Without waiting for her response, he turned to Elia. “See to it.”
“Miss Locksley,” he said on his way out. “Come with me. Please.”
She would have smiled at his courteousness, but she felt too bad for poor Claire.
She felt the laundress’ eyes on her as she left the wash house.
“Are you feeling better since the news?” she asked, catching up and walking at his side.
“No. But ’tis a new day.”
And what? Did he intend to spend it with her?
“You were quick and precise with Claire,” She wondered what he wanted with her and if she would be able to get her mind off his foresty scent. “I guess you’re used to it.”
“Used to what?”
“Women falling all over you.”
“No one falls all over me, Miss Locksley. They are mostly silent about what they feel, if anything. ’Tis how I prefer it.”
So, there were no women in his life, and he wanted to keep it that way? Why?
“Why do you want to be alone?”
He shrugged his shoulders and picked a twig off a bush and put it in his mouth. “Less headaches.”
“So you think women are headaches?”
“No,” he said. “They just cause them. I do not have time to nurture a relationship,” he quickly added when she scowled at him. “How about you? Did you leave behind a husband, a lover?”
She shook her head. “My last boyfriend cheated on me.”
“Cheated?”
“He was sleeping…having sex with his dog walker while telling me he loved me.”
When he said nothing, she frowned at him. “Please tell me that you don’t think it’s ok…I mean that you don’t approve.”
Oddly, he looked at her mouth while she spoke, and not at her eyes. Men always looked into her eyes.
“I do not think ’tisok,” he told her, then looked up. She was sure she saw a light spark in his eyes. “I would prefer it if you did not try to hide your quirks from me.”
“My quirks?” she asked lifting her brows.
“Aye,” he nodded, and there it was, that elusive, genuine, knee-melting smile. “I like them. I also wonder, when did he have time fortwowomen?”
“His life is very different than yours.” She thought of Brian, a top IT technician making seven figures and his easy life with the best of everything. “He doesn’t even know how to fight.”
Nicholas stopped walking and stared at her. “How can he not know how to fight?”
She was so tempted to smile at him but she didn’t want to make him feel in any way inadequate, as if she smiled out of pity.
“Battles are fought differently. Men and women only fight if they join the armed forces.”
“Armed forces,” he echoed softly.
She understood the appeal of watching one’s lips while they spoke.