“She understood,” Reeve assured him quietly. “Elisabeth needs to stay with Maggie and me, for now,” he went on, when Jamie had had a few moments to absorb his words. “Later on, when she’s older, I imagine she’ll want to know ’er father better.”

Jamie looked toward the house, where Bliss waited, and his feelings must have been in his eyes.

“You ’aven’t told Bliss about your past, then?” Reeve asked.

Jamie sighed, lifting his hat with one hand and running the other through his hair. “The right moment never seems to come along,” he said. “God in ’eaven, Reeve, if I ever lost ’er—”

“I know,” Reeve said. “I know.” Then he lightened the moment with a grin and, “It’s not so easy to lose these women after all. I’ve tried it with Maggie, and damned if she doesn’t find me every time!”

Jamie laughed and, for a few minutes at least, he forgot that there was a monster lurking just out of sight, bent on destroying everyone and everything he cared about.

Chapter 21

JAMIE’S ONLY GREETING TO BLISS, WHEN SHE MET HIM HALFWAY between the house and the barn, was a polite nod of his head. She blushed at the rebuff, which was all the more humiliating because Reeve was there to see it.

“Where’s Peony?” Jamie demanded the moment they’d entered the house.

Bliss was determined to be reasonable about the whole matter. “I’ve put her to bed,” she answered, “in Cutter’s room. She’s—she’s not doing very well, Jamie.”

His jawline was tight as he took off his coat and hat and hung them up. “Aye,” he said grimly, and then he started toward the downstairs bedroom.

Bliss followed, at an eloquent nod from Reeve. If Jamie was aware of her presence, he gave no indication.

He knocked lightly on the door of Peony’s room and entered at her feeble, “Come in.”

“Jamie!” she cried at the sight of him, holding her arms out.

Jamie sat down on the edge of Peony’s bed and embraced her gingerly, but with a tenderness that twisted Bliss’s heart and brought stinging tears to her eyes.

Peony was sobbing and clinging to him, her face buried in his shoulder. “Oh Jamie, it was terrible—I was so frightened—”

“I know,” he said gently, still holding her in that careful way. “Everything’s going to be all right, love. I promise it will.”

Peony wept wholeheartedly for long minutes, during which Bliss felt like an intruder but could not turn away. Finally, Jamie said hoarsely, “Let’s ’ave a look at this burn.”

After casting an anxious look in Bliss’s direction, Peony shook her head. “No. I’ve never undressed for you before, Jamie McKenna, and I won’t start now.”

Bliss, hovering in the doorway, spoke for the first time since she’d told Jamie where to find Peony. “I saw the wound this morning,” she said woodenly, “and I didn’t like the looks of it.”