"It's frustrating-and absurd too. My parents eloped-"

"My, my, that's a shocking tidbit to have in your personal history."

"Isn't it though? It occurred decades ago, and the entire affair wound up in disaster for my mother."

"How?"

"She was Edward's sister so my father was very far beneath her in station. He wed her, assuming they'd eventually be forgiven and showered with money, but my mother was disowned and disavowed."

"Let me guess. When your father learned there would be no funds forthcoming, he abandoned you and your mother."

"Yes. She died poor and alone, then Edward brought me to Kirkwood and forced Augusta to raise me, but she was very bitter about it."

"Have you ever wondered if it's true?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You were a girl. Why inject a scurrilous fiscal motive into your parents' relationship? Are you certain it wasn't a love match?"

"I think it probably was for my mother, but I'm not sure what my father thought about it."

"You don't remember him?"

"No."

"What if Augusta lied to you? What if he was called to active duty and killed in a battle? Or what if he passed away from the influenza? Maybe he didn't abandon your mother at all. Maybe they'd have lived into a happy old age if he hadn't perished."

She gasped with surprise. "I never considered that for a single second."

"Let's pretend that's your parents' real story."

"All right. Let's do." She smiled, her woeful expression vanquished. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saying my father might have loved my mother."

"You're easy to please."

"Yes, I am."

He liked that about her. Normally he found women very difficult to please. In the prison colonies, women had been so downtrodden that they'd been too miserable to be satisfied on any point.

Then as he'd grown rich from the gold fields by robbing the gold trains that carried gold from the inland mines out to the coast, he'd been able to rub elbows with a completely different type of female. They were never satisfied either. They demanded gifts or other boons that he refused to supply.

She was content with so little, delighted by a few kind words about her parents. It almost made him feel guilty that he could spoil her with such meager offerings.

"I want you to move to the manor," he said before he could stop himself.

"Why?"

"So I can be closer to you. Why would you suppose?"

"It's not a good idea."

"I'm not eager to visit you in this horrid place, and I can't bear it that you're over here."

"You are the strangest man. You went to all this trouble to be cruel to me and now you wish you hadn't been."

"I wouldn't say that. I expect to be rewarded for my efforts."

"With an affair."

"Yes, with an affair. You've been begging for it to happen, remember?"

"Yes, I remember."

"I'm not about to let you change your mind. You'll come back in the morning, and you'll stay on after your aunt and cousin leave."

"I can't do that," she ridiculously insisted.

"Why can't you?"

"It would be such a betrayal to them."

He scowled, then laughed. "You are the most exasperating creature ever. I'm giving you a chance to save yourself. I suggest you take it."

"My aunt and cousin have to stay too."

"No."

"Ooh, you are so hard-headed."

"So are you."

"How can it hurt to have three women tucked away in this decrepit house? We won't bother you."

"It's the principle of the thing, Georgina. It's a concept you seem to understand very well."

"It wouldn't kill you to be kind to us."

"It might."

She pulled away, sighing with aggravation and regret. "If you won't let them stay, then I can't stay either."

"It sounds as if we're dickering over terms again."

"We might be."

"Then consider this. Has your aunt ever been good to you?"

"She's been good enough."

"You've spent your whole life ingratiating yourself to her."

"Maybe," she allowed.

"It also appears to me that you're trying to compensate for the sins of your mother, trying to prove you're different from her."

"I am different."

"How?"

"I'm loyal and faithful. I've remained here-even though it's been difficult."

"But wouldn't you like to leave someday? If you could, wouldn't you like to pick up and just...go?"

She looked unsettled, as if he'd read her mind. "I would like that. I've always wished I could...run away." She staggered to the end of her sentence, realizing it was precisely what her mother had done.

"Ha!" he smugly retorted. "I've caught you in the truth. You are exactly like your mother. I'm betting she was very unhappy at Kirkwood. If her father was like Edward or Miles, she was probably miserable every minute."

"It's possible, I guess, but that's not how Augusta describes it."

"We've decided you're not to listen to her."

It dawned on him that they'd been chatting for an extended period, which was very odd. He didn't chat with women, but since she'd raced out of his bedroom, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her.

He wanted to frolic with her in the master suite at the manor where he lived like a king and felt like a god. He wanted to shower her with rose petals, ply her with fine wine, rub her skin with scented oils, and watch as she lounged naked in the silver bathing tub in his dressing room.

Previously he hadn't believed he was much of a romantic, but she generated those sorts of wild, ludicrous flights of fancy. He thought he was becoming seriously, dangerously deranged.

He rolled on top of her, pinning her down again. He kissed her, taking his time, enjoying himself. She participated with energy and affection, and it seemed as if she was beginning to like him more than was wise. But he wasn't about to tell her she shouldn't.

She was a spinster and virgin so she didn't comprehend how swiftly an affair could blossom, how hot it could burn. He intended to drag her in over her head so she was drowning before she grasped that she was.

"Are you going to do that...thing to me again? The thing you did this afternoon?"

"No. Not tonight."

"Are you tired of me already?"

He snorted at that. "I won't grow tired of you for quite a while."

"Meaning what? I could be your mistress for a month? For six months? Perhaps I'll be lucky and you'll keep me a whole year."

"It would serve you right to spend a year with me."

"Why?"

"Because-as you've deduced-I am a vain, infuriating beast. I'd drive you insane."

"If you're such a beast, could your desire to ruin me be a passing urge that you might get over quickly?"

"Maybe."

"You don't make your offer sound very tempting. I could ally myself with you, then be tossed out if you stumbled on someone prettier."

He didn't imagine he'd cross paths with anyone prettier, not in their little corner of rural England. He'd seen beautiful women around the globe, but none had tantalized him like Georgina Fogarty. He did not understand it.

He drew away and slid off the bed.

"Come to the manor tomorrow."

"I can't. I'll be busy packing so I can depart on Saturday."

"No, you won't be. If I find out you are, I'll send a footman over to take all your bags and clothes so you can't pack."

"You are such a brute."

"Not usually. You simply bring out the worst in me."

She sat up and stood too, and to his delight, she slipped her hand into his and led him to the door.

"I still haven't figured out your purpose in visiting me," she told him.

"I own this bloody farm," he crudely said. "I don't need a reason to go anywhere on it."

"Yes, but if seduction was your goal, you didn't try very hard to succeed."

"I beg to disagree. I was very successful. I kissed you senseless, didn't I? I've worn you down to the point that we're debating terms."

"Do you know what I think?"

"No, but I suppose you'll tell me."

"I think you enjoy my company."

"It could be."

"You're lonely."

"Lonely!" he huffed. He always was, but he'd never admit it. "I merely felt like bothering you. That's all it was. I hate the country, and I'm incredibly bored."

"You were bored?"

"Yes."

"And out of all the people on the estate, in the village, and in the neighborhood, I was the only person who could entertain you?"