"The best I can give you is honesty," he said after a little while, withdrawing his hand. "But it might be the worst I can give you, too. For that, I'm sorry." He meant it. Love her or not, he certainly cared for her wellbeing, and it didn't take the Touch to know that what he'd said had hurt her. Pulling away, he got to his feet. "I'll see about getting you a bath. The one in here should be easy enough to fill, and I can find somewhere else to be if you'd sooner I didn't see you naked."

It was hard to tell, with how well he schooled his expression and how unwilling he was to acknowledge it even to himself, but he was thoroughly embarrassed, and not a little angry. This hadn't been remotely how he had wanted this conversation to go.