No wonder Ronan was angry with him. He thought Adam had lied.

Adam supposed he had, a little. A lie by omission, if nothing else. "Forgive me," he murmured, sick with misery and guilt. "I know how you hate lies."

Is this what he had become? A person who Ronan hated?

His deaf ear rang, and Adam wanted desperately to stew in his misery. "I'll understand if you want to turn me out for it." A dishonest servant, after all, was a danger to a household, and irredeemable.

Adam stayed where he stood, feeling as though he might collapse from unhappiness. He'd ruined everything.