Not what she’d expected to decide when she came back here. Frankly, she expected to grit her teeth through every moment, find Beth, and hightail it back to Telford Hall with Libby. But she’d underestimated the islands, their pull on her.

And she’d certainly underestimated this one’s ability to dig down past the sandy layers of hurt and betrayal. To dig straight down to the rock of her and anchor himself there.

He shot her a look, all raised brows and incredulity. Then a scorching smile that burned the disbelief away and left pure pleasure in its ashes. “I expected it would take another month to convince you. At least.”

She allowed a little smile of her own. “Flattering. But I think the blow to my skull knocked a bit of my stubbornness loose.” And the way he’d dove after her, cradled her so tenderly, spent every possible moment with her since, despite that it meant visiting her at the Tremayne house . . .

They said nothing more just then, since they were nearly to the Mermaid. Just focused on climbing aboard, casting off, and getting her under sail. Only once they were in open water—Mabena happy enough to let Casek man the tack and just relax—did he turn to her again with that look in his eye.

“Benna. When I saw that bloke strike you, when I thought I may have lost you . . . I love you. I always have—you have to know that. And I can’t let another day go by without saying it, not with that threat still out there.”

Her heart was a cormorant, skimming over the waves with its wings spread wide. “Caz.” She didn’t know what else to say. Maybe there were feelings there, threatening to choke her, but they didn’t come with words. Not that she could find.

“I know it’s not so simple for you. What with Cador.”

She didn’t wince at the name at least. That was progress. Instead, she sighed. Just now, she couldn’t solve all the bigger problems they faced—the threats and the mysteries and the injuries. But there was one ghost she could put to rest. “Tell me. I’m ready to hear it now. He married her?”

Casek granted her the mercy of a gaze set on the sails instead of her face. “He did. It was, he thought, the quickest way to what he wanted. They eloped, and then they went to London to introduce him to Fiona’s parents.”

She’d assumed as much. Still, she’d expected that if ever anyone said it outright, it would be a fresh blow to her heart. Cador, her fiancé, the man she’d planned a life with, now someone else’s husband.