“It’s a puzzling matter, not easily solvable.”

Her green eyes brightened. “I’m good in handling puzzling matters.”

When her eyes sparked like that and she smiled with delight, her hidden beauty was revealed. Some might think she had plain features, but she had a rare beauty that most would never recognize until it struck them in the face. Then they would find it difficult to keep their eyes off her, just as he did now.

“I search for someone who has wronged me,” he said, finding himself confiding in her, though warning himself to be careful of revealing too much.

“How did he wrong you?” she asked, shifting in his arms so she didn’t have to keep craning her neck to look at him, and settled more comfortably in the crook of his arm.

“He stole a great deal from me and I want to see him punished for it,” he explained, keeping watch on his words.

“What did he take?”

“That doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I find him.”

Willow continued to question, curious now. “What is his name?”

“He uses mine.”

“So you don’t know his true name,” she said.

“No, I don’t.”

“And why you can’t take me home right away has something to do with him?”

“I’ve just missed catching him the last couple of times and Walcott found out where he may be and I don’t want to chance losing him again.”

“He’s a slippery one then.”

“And once he slips away, it is difficult to locate him again. He has a way of manipulating, cajoling, and convincing. Lies fall easily from his lips. And before you compare him to me know I mean harm to none… unlike him.”

“Lies can hurt whether meant harmfully or not,” Willow argued.

He grinned. “You mean like you hurt me when you lied about enjoying my kiss?”

“I don’t believe for one minute I hurt you.”

“You most certainly did hurt me, wife,” he said with humor. “You were the first woman to ever deny that my kisses affected you, and that simply could not be.” His humor faded and he turned serious. “I am far too skilled a lover to disappoint a woman.”

Willow was at a loss at how to respond until her practical nature surfaced. “I’ll have to take your word for it, since I’ll never know if you speak the truth.”

“We’re wed. It is proper for us to couple and I could make your first time memorable.”

“Coupling would seal our vows for good. We’d have no chance at an annulment,” she reminded.

“No one need know. It would be between you and me.”

She gave a slight tilt of her head as she said, “And perhaps the bairn that might come of our coupling?”

Slatter shuddered. “Bairns. I don’t need any of those.”

“I do,” she said. “I look forward to having a large family and there to be much smiles and laughter shared.” She thought a moment and there was sadness to her words when she said. “We do not want the same things. It is good we seek an annulment or we would be unhappy with one another.”