The kiss had been a mistake.
Nicholas had known it the moment he’d asked her for it, but he couldn’t help himself. The fever he’d had the last few days was not nearly so bad as he’d let her believe, and he’d spent the time she cared for him observing the little pirate queen. And his observations had given him the need to touch her—as more than her impromptu patient, but as a man. And so he’d given in to the temptation and tasted her, and he would never be the same as a result.
Worse still, it had changed their dynamic. Gone was the camaraderie she’d allowed him when she’d felt secure that her disguise fooled him. The trust he’d gained when she presented as a boy would have to be rethought now that she knew he recognized her as a woman. And a woman’s trust was such a very different, and m
