“Healing,” he answered without interest. It wasn’t his sliced chest that was bothering him. It was Lisa’s refusal to marry him. He couldn’t believe she’d rejected the proposal out of hand. For God’s sake, she’d trailed him around like a puppy for most of their lives, following him with adoring eyes. And she’d slept with him, for pity’s sake. She’d let him do things that no man but a husband should do. She could be carrying their child! And yet she refused to marry him? He would never understand women.

“So what has you up and pacing?” Richard asked, settling in one of the chairs before the fire and eyeing him curiously.

“Explain women to me,” Robert demanded rather than answer.

Richard raised his eyebrows and lowered the glass he’d just raised to his lips. “Any woman in particular?”

“Lisa,” he growled.

Richard nodded solemnly. “What would you like me to explain about her?”

“I asked her to marry me,” he admitted after a brief struggle, and then added, “Several times.”

Richard didn’t gasp in shock. He didn’t even appear surprised, just asked, “And why did you do that?”

Robert turned away, unwilling to reveal the events that had led to the proposal.

“I thought you had no desire to marry?” Richard prodded. “That any woman you were foolish enough to shackle yourself to would surely be unfaithful and make your life a misery.”

Robert grunted with a nod.

“So why ask Lisa to marry you?”

He scowled into the cold, blackened logs in the unlit fireplace and shook his head, unwilling to explain.

After a moment, Richard said, “Perhaps she refuses because she doesn’t want to be painted an adulteress when she hasn’t earned it.”

Robert glanced around with surprise at those words. “What?”

Richard shrugged. “Trust is a part of love and necessary for a good marriage, Robert. I have to trust Christiana every day in many small and large ways and she me. If we didn’t have that trust, our marriage could never survive the trials and tribulations of daily life.” He took a sip of his whiskey and then added, “And it is the same for Daniel and Suzette. Trust is important in a marriage. Lisa knows that. But you aren’t offering it to her with your proposal.”

“I trust her . . . mostly,” he added uncomfortably.

“Mostly isn’t enough,” Richard said quietly. “And I suspect if you can’t offer her your full trust, you will never win her.”

Robert turned back to the fireplace with a frown.

Several moments of silence passed and then Richard asked, “Do you think I should trust Christiana as I do?”

“Of course,” he said without having to think about it.

“And can Daniel trust Suzette?”

“Again yes,” he said at once. “Neither of them have a deceptive bone in their body.”