As she rose from her curtsy, however, the crescent of her thick dark lashes lifted to reveal a pair of clear gray eyes and, as their gazes collided, recognition hit Adam with the force of a lightning bolt.

Kitty!

He had hoped they might meet, but he’d not expected it so soon. He’d even wondered if she might prove difficult to find without revealing their previous acquaintance. Deep inside him, a bud of pleasure unfurled, radiating a happy, contented glow. But even as his lips began to curve in a smile, so his brain recognized the signs that Kitty did not share his joy at meeting again. There was her cool, frosty stare. The purse of her full lips. The fine groove etched between her eyebrows—a groove that deepened by the second. The stubborn tilt of her chin—a familiar habit from fifteen years before.

Adam blanked his expression yet again, recalling the bad terms on which they had parted, realizing that while he knew he had acted as he had in order to protect her from a naive mistake, Kitty had not been privy to his reasoning. There was no chance for explanation, however. Not yet.