Page 41 of The Earl She Once Saved

His jaw tightened.

She continued. “I rode alone because someone needed me. I have been riding these roads alone for years.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.”

Her voice broke. She hated that. She hated him for hearing it.

“When the roofs failed, I went. When children were sick, I went. When tenants could not pay and your brother’s creditors stood at the door, I answered them.”

Rafe said nothing.

“Where were you?” The question escaped before she could stop it.

Silence followed. Verity’s breath caught.

It was not fair. She knew that. He had been fighting a war, but the hurt beneath the question had very little interest in fairness.

Where were you?

But she wanted to know where he was after the hospital, after her father died, after Roland, after everything. Only, these questions remained hidden inside her heart.

Rafe looked at her. “I was not here.”

The quietness of it stopped her. He was not excusing himself.

Verity swallowed. Rafe stepped closer.

“I should not have said seemly.”

“No.”

“No.”

She waited for the rest. It did not come.

Instead, he looked toward the cottage. “I heard you.”

Verity went still. “What?”

“All night.”

Heat rose suddenly beneath her skin. “You listened?”

“I did not intend to.”

She frowned. “You might have announced yourself.”

“And done what?”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came.

Rafe looked at the cottage window.

“I have been in rooms full of wounded men. I have watched surgeons work until there was more blood on the floor than seemed possible for men to survive.”

His gaze returned to her.