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unconsciously slapping the damp cloth he held against his leg in a repeated sign of irritation. “And then there is the birthmark on her cheek, which the superstitious also consider a mark of the Devil.”
    Kade frowned as he considered the flash of Averill that he’d seen. There had been a red mark on her cheek, a very small, red, strawberry-shaped spot one could almost mistake for a dimple. Hardly something any reasonable man would imagine was the mark of the Devil, but then he’d learned long ago that superstition was rarely reasonable.
    “And, of course, she stammers,” Will added on a sigh, drawing Kade’s startled glance his way.
    “Stammers?” he asked with surprise.
    “Aye. Have you not noticed?” he asked, showing some surprise of his own.
    “She’s no’ stammered while talkin’ to me,” Kade assured him.
    “Really?” Will asked with sudden interest, the hand holding the cloth going still. “That is odd. While Averill does not stammer around family and friends, she always does when in the company of strangers, at least until she gets to know and is comfortable with them.”
    “Hmm,” Kade murmured.
    “Perhaps she does not stammer with you because you have not seen her yet,” Will suggested. “If so, that would prove what I have always suspected.”
    “What is it ye’ve always suspected?” Kade asked.
    “That she goes shy and quiet and stammers when she speaks only because she is self-conscious of her looks,” Will said, then quietly admitted, “She was teased terribly as a child about both her hair and her birthmark. So much so that she avoided the other children and would play only with me.” He sighed and turned to set the damp cloth on the chest beside the bowl of water. “If so, she will no doubt leave you to Mabs’s tender mercies and avoid you, too, once she realizes that you can see properly again.”
    Kade scowled, not at all pleased at the idea of having only Mabs to tend him and keep him company until he was up and about. Not that he planned to lie abed long, but he had never been a very good patient and had always found an enforced stay inbed bothersome. The idea of spending the next few days with only Mabs and the occasional visit from Will to pass the time was not a pleasing one.
    “Give me that compress.” Kade held out his hand, only to pull it back with a frown when he saw how it shook weakly.
    “What? Why?” Will asked with surprise.
    “Because yer sister promised to read to me when I woke, and I‘ll no have her knowin’ I can see and scared off because some stupid Englishmen have made her self-conscious about her looks. Put the damned compress back and let her think I am still havin’ trouble with me eyes.”
    Amusement curled Will’s lips as he moved to retrieve the damp cloth. His back to Kade, he asked curiously, “So is it that Mabs is dry as dirt and bossy? Or that my sister is sweet and you enjoy her company?”
    “I’ve hardly been awake long enough to ken whether I enjoy yer sister’s company,” Kade pointed out dryly, though that wasn’t entirely true. The room had seemed a bit brighter the two times he had been awake while she was there. Even the arrival of Will last night, and then him and his men this morning had not been as soothing as the few short moments when Averill was present.
    “I suppose,” Will acknowledged as he turned back with the cloth. “So I shall ask you that question again in a week or so and look forward to your answer.”
    Kade merely grunted, then stiffened in the bedat the sound of the door opening. Without thinking, he turned to glance over to see who was entering and caught a quick glimpse of Averill. Her hair was unbound and flaming around her pretty, pale face as she entered, carefully balancing a tray in hand. His attention had just turned to the dark green gown she wore, and he was noting how it suited her coloring and emphasized her plump figure, when his vision was obscured by the cloth Will suddenly dropped