Then, she looked into his eyes. And his presence filled her with such immense solace she couldn’t speak—the same great solace she’d experienced when he’d first taken her into his arms.
Her pair. Her partner. The mirror image of her heart.
Who’d crushed her when he’d left.
She dragged a wooden chair beside the tub and dropped the basket on the floor.
She was dizzy—so dizzy she nearly claimed the seat. If dizzy could be an adequate description the collision of past and present, of loss and love, of anger and pure, primal relief.
“Just sit.” She indicated the chair. “Please.”
His damp hair appeared darker. The dim light dulled his wrinkles. Like this, it was impossible to believe she had not known him at once.
Then again, perhaps she had.
Hadn’t her breath quickened when she saw him striding across the courtyard? Hadn’t the power of her response drawn his gaze to the window?
“I wish—” he started.
She lifted her brows. “Not now, Chev. Not yet.”
He fell silent and, after a brief hesitation, took the chair.
He leaned back his head and blinked into her eyes. She’d always loved his eyes. Storm-grey. Fathomless. How many nights had she wished she could conjure him back into existence and experience this very expression—a blend of sorrow, apology, hope and—heaven help her—love?
She was lost.
Drowning in his gaze.
She would capitulate, acquiesce.Surrender.
There’d never been anyone else for her but him. There never would be.
“May I speak now?” he asked.
She considered. “One sentence.One.”
“I wish I had been the one to tell you who I was.”
Foolish clod.
She’d given him one sentence and that was what he’d chosen to say?
“How could you?” She looked away. “How could you believe I did not already know? Do you think I would have let you touch me like you did last night if I did not know who you were?”
“When did you know?” he asked.
She chewed on her bottom lip until it hurt.Thatpain was easier to bear. “I wasn’t absolutely certain until last night, when I placed my hand in yours.”
She’d felt a spark, an invigoration she’d finally managed to place.
She’d felt the same at the stone circle, but she hadn’t been ready to believe. Or perhaps, certainty had remained elusive because they’d come together by accident, opposed to last night, when Chev hadchosento reach...
But he hadn’t chosen to reveal himself.
He’d played the part of another man.
For months.
