He would drag her back to the trailer for a private lambasting. Maybe this was the incident that would finally push him over the edge, and he'd send her away. She pushed aside the thought and stepped back from him. "I can't leave yet. I promised Sinjun I'd stay with him for a while."

The lines of strain deepened near his mouth, but he didn't question her. "All right."

Her father stormed forward. "You don't have the brains of an idiot! It's a wonder you're still alive! Whatever possessed you? Don't you ever do anything like that again. If you even-"

Alex cut in. "Shut up, Max. I'll take care of this."

"But-"

Alex lifted one eyebrow, and Max Petroff immediately fell silent. That was all Alex did-lift one eyebrow-but it was enough. She had never seen her domineering father concede to anyone in that way, and it reminded her of what he'd said. For centuries it had been the duty of the Petroffs to obey the wishes of the Romanovs.

At that moment some part of her accepted what her father had told her as true, but she returned her attention to Sinjun, who looked restless and edgy.

"Amelia will be wondering where I am," her father said from behind her. "I'd better be getting back. Good-bye, Theodosia." He seldom touched her, and she was surprised to feel the soft brush of his hand on her shoulder. Before she could respond, he turned to Alex and said his farewells, then walked away.

The activity of the circus had begun to return to normal. Jack was talking with the teacher as he helped her escort the children to the school. Neeco and the others had gone back to work. Sheba walked forward. "Good job, Daisy."

The words were delivered begrudgingly. Although Daisy thought she saw a glimmer of respect in the circus owner's eyes, she also had the eerie feeling Sheba's dislike of her had intensified. Sheba avoided looking at Alex and walked away, leaving them alone with Sinjun.

The tiger stood, tense and watchful, but still regarding both of them with his customary hauteur. She wrapped her hands around the cage bars. Sinjun moved. She heard Alex's quick, indrawn breath as the tiger began to rub his great head against her fingers.

"I wish you wouldn't let him do that."

She reached farther between the bars to scratch Sinjun behind his ears. "He won't hurt me. He doesn't respect me, but he loves me."

Alex gave a thin chuckle and then, to her surprise, enfolded her in his arms from behind as she stroked the tiger. His jaw moved against the top of her head. "I've never been so scared in my life."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who's sorry. You warned me about the cages, and I should have checked all of them. This is my fault."

"It's mine. I'm responsible for the menagerie."

"Don't you dare blame yourself. I won't allow it."

Sinjun's tongue stroked her wrist. She felt the muscles in Alex's arms tense as the tiger licked her.

"Would you please take your hands out of that cage now?" he asked quietly. "You're giving me heart failure."

"In a minute."

"I've already lost ten years off my life. I can't afford to lose any more."

"I like touching him. Besides, he's a lot like you. He doesn't give his affection easily, and I don't want to offend him by backing away."

"He's an animal, Daisy. He doesn't have human emotions."

She was feeling too peaceful to argue.

"Sweetheart, you have to stop befriending wild animals. First Tater, now Sinjun. I'll tell you what. You obviously need a real pet. First thing tomorrow, we'll get you a dog."

She looked up at him in alarm. "Oh, no, we can't do that."

"Why not."

"Because I'm afraid of dogs."

He looked stunned, and then he began to laugh. At first it was the merest rumble deep in his chest, but it soon turned into a rich, hearty sound that bounced off the walls of the big top and echoed through the lot.

"It figures," she grumbled through her own smile. "Alex Markov finally laughs, and it's at my expense."

He turned his head into the sun, drew her tighter against him, and laughed all the harder.

Sinjun regarded them both with faint annoyance, then stretched out against the bars of the cage to lick Daisy's thumb.

Alex shouldered his way through the group of reporters and photographers that had surrounded Daisy following the final show that evening. "My wife's had enough for today. She needs to get some rest."

Ignoring him, a reporter shoved a small tape recorder toward Daisy. "What went through your mind when you realized the tiger was loose?"

Daisy opened her mouth to respond, but Alex broke in, knowing Daisy was so damned polite she'd answer their questions till she dropped. "Sorry, that's it." Wrapping his arm around her, he began leading her away.

It hadn't taken the media long to get hold of the story of the escaped tiger, and reporters had been showing up ever since the matinee to interview her. At first Sheba had been happy with the publicity. Then she'd heard Daisy comment that the menagerie was cruel and inhumane, and she'd been furious. When Sheba had attempted to interrupt with the interview, Daisy had looked at her with those innocent eyes and said, without a speck of guile, "But, Sheba, the animals hate being in the menagerie. They're all so unhappy there."

As he and Daisy made their way to the trailer, he was so glad she was alive and unhurt that he didn't much mind anything she said. She stumbled, and he realized he was walking too fast. He was always doing that to her. Dragging her along. Pushing her. Making her stumble. What if she'd been hurt today? What if Sinjun had killed her?

He felt a crushing panic as his mind played out gruesome images of Sinjun's claws ripping into her small, slender body. If anything had happened to her, he would never have forgiven himself. She was too important to him. Too necessary.

Her fragrance drifted up at him, sweet and spicy, with a hint of something else, maybe the scent of goodness. How had she managed to work her way under his skin in such a short time? She wasn't his type of woman at all, but she'd made him feel emotions he'd never imagined, even as she turned the rules of logic upside down so that black became white and order became chaos. There was nothing rational about her. She made pets out of tigers and recoiled in fear from a small dog. She'd taught him how to laugh. She'd also done something no one else had been able to accomplish since he was a very young child. She had shattered his rigid self-control, and maybe that was why he was beginning to hurt so much.

An image flickered through his mind, at first elusive, but gradually growing clearer. He remembered frigid winter days when he'd been outside too long and come in to thaw. He remembered the pain in his frozen hands as warmth returned to them. The pain of the thaw. Was that what was happening to him? Was he feeling the pain of thawing emotions?

Daisy looked back at the reporters. "They're going to think I'm rude, Alex. I shouldn't have left so abruptly."

"I don't give a damn what they think."

"That's because you have high self-esteem. I, on the other hand, have low-"

"Don't start."

Tater, tethered near their trailer, bleated as he saw Daisy. "I have to tell him good night."

His arms felt empty as she disengaged herself and went over to Tater where she pressed her cheek to his head. He wrapped her up in his trunk, and Alex had to fight the urge to pull her away before the baby elephant crushed her from an excess of feeling. A cat. Maybe he could buy her some kind of house cat. Declawed so she wouldn't get scratched.

The idea didn't ease his mind. Knowing Daisy, she was probably afraid of house cats, too.

She finally left Tater behind to followed him into the trailer where she began to take off her costume only to sink down on the end of the bed. "Go ahead and yell at me. I know you've been wanting to all day."

Alex had never seen her look so forlorn. Why did she always have to think the worst of him? Even as his heart urged him to go easy, his mind told him he had to rip right into her and give her a lecture she'd never forget. The circus was full of dangers, and he would do anything to keep her safe.

As he gathered his thoughts, she gazed up at him, and all the troubles of the world were reflected in the violet depths of her eyes. "I couldn't let you kill him, Alex. I couldn't."

His good intentions dissolved. "I know." He sat next to her on the bed, picking the hay out of her hair and speaking with difficulty. "What you did today was the bravest thing I've ever seen."

"And the stupidest. Go ahead and say it."

"That, too." He reached out with his index finger and pushed an inky curl back from her cheek. As he gazed into her upturned face, he couldn't remember ever having seen anything that moved him so deeply. "When I first met you, all I could see was a spoiled little rich girl, silly and pampered, too beautiful for her own good."

Predictably, she began to shake her head. "I'm not beautiful. My mother-"

"I know. Your mother was a knockout, and you're paper bag ugly." He smiled. "Sorry to upset all those cherished illusions of yours, but I don't see it your way."

"That's because you didn't know her."

She spoke with such seriousness that he had to suppress another of those urges to laugh that seemed to come over him whenever they were together. "Could your mother have led tiger back into its cage?"

"Maybe not that, but she was very good with men. They'd do anything for her."

"This man will do anything for you."

Her eyes grew wider, and he wanted to snatch back his words because they revealed too much. He'd vowed to protect her from her own romantic dreams, but he'd just let her see how much he cared. Knowing Daisy, with her old-fashioned views about marriage, she'd imagine his caring to be love and start building pipe dreams in her head about their future, pipe dreams his own twisted emotional makeup wouldn't let him fulfill. The only way he could protect her was to let her see what a mean son of a bitch she'd linked herself up with.

But it was so hard. Of all the cruel tricks fate had played on him, the cruelest of all was joining him to this fragile decent woman with the beautiful eyes and too-generous heart. Caring wasn't enough for her. She needed to be surrounded by real love. She needed children and a good husband-one of those big-hearted guys who marched in Labor Day parades and went to church on Sunday and would love her to distraction.

Something painful twisted inside him as he thought of her married to someone else, but he forced it away. No matter what he had to do, he was going to protect her.

"Do you mean it, Alex? Would you really do anything for me?"

Despite all his good intentions, he nodded like a fool.

"Then sit very still and let me make love to you."

His groin tightened into a hard, throbbing ache, and he wanted her so much he couldn't breathe. At the very last instant, just before his hunger to possess her overpowered him, her mouth curved in a smile so soft and sweet he felt as if he'd been kicked in the gut.

She wasn't holding anything back. Not one thing. She was offering herself to him without reservations: heart, body, and soul. How could anyone be so self-destructive? He pulled himself back together. If she wasn't going to guard herself, he'd do the job for her.

"Sex has to be something more than just bodies," he said harshly. "That's what you told me. You told me it had to be sacred, but it can't be that way with us. There's no love. Don't ever forget that. There's just sex."

To his utter astonishment, she gave him a tender smile that seemed faintly tinged with pity. "You foolish man. Of course there's love. Don't you know? I love you."

He felt as if he'd been sucker-punched.

She had the audacity to laugh. "I do love you, Alex, and there's no need to get all stiff and starchy like that. I know I told you I wouldn't, but I can't help it. I've been hiding from the truth, but today Sinjun showed me how I feel."

Despite all his warnings and threats, all the cautions and caveats he'd thrown at her, she'd decided she was in love with him. And it was his fault. He should have kept more distance between them. Why had he walked on the beach with her? Why had he spilled his guts? And most damning of all, why hadn't he kept her out of his bed? Now he had to convince her that what she regarded as love was simply a reflection of her romantic view of life, and that wasn't going to be easy.

Before he could point out her mistake, she settled her mouth over his. His brain short-circuited. He wanted her. He had to have her.

She ran the tip of her tongue over his lips, then gently probed. He caught her head in his hands and sank his fingers in her soft hair. She became pliable in his arms, offering herself to him and giving everything.

She made a soft, mewing sound. Vulnerable. Needy. The sound threaded into his dulled consciousness and brought him back to reality. He had to remind her how it was between them. For her sake, he had to get tough. Better to deal out a small hurt now than a devastating one later.

He pulled abruptly away from her. With one hand, he pushed her back on the bed, and with the other, he covered the bulge in his jeans. "A good fuck is better than love any day."

He inwardly winced at the expression of shock that swept over her flushed face. He knew his wife, and he braced himself for what would come next. She was going to jump right up off the bed and blister his ears with a lecture on vulgarity.

But she didn't do it. Instead, her shock faded into the same pitying look he'd noted earlier.

"I knew you'd be difficult about this. You're so predictable."

Predictable? Was that how she saw him? Damn it, he was trying to save her, and all she could do was mock him! Well, he'd show her. Was that how she saw him? Damn it, he was trying to save her, and all she could do was mock him! Well, he'd show her.

He forced his mouth into an ugly sneer. "Get out of that costume. I'm in the mood for some rough stuff, and I don't want to tear it."

"Rough stuff?

"That's what I said, babe. Now take off your clothes."

17.

Daisy gulped. "You want me to take off my clothes?"

She knew she sounded like an idiot, but Alex had surprised her. Exactly what did he mean by 'rough stuff'? Her eyes flew across the trailer toward a whip he'd left coiled over the arm of the couch. She'd scared him to death when she'd told him she loved him, but she hadn't quite expected this. Still, he was so skittish on the subject that she should have known he'd overreact.

"Stop stalling." He stripped off his T-shirt. His jeans rode low on his hips, making him look grim and dangerous as he stood before her bare-chested, with that straight line of dark hair bisecting his flat stomach and pointing the way to danger with all the subtlety of a flashing neon arrow.

"When you say, rough stuff..."

"I mean that it's time for some variety."

"To be honest, I don't feel as if I've mastered all the basics yet."

"I thought you said you loved me, Daisy. How about proving it?"

He was definitely provoking her, and she mentally counted to ten.

"I'm not a hearts and flowers type of guy. You know that. I like sex. I like it often, and I like it wild."

Good grief! She really She really had had scared him. She nibbled on her bottom lip. Despite what she'd said earlier, Alex wasn't all that predictable, so she needed to be careful. On the other hand, Tater and his cronies had taught her one basic rule when dealing with large beasts. If she backed down, she was bound to get swatted. scared him. She nibbled on her bottom lip. Despite what she'd said earlier, Alex wasn't all that predictable, so she needed to be careful. On the other hand, Tater and his cronies had taught her one basic rule when dealing with large beasts. If she backed down, she was bound to get swatted.