"When a person dreads something, isn't it best to hurry and get it over with as soon as possible so he'll stop dreading it? " Daniel didn't have any idea what she was talking about. Harry obviously did though, for he stepped forward to offer his opinion.

"Do you mean like getting a tooth pulled? " he asked.

"Yes, it's exactly like that, " she agreed.

"She's telling you she's got to send a wire now so she'll stop dreading it, " he told Daniel.

"I don't need an interpreter, " Daniel snapped. "You can send the wire from Blackwater. Now let's get going." She shook her head. "Waiting would only put off the inevitable." After making that statement of fact, she turned the mare and tried to ride out the front doors.

Daniel muttered a blasphemy before chasing after her.

Harry grabbed hold of the mare's reins and held tight. "Your husband's getting irritated, ma'am. What have you got to do that's so almighty important it can't wait? " She burst into tears. "I have to get married."

"cZ< don't wish to talk about it."

"I don't care if you wish to or not, " Daniel said. "You're going to tell me why you have to get married." She decided to ignore him. She leaned back against the padded seat inside their private compartment and looked out the window at the passing scenery. The train was traveling at a neck-breaking speed, and because they were in the last car, the compartment violently swayed every time the train slowed to go around a curve. The motion was making her nauseous, and judging from the tightness around Daniel's mouth and his gray countenance, she thought the motion was making him sick too.

"Are you feeling all right? " "I'm fine, " he snapped.

"You needn't be surly with me, Daniel." They sat across from one another in the tiny room. There was supposed to be seating for four adults, but he swallowed up all the space on his side. His long legs were sprawled out in front of him, making it impossible for her to leave without making him move first. She wasn't going anywhere, however. The door was bolted from the inside so that no one could intrude.

"This probably isn't at all proper, " she remarked.

"What isn't proper? " "Traveling together. It would be frowned on in England for an unattached man and woman to share a compartment together without a chaperone."

"I'm a lawman, " he reminded her. "That changes things."

"You're still a man."

"Last time I looked I was, " he told her with a grin.

She looked out the window again, but not before he saw her smile. "Are you ready to tell me why you have to get married? " "No, I'm not ready to tell you."

"Are you in trouble, Grace? " She didn't look at him when she answered. "Yes, I suppose I am." His mind leapt from one possibility to another, but she wasn't the type of woman who would let a man touch her before marriage. She was innocent and sweet and definitely untouched.

"You aren't pregnant."

"Good heavens, no, " she stammered out. "How could you think that I .

. " "You said you had to get married, and you said you were in trouble.

I simply put the two together, but then I changed my mind. It's a long trip to Texas, Grace, and eventually you will tell me what I want to know. You might as well do it now."

"Daniel, I had no idea that men could be such nags. Very well, you win.

I made a promise to my parents that I would marry Lord Nigel Edmonds if things didn't work out here. They haven't, " she added.

"I still don't understand. What didn't work out? " She frowned in vexation. "My parents are titled and therefore highly positioned in society. They're also quite poor, and it's been very difficult for them to keep up appearances. They've borrowed against their land, and they haven't been able to make the interest payments to their banker.

They've been terribly humiliated."

"Has anyone suggested to your father that maybe he ought to think about getting a job? " "Oh, no, that wouldn't do. He's titled, " she repeated.

"Being titled won't put food on the table."

"No, it won't, " she agreed.

"If he can't or won't work, then he's going to have to sell his land and whatever else he has of value."

"That's why I'm getting married.

" "I still don't understand."

"I'm all my father has left, Daniel .

. . " He leaned forward. "Are you telling me he's selling you? " "No, no, of course not. He simply arranged a suitable marriage for me. "

"And will this marriage solve his financial problems? " "Yes, it will.

" "Then he's selling you."

"No, he isn't, " she snapped. "Arranged marriages that benefit both families have been going on for centuries.

My father isn't doing anything wrong. In fact, he's been extremely patient with me. I asked him for a year's grace, and it was my hope .

. . my dream really, foolish though it was . . . that I could make a go of it here. I wanted to purchase land with my inheritance from an uncle" "And make enough to support your parents in the style they're accustomed to? " "No, you've jumped to the wrong conclusion. My parents are quite elderly. They were in their forties when I was born, " she explained.

"But they aren't set in their ways. If the ranch could support them, they could leave England and come to me. Isn't that adventurous of them?

You'd like my parents, Daniel. They're very practical, and you'd have that in common."

"You're not old enough to be shouldering such responsibilities."

"Age doesn't have anything to do with it. The day I was born my future was determined."

"Why? " "Because I was born a lady."

"I know you're a lady, " he replied, smiling.

"No, you don't understand. I was born Lady Grace Winthrop. The title carries certain responsibilities, and I would shame my parents if I didn't honor their wishes." Daniel was intrigued by the vast cultural differences between the two of them. What was important in England didn't matter at all in the United States.

"Titles don't mean anything here."

"I know, " she said. "What is important here? Money? " "To some, "

he allowed.

"What's important to you? " "Honor."