He caught his breath. No one saw him, not truly. They saw the shell, the protective wall he’d spent a good deal of time building around himself. This woman he had never intended to join his life with could see through him like he was made of glass.

She had jumped over his barriers without even trying. Now she stood within his life, pushing out the boundaries he’d told himself no other person would ever cross.

What was startling about that was that there was comfort to that fact. Comfort to the idea that this one person could come into his world and make herself such a part of it. That she could see his secrets and be willing to keep them. That she could touch those places he’d kept frozen for so long and melt them.

He loved her.

The thought raced through his twisted mind like an arrow on a straight, true course. It shocked his system and he staggered back, breaking the grip of their hands as he stared at her.

He loved Thomasina. His wife. He loved her. And more to the point, he recognized just as clearly that this wasn’t a new sensation that burned in his chest. He had loved her for some time, piece by tiny piece, probably from the first moment he met her. Even when he was meant for her sister, he had been falling in love with her.

That was why he could recognize her and not her other sisters. That was why he’d been drawn to her. That was why he hadn’t been upset by the idea that Anne had run and left him with Thomasina as his choice for a replacement bride.

He loved her. And he had destroyed everything they’d been building. He’d hurt her, not just by keeping the truth of her sister from her, but by distancing himself at every turn.

She stared at him now with empathy, yes, but also with wariness. A guarded quality that hadn’t been there before.

In short, he had been just like his brother, selfish enough to decimate everything that mattered. And he might never get it all back. But he wanted it back. He wanted her trust and her sweetness and her gentleness. He wanted the bond they’d been building since their marriage. Now he would have to earn it.

“Harcourt?” she said, tilting her head. “Have you thought of something important?”

He jerked at her observation. “What—why?”

She shrugged. “You just looked like you were pondering something. I thought perhaps you had recalled a fact about your brother that could aid our search.”

He almost laughed. For the first time in over a year, his brother’s actions hadn’t been at the top of his mind. She had made him think of his own life, his own future, and that was a gift in itself.

“No,” he said, and when she frowned, he knew she didn’t believe him. He caught his breath. “I wasn’t thinking of Solomon or your sister, I assure you.”