She hadn’t realized… she’d thought he was an only child. “How old were you?”
“Eight. It was right before I was sent out to be fostered. I remember being grateful that I’d had the time with her, and that it hadn’t happened when I was gone.”
Izzie had seven brothers. They drove her crazy with their antics most of the time, but she loved them dearly and couldn’t imagine losing any one of them. She knew she was lucky—it was rare to have so many of them escape the cruel reaper of childhood.
Her heart went out to him. “I’m sorry,” she said and put her hand on his arm.
He looked down on it for a long moment—as if her touch meant something—before meeting her gaze again. His mouth curved on one side. “It was a long time ago.”
“But you loved her very much.”
His arms squeezed around her a little tighter. She wondered if he even noticed?
“Aye. I did.”
Strangely, in the midst of tragedy, the easy admission filled her with hope. If he’d had the capacity to love before, he could do so again. Indeed, she wondered if he did a little already. She wasn’t alone in this—whateverthiswas—she wasn’t.
“Why did you really come here, Thomas?”
She’d never called him by his given name before, but she didn’t think he noticed. He drew back and let her fall out of the comfort of his embrace. “I already told you. I heard the wee lass had passed on.”
“Then why didn’t you go to the hospital?”
He stared at her mutely, not understanding the implication. She wondered if it might be intentional.
“Why did you send me the book?” she persisted, willing him to see it.
“I wanted to apologize for earlier at the market.”
The bracelet. It was what she had initially thought, but now she wondered. “Did you find it in one of the shops on high street at the market today?”
His gaze turned slightly askew. “Nay, I had my squire hunting for it the past few days. He found it at a local priory.”
“I see. So it wasn’t an apology then. Or did you anticipate doing something cruel and needing to apologize for it a few days ago?”
He stiffened. “I didn’t do anything cruel.”
“Didn’t you?”
“It was just a bracelet,” he said defensively. “It didn’t mean anything.”
They both knew that wasn’t quite true. He’d known what it would mean to Izzie.
“You don’t owe me any explanations, my lord.”
“We are back to my lord? You called me Thomas before.”
Hehadnoticed. She didn’t say anything. But maybe the way she looked at him said enough.
He tore his gaze from hers, made a sound of frustration, and stood from the bench as he raked his fingers through his hair. Even crimped from the helm and clumped with sweat, it fell in dark shimmery waves to his chiseled jawline. Did he ever look less than stomach-droppingly gorgeous? When she probably had puffy, red eyes and blotchy skin. Truly, it wasn’t fair.
“I told you how it is.”
“Aye, you gave your word to Jamie and won’t go back on it.”
Again.That was what he’d said before. Had he given his word in the past and broken it? Was that what this was about?
His next words seemed to suggest so. “Do you know what people would say? How it would look? I won’t have my honor—my loyalty—brought into question.”
