Pausing, she bit her bottom lip.
“Yes?” He seemed genuinely curious to know what was troubling her.
Livie exhaled loudly. “I’m worried you’ll find my leg hideous.”
“Just like you found my scar hideous?” he replied dryly.
“I don’t find your scar hideous.” Livie raised herself up on her elbow. “I find it rather dashing as it’s part of you.”
“Exactly. So why would I feel differently about your scar? It makes you who you are, Olivia, and you’re stronger for it.” His voice was calm and gentle. “I don’t care what your leg looks like. Hell, I wouldn’t even care if you were missing part of it. I’m attracted to you, not just your appearance, although you are bloody gorgeous. But I’m attracted to all of you, Livie, including your limp, which I’m sure has helped give you the determination to never give up and become someone who happily saves someone else over themselves as you did with my sister.”
Livie gulped. Sincerity was radiating from his normally closed-off expression. “Obviously, I saved Charlotte first. She’s the only family you have left. You need her. I couldn’t let anything happen to her.”
He was silent for a moment. “I find myself needing you, too.”
“You do?” Hope blossomed in her heart. Hope for exactly what, she wasn’t too certain of, nor did she want to examine the matter too closely either.
“I do.” He seemed surprised by his own admission. “Do you trust me enough to let me see your leg, Livie?”
She took in a steadying breath. “I do. But I want you to prepare yourself… It’s not attractive.”
“Perhaps I might be a better judge of that than you. After all, I imagine it’s come to symbolize a great many bad memories for you. May I?” he asked, glancing down toward her leg.
She pressed her lips together but slowly nodded. “Yes, go ahead.” He might as well see her leg now before they continued further. Because even though he said it wouldn’t matter, she suspected it might. After all, the only other young man to have shown an interest in her, she’d overheard joking to his friends about her leg and how he imagined it would be a hideous stump of a thing and would completely turn off any feelings of lust any man may have.
It had devastated her. And even when she’d found out the idiot had been paying attention to her only to win a bet, it still hadn’t eased the sting of his comment.
But Seb was different from those gentlemen, if that’s what those men could even be called. Seb appreciated things others did not have the capacity or forward-thinking vision to grasp.
His hand softly trailed down the skirts of her nightgown, tracing the outside thigh of her injured leg. His very touch was hypnotic, momentarily easing her concerns. She felt like closing her eyes and sighing in delight. His fingers felt ridiculously good as they glided over her leg and down to her ankle.
Slowly, he pushed the gown away from her body and began to roll up the pants leg of her drawers. Inch by agonizing inch, the material was pulled over her calf and then her knee, until it slipped beyond her thigh. Automatically, her whole body tensed. What if Sebastian was repulsed by the sight of her scar and injured leg? If she opened her eyes and saw such an expression on his face, Livie didn’t think she’d be able to bear it.
“You are beautiful, Livie. Absolutely beautiful.” His voice was a rough murmur, and there was such a ring of wonder and truth in his tone that she actually started to believe him. Gradually, she peeked her eyes open, to instantly meet the steel gray of his own staring at her with such sincerity that happiness bloomed inside her.
“You don’t find it ghastly?” She glanced down at the jagged scar running from her knee up to her hip, long since accepting its ugliness and wondering how he didn’t seem to think the same.
“Not even in the slightest.” His words were no-nonsense. “In all honesty, I’m in awe.”
“Awe?”
“Yes.” He cupped her face with his hand. “It’s a mark of courage.” Very lightly, he pressed his lips to hers, and just as she was hungering for more, he pulled back. “Going through something like that must have been agony for you. Especially in the months it would have taken to heal. It shows the strength that is within you.” There was pride in his words, and then she felt the fingers of his other hand brushing gently across the line of her scar as light as a feather, just as she had done to his scar.
Livie nearly bolted from the bed when he bent down and his lips replaced his fingers and slowly he began to trace kisses along her knee, trailing oh so slowly up her leg, ensuring not even a bit of the knotted flesh was excluded from his tender ministrations.
Oh, good Lord. The feeling as his lips inched higher and higher up her leg was wickedly sensual. She found herself squirming, the core of her body begging to be touched by him. He seemed to know what her body was asking for.
Gently, he reached up and tugged at the string along the waist of her drawers. Livie inhaled sharply as his fingers slipped under the waistband and began to inch the fabric down over her waist. She wiggled her hips and Seb slowly, tantalizingly, pulled the cotton down over her thighs and then past her ankles, until she was completely bared to his gaze.
Embarrassment flooded her, and she closed her eyes tightly.
Not even her maid had seen her so naked before, and even though he didn’t seem at all bothered by her leg and scar, she wondered if he would still think that, seeing her completely nude.
“There’s no need to be embarrassed, you’re stunning,” his breath whispered in her ear. “Feel what you do to me, Livie. Feel how I desire you.”
He took her hand and guided it between their
