" To no longer be able to abide the comfort of human contact. How did he stand it? No wonder he was so very remote. How could warmth touch your heart when it wasn't even allowed near your skin?
It could have been regret that softened his features, but it was impossible for her to tell. "You're thinking of Mackenzie," he murmured.
Ashamed that she'd been thinking of Blackwell and not her Dougan, Farah nodded, not trusting herself to make a sound.
For the second time since they'd met, he raised his hand to her face, only to pull it back again. "Is there no pity in your heart for me?"
Farah turned from him then, dashing madly at her cheeks. There was, of course, but she didn't dare show it to him. "Do you deserve my pity?" she asked, her voice thick with tears.
"Probably not," he answered honestly. "But the boy I once was might have. "

― Kerrigan Byrne , The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels, #1)