Brando lowered Solenne onto the soft velvet mattress with the utmost care.
His fingertips brushed over her ice-cold palm, then curled around it in a tight, firm grip.
His voice was low and gravelly, thick with a raw, unmasked ache. "How did you get this thin? Why are you so cold?"
The memory of their wedding day crashed into his mind unbidden. Following the royal family's rules for arranged noble marriages, he had ridden out to the Rivington family estate himself to bring Solenne back to his private castle as his bride.
At first, he had resented this completely loveless political union with every fiber of his being. He'd hated the very idea of a forced marriage from the bottom of his heart.
But the second Solenne had rested lightly against his back, letting him carry her, every last b
