Cecy sighed. Her gaze fell to the embroidery, but she didn’t ply the needle. “He doesn’t compare well to other men, does he?”
“Mr. Humphries?” Mattie shook her head. “Mr. Kane is a thousand times more attractive, for all he is so scarred!”
“And Sir Gareth Locke.”
“Sir Gareth?”
Color crept across Cecy’s cheeks.
Mattie stared at her friend. “You like Sir Gareth?”
Cecy picked up her needle again. “I don’t know him well enough to make that judgment.”
“But . . . ?” Mattie prompted.
Cecy’s blush deepened. “He has a nice face.”
Mattie considered this for a moment, and then nodded. Gareth Locke did have a pleasant face—marked with pain, but attractive nonetheless.
But his friend, Edward Kane, was far more attractive, despite the red scars that slashed across his cheeks and brow. She like
