Within moments he was beside the bed. “Turn over. Lie on your stomach, Hecate. This will help you feel better.”
Carefully, she did as she was told.
Then screeched as he pulled up her nightgown on one side and bared one entire leg and half her backside to his gaze.
“Finn…”
*~~*~~*
“Hush,” said Finn, placing the hot wool on her leg and buttock. Her very lovely, curvaceous, white buttock. The one he’d like to sink his teeth into, and one of a matched set he could almost feel filling his hands as he sank himself into the heat between her legs.
He gulped. This might not have been a good idea. He wanted to help, but it might well be at the cost of his control.
“Finn…” Hecate groaned. “That feels sooo good.”
All right then. It’s eased her pain. I can die a happy man—a victim of unfulfilled lust.
Her body relaxed, visibly, and he could see the lingering remnants of criss crossing scars down the outside of her thigh. Gently he brushed his fingertip over them. “It was bad, wasn’t it?”
She took a breath. “Yes, yes it was.”
“A carriage accident, I believe you said?” He continued to stroke the soft marred skin.
“Yes.” Her body moved a little and she turned her head toward him on the pillow. He couldn’t meet her gaze, but her eyes were open.
“I’m sorry.” What else was there to say?
“It was my fault.” She swallowed. “I was a fool to believe a man whose words were lies. I’d plead youth and naïveté, and those played a role, but of all people, I should have known better.”
“Your instincts failed you?”
“I never asked them,” she replied, a dry note in her voice. “I persuaded myself I was in love. That all his whispered promises and endearments were true. I wanted to believe it…I wanted to have the same things my family were finding at last. The right person, the right mate. A love for life.”
Finn eased his hip down on the bed beside her, liking that she wriggled a little and made room for him. It was so natural, so easy to talk with her. This time it was her turn to talk, and his to listen.
“Can you tell me what happened, Hecate?” It wasn’t just curiosity on his part, although a good measure of it was lurking in his brain. Finn genuinely wanted to know how she’d been so badly hurt. And how she’d survived.
“It was at a ball,” she began. “London affairs are somewhat complex and chaotic, as you know, especially if it’s a crush. This one was. He…he asked me to marry him under the stars in the garden, as romantic a site as you could imagine.”
She laughed, a harsh sound of self-loathing. “And I believed him. Believed all of it. He said his overwhelming love for me could not be contained; he hadn’t even bought a ring yet, but seeing me there, in the moonlight, just precipitated his emotional declaration.”
“It must have been quite an experience for you.” Finn kept his voice noncommittal.
“It was,” she nodded. “Of course I was swept away. He had a carriage at his disposal, he said. And before I knew it, we were away on the road North.” She made an odd sound, between a grunt and a groan. “HowcouldI have been so stupid?”
“Stop, sweetheart.” The endearment slipped out without Finn realising it. “Stop. The past is over. Gone. If telling it is bringing it back, then don’t go on. Let’s speak of other things.”
“No, it’s all right.” She sighed. “And you’re correct. The past is indeed gone. Truly, there is little more to tell. Our carriage wasn’t as reliable as he’d thought. In fact, it had been sabotaged, on the orders of the very man who sat next to me. Just another example of his utter stupidity. So when the horses picked up speed, we rattled around an awful lot. He was angry because he had just begun to kiss me.”
She shivered.
Finn clenched his teeth.
“I didn’t like that. Nor did I like the way he thrust his hands beneath my skirts. At that point I could smell the brandy on his breath, and the realisation set in that I was in trouble.” She paused. “A bit late, I’ll grant you, but at least I came to my senses. And then lost them when the wheel hit a rock, shattered, and the carriage ended up God knows where. I don’t remember anything else.”
“And the man? Killed, I believe?”
“Yes.”
