a hand down his face. “I cannot believe this.”

She straightened her spine and lifted her chin a good inch. “I do not understand what is so difficult to comprehend. Roan is a good man. An exceptional man. And need I remind you that he is your best friend?”

“In this we agree, but he is … Roan.” He stared at her, yet she had the feeling he didn’t see her. “Has he touched you?”

The clock on the mantel seemed exceedingly loud all of the sudden. “We kissed.”

“Kissed?” He stood slowly and, shaking his head, walked past her. “I’ll kill him.”

Roan was intensely uncomfortable. Since his accident he rarely ventured out into society, and today was the first time he had walked the streets of London.

He felt the stares of the people they passed by, noticed the way many dropped their gaze when he made eye contact. He saw his own reflection in the mirror every morning, so he knew how startling his appearance was. He didn’t blame others for their morbid curiosity or astonished stares, but he did resent the way people he had considered friends before the accident now wanted nothing to do with him.

And now his best friend was angry with him. He had felt it from the moment Addy walked into the parlour. The way Jack had watched them both, his eyes shifting between them.

When they had met in the parlour, Jack had said very little, and even still, in London, he remained uncommonly quiet. However, Addy was not. She had been chattering throughout the entire ride, and seemed excited to be in the city. When she hesitated by a shop window where a beautiful scarlet gown was displayed, it had been all Roan could do not to walk in and buy it for her. Jack would hardly approve though.

The very thought that his friend found him unworthy to court Addy was gut-wrenching. He could offer just as much, if not more, than Lord Seeton. The young man had much to learn, and he was still so immature, where Roan had seen a good deal of the world, and understood the importance of surrounding oneself with people who were true friends

“Oh, I have heard of this place,” Addy said, stopping in front of an art studio. “I want a shadow portrait of all of us together. It will take but a few minutes.”

“I think it will take more than a few minutes, sister. Do you remember the portrait Aunt Mildred forced us to sit for just before you left for school?”

“But this is a silhouette. It takes very little time. Lady Kelly was telling me all about it at her ball. There is nowhere else we need to be, right?”

Jack glanced at Roan. He nodded, and Jack shrugged.

An older woman met them at the doorway.

“We would like a shade of the three of us,” Addy said, a wide smile on her face.

“How long will it take?” Jack asked, already looking impatient.

“Actually, it takes very little time for a shadow painting, sir. The sitting takes mere minutes, and the picture itself will be ready in an hour’s time.”

“Very well,” Jack agreed.

“Please, come in.” The woman motioned for them to follow her into a small parlour. She arranged three chairs in a row, placing Jack in the first, Addy in the middle, and then Roan in the last.

Next she closed the draperies and lit several large candles, placing the waxy pillars in front of a large screen.

The lady repositioned the lighting several times, and then took a seat on the opposite side of the screen. “Now please try to be as still as possible.”

Roan was left with no choice but to stare straight ahead at Addy’s beautiful auburn curls, the long swan-like neck, the slender shoulders. Gold hoop earrings hung from her ears. He wanted to buy her anything she desired … like the dress in the shopfront window. If she belonged to him, he would never stop spoiling her.

An image of her kissing Seeton came to him again, and he wished it far away.

“You on the left, quit fidgeting,” the woman said, and Addy laughed under her breath, which made Jack and Roan laugh, too.

He was glad they were there, glad that for a few minutes the tension had been lessened and that they were once again relaxed. Friends whom he trusted and loved more than life.

The entire ride home, Addy stared at the shadow portrait and smiled.

“We cut quite dashing figures, do we not, Roan?” Jack said, surprising him.

Roan looked at his friend, glad he was finally talking to him. “Lucky for them, they captured my good side,” he said cheerfully, and Jack grinned.

But Addy frowned at him. “Not everyone sees your scars, Roan. When I look at you, I see … you. The same Roan I have always known. The Roan who will always live here,” she said, placing a hand over her heart. “You are perfect just as you are. Do not let anyone ever make you feel differently.”

He stared at her, shocked by her declaration and sincerity.

Jack’s gaze shifted between them.

“Thank you, Addy,” Roan said, and she pressed her lips together before looking down at the picture again.

Four

“A package for you, my lady. Where shall I put it?”

Addy, who had been sitting in the parlour drinking tea and watching the clock move excruciatingly slowly, looked at the large white box with its pink bow in both excitement and trepidation.

Setting her cup aside, she motioned to the spot beside her. “Right here, Nelly.”

Was this a gift from Seeton? Aside from flowers on their first meeting, he had not been prone to gift-giving, but then again, he seemed to have grown more affectionate since Roan arrived.

Addy slipped the ribbon from the box, and removed the lid. Her breath caught in her throat. It was the scarlet gown she had seen in the shopfront window yesterday.

“How lovely,” Nelly said, and Addy nodded in agreement, her throat tight with emotion. It could only be from one of two people.

“Here is the card,” Nelly said.

With trembling hands, she opened the envelope and pulled the card out. “To Addy … just for being you. Your friend always, Roan.”

Nelly sighed. “How very kind of Lord Drayton. What a lovely man he is.”

“Indeed, he is,” Addy replied, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest.

“He’s always looked upon you as a little sister, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, yes, he has.” But she didn’t want to be looked upon as his little sister any longer, but as someone who was far more important and dear to his heart.

“Have Lord Drayton and my brother returned from their ride yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Good. Come, Nelly. I need your help.”

Roan and Jack arrived back at the manor and were surprised to find Seeton standing on the veranda, smoking. Seeing them, the younger man dropped the cheroot and crushed it beneath his heel.

“Have you been waiting long?” Jack asked.

“No, I only just arrived.”

“Is Addy not here?”

“Actually, I’ve come to speak with you, My Lord.”

Roan’s stomach clenched.

“Do come in,” Jack said, motioning for him to follow him into the house.

Roan promptly excused himself. He walked in long strides to his chamber, shut the door and closed his eyes.

Damn it!

At this moment, Stephan was asking for Addy’s hand and, knowing Jack, he would heartily agree to the match.

The wheels were set in motion and there was nothing Roan could do to change their course. After all, he was but a family friend. Stephan had been courting Addy for weeks while Roan had been convalescing at his home in Essex. He had no business to be as furious as he was … or so intensely jealous.

The younger man did not deserve her. Stephan had no idea how to make a woman like Addy happy.

Dearest Addy, with her love of the outdoors, her free spirit and outspoken nature.

And those lips — good Lord, those lips — lifting in that coy way, promising things she had no right to.

He removed his jacket and waistcoat, and tossed both items over the back of the chair. Reaching behind his head, he lifted his shirt, but stopped short upon hearing a knock at the door.

No doubt it was Jack, come to tell him the good news. Or perhaps he’d realized that Roan was worthy of Addy. He ran his hands through his hair and, with a steadying breath, opened the door.

Addy stood before him, dressed in the gown he had bought for her. The scarlet gown fitted her like a glove, the shade doing incredible justice to the colours of her eyes and hair.

“Beautiful,” he said on a whisper, his gaze wandering down the length of her and back up again.

She was absolutely breathtaking, the kind of woman any man would be proud to call his wife.

“Thank you so much, Roan. I cannot believe your kindness,” she said, stepping into the room and shutting the door.

“It fits you beautifully.”

“Indeed, it’s perfect.” Her eyes shifted from his to his chest, reminding him that his shirt was open. He lifted his right hand and touched the scar at his neck. His skin was rough, puckered, a mixture of pink and purple — a gruesome sight for one so fair.

“Do not hide from me, Roan. Never from me,” she said, her hand covering his at his neck. Her fingers slid between his, and then she did the most extraordinary thing — she kissed his neck and the thick scar there.

“Addy,” he said her name on a groan.

She didn’t stop. She kissed his scarred cheek, his jaw, his throat, his shoulder, made a pathway of kisses all the way to the burn on his hand, and then she kissed each of his fingers. “You are the most beautiful man I have ever known, and will ever know, Roan. Don’t hide from the world. Don’t hide from me. You are not changed. If anything, you are a better man for the things you have suffered through, for now you have a greater understanding of what real trials are.”

Her words eliminated the last of his will power.

“Addy, we shouldn’t be alone.”

Her lips curved. “Why is that, Roan?”

“You know why,” he replied, his voice husky.

She lifted her face to his, their breath mingling.

He should put her at arm’s length. He knew that. Everything within him told him to do so and, yet, he could not bring himself to deny her, not when she had bewitched him body and soul.

He reached for her with his injured hand, his thumb brushing over her soft lips. She didn’t pull away, did not flinch in the least. Instead, she smiled; her eyes warm and full of desire. A desire he understood all too well.