Without hesitation, Elissa shook her head. “It doesn’t hurt.”

    It was just a scrape, really–barely the topyer of skin. Even when she’d cleaned the wound earlier, she hadn’t flinched. By now, it had almost scabbed over. As long as she didn’t go around banging it like before, there was no pain left to speak of.

    As she shook her head, Rowan was suddenly hit with a memory of Elissa as a little girl.

    Back then, she couldn’t handle the slightest bit of pain. Even amon cold would have her wailing as soon as the family doctor arrived for a house call. The moment the idoctor /istarted preparing the IV, she’d burst into tears, sobbing as if the world were ending.

    Tears rolled down her cheeks like pearls slipping off a broken string, and she clung ito /iRowan with her free hand while the doctor held her other arm steady. Her mouth never stopped: “Rowan, cover my eyes! Hurry!”

    She couldn’t even bear to look at the needle. She was spoiled rotten.

    Rowan would do as she asked, covering her eyes, but not without a grumble: “You could just close your eyes, you know.”

    Always so much drama.

    But little Elissa would shake her head, huping through her tears, still trying to charm him: “If I close my eyes, I can’t see anything and that’s scary. But when you cover them, I know you’ll keep me safe!”

    She was so sure of herself, so unreasonably demanding.

    Back then, Rowan always thought she was a handful–fussy and delicate.

    But now, she wasn’t afraid anymore. She didn’t seem to fear anything. And yet, why did it feel like something was slowly tightening around his heart?

    Elissa caught his distant look and wondered what he was thinking. “Rowan?”

    “Yeah?” He pulled himself back, his eyes dark and unreadable as he swallowed hard. Then he leaned in and kissed her.

    This kiss was different from all the others. It was soft, barely there–a fleeting brush, nothing more.

    Elissa hadn’t even had time to close her eyes before Rowan was already pulling away. Watching hershes tremble, he asked quietly, “Don’t you think you owe me an exnation?”

    He could ept that his men had slipped up, letting Frank take her, but even when she called, it was Frank who answered, never Elissa herself.

    She knew what he was really asking–about her returning to Greenwood Manor. But as far as she was concerned, Rowan had been off discussing marriage with someone else.

    If Frank hadn’t told her, she wouldn’t have even known Rowan was back in the country.

    Rowan’s gaze dropped to her face, waiting for her to speak. When she didn’t, his patience wore thin.

    14:28

    You’d think exining herself was some great ordeal.

    The air between them grew increasingly tense, as though they’d be locked in this silent standoff forever–until the partition suddenly slid down a notch.

    Before he could finish, Rowan shot him a steely re.

    Not that it was truly private–he could still hear everything. But at least he couldn’t see, and that was good enough. If they wanted to smooth things over with a kiss or two, that was inone /iof his business. If necessary, he could always pretend to be deaf.

    Elissa, stunned by what she’d heard, had to ask, just to be sure. “So, you and Lorraine–you’re not getting married?”

    Rowan’s expression didn’t change. He looked steadily at her. “Does that matter to you?”

    Elissa nodded. “It matters a lot.”

    Even with their agreement signed, she couldn’t help but feel there was a world of difference between being just a lover, and being the person who wrecked someone else’s rtionship.

    Being the “other woman” was already a moral gray area. There was noing first or second–it was wrong, right from the start.

    “If it’s really that important,” Rowan said quietly, “then why do you keep forgetting?”