Desmond turned the tables on me instantly, pulling me close and kissing me deeply, his lips slow and lingering, until I was breathless and lightheaded, forced to pull away for air.
He rested his forehead against mine, his fingers brushing gently through my hair as he spoke.
"When I was little, I'd watch that woman dote on Victor every single day, and I was so jealous it hurt. She'd never so much as look at me without telling me to get away from her. I never knew what it felt like to be loved by a mother."
Back then, Desmond had known nothing of the bitter rift between Miranda and Killian, nothing of the forced marriage that had torn Miranda from her first love, nothing of the fact that he was a child born of coercion and cruelty.
All he'd known was a mother who recoiled from him, who l
