He said again, "I want you to be my wife. At last you can be a Winthrop."

Still she stared at him. Then, "I will be gone by tomorrow morning. I will not stay here and be toyed with any further."

"I'm not toying with you. I am not insulting you. I'm asking you to marry me."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"You despise me. You think me a trollop, a whore, a-"

"No, I don't," he said, but she knew he was lying. And he knew that she knew. "All right, I do have serious questions about your character, but I don't care. It's that simple. I don't give a good damn. I want you and I want the children. I can't have one without the other. I'm not such a monster to separate you from them either. So you're part of the package. Marry me."

"I could simply be their nanny. This is absurd for you to-"

"No, you can't be their nanny. Remember the reason you left London? All that damned gossip? Well, it simply won't go away. You're too damned beautiful. And too damned young. Another thing, my dear. I can't simply tell myself not to touch you. If you don't marry me, you will end up in my bed. I want you very much and I know, as we've already proved, that you want me as well. Marriage is the only solution."

"But you're not forty."

He threw back his head and laughed deeply. "However did you hear of that?"

"From Mrs. Crumpe, when we were looking at your portrait. 'Tis a major tenet of your philosophy of life."

"I see. I don't suppose she stopped with that? No. All right, she also filled your ears with a lot more."

"Yes, quite a lot more."

He could just imagine, particularly the part about him disliking children and planning to ignore his own, just as his father had ignored him. Had he really believed such nonsense? "No, I'm not forty, I'm a mere twenty-seven, and marrying you will give me three children, a ready-made family. My father would howl about that if he were here to see it. But I've made up my mind. Now, will you marry me?"

She looked at him steadily. It was a solution, a perfect solution, if one could be cold-blooded about such things. He wanted her body. That was all. And the respectability of marriage. To protect his name and the children. But he didn't love her. At least Tris had loved her. She shook her head. "No," she said. "No, I can't do it."

"How many men were there before Tris? That was why he wouldn't marry you, wasn't it? You'd already had a protector. Or perhaps he did ask you. Did you use the children as a lever to get him to come around?"

She laughed at that. He was getting back to normal. "Good night, Knight. How odd that sounds. In any case, perhaps I will see you in the morning. On the other hand, perhaps I might experience a bit of luck and not see even your shadow." She got to her feet.

"What of the children, Lily?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't marry me, you will have to leave them. Doesn't that bother you? Don't you care? Is your love for them only an outward show? A sham?"

She went right over the edge with that final shove. "You're a bastard, a fool, an idiot. I will leave, my lord, but I will find the jewels first. Then the children and I will go together. I'm certain you'll be delighted when we're out of your selfish, boorish bachelor's life."

He was out of his chair now, and at her side in a moment. He clasped her wrist none too gently between his fingers. "You listen to me, you stupid woman, you're not going anywhere, and if you do, it will be quite alone and quite without a single damned sou to your name. Do you understand me, Lily?"

She looked up at him in that moment, and it was his undoing. He clasped her face between his hands and kissed her, hard. His tongue was against her tightly closed lips. His hands left her face and stroked down her back, then held her tightly against him. His hands were in her hair, shifting through the thick tresses.

"Oh, God, Lily." He moaned into her mouth.

"No," she said. "No." But she didn't mean it, he knew she didn't mean it, and in any case, it didn't matter. Her lips parted and his tongue met hers and she froze, then melted faster than a Gunthers ice on a day in July.

He felt it and reveled in it. He had her now. He wouldn't let her forget how she responded to him. Never. How she doubtless had responded to all the men before him.

He raised his head and looked at her. Her eyes were vague and dazed. He could see the pulse pounding wildly in her throat. If he wanted to, he could take her right here, in the dining room, on the floor, on the table, standing against the wall. He could lift her and bring her down onto him, deep and deeper still.

He forced himself to calm down, to count his breaths.

"You see," he said at last, "you aren't a virgin. No need to pretend you are, not with me, Lily."

He'd done her in yet again. She was weak and a fool. She had to get hold of herself. "All right, I'll stop trying to make you believe I am. Good night, sir. Perhaps you'll leave in the morning? The weather is quite fine for travel, isn't it?"

Knight didn't say anything for a long time. He just looked at her, at the perfect bone structure, the naturally arched brows, the narrow nose, the soft mouth. He wanted her. He wanted her more than any woman he'd ever known, ever seen, ever dreamed about. More than any lady, more than any courtesan.

"We will discuss our wedding tomorrow. Sleep well, Lily, but not too well. Dream of me. And when you do, dream of yourself naked, lying under me, and me stroking you with my hands, with my tongue-"

She drew in a shattered breath, jerked away from him, and fled the dining room.

She was a jade, but he didn't care. He wouldn't allow himself to care. One thing was certain, though. He'd never have to worry if she was playing him false. He'd never let her out of his bed.

The next morning the weather continued fine. Knight took himself to the nursery after breakfast. Lily, he was told, had just left.

Laura Beth was so excited to see him that he stayed with her a good thirty minutes. He saw the fine stitching around Czarina Catherine's neck. Where were those bloody jewels? He and Lily needed to discuss that.

He joined John and Theo for a few minutes, but Theo was in the midst of a geometry lesson and it was more than Knight could stomach. As for Sam, he was at the stables, mucking out a stall. It was Sam, bless him, who told him that Mama had gone riding on Violet. "To the west, sir. She likes that oak forest. Now, Cousin Knight, you must look at the paddock."

And he did. He had no choice, not really. He wasn't about to disappoint Sam, whose enthusiasm over the horses and everything to do with them gave Knight serious food for thought.

He rode out thirty minutes later toward the ancient oak forest. It was a beautiful spot, even in late fall. He smiled, a very cynical, very determined smile. He would do whatever was necessary.

And he would do it this morning.

Lily needed to have things explained to her, that was all.

As for Lily, she'd allowed Violet her head and was enjoying the crisp breeze pulling at her riding hat.

It felt good to be away from the house, away from the children for a while-oh, tell the truth, you wretched fool! You had to get away from Knight, and his wretched marriage proposal. What to do? She wouldn't marry him; she couldn't. She knew what he thought of her and she would be utterly stupid to marry a man who believed her a woman of loose moral character. She could tell him the truth about that, but he wouldn't believe her.

What to do? She felt herself trapped, just the way she had with Tris. She couldn't leave the children, yet not leaving them gave her no choice but to take the man who was their legal guardian. No, it wasn't the same as it had been with Tris. She had to be honest with herself. It was the fact that Knight didn't love her that made her shake her head. And she, fool that she was, she wanted him, desperately. She didn't know why she did, but she did and there it was.

If she continued in her refusal, would he boot her out? The answer was a rather obvious yes, at least to her. Her face froze in a mask of dismay. "I won't think about him," she said in a whisper. "I won't."

She tried to force her mind onto the scenery, dutifully regarding the denuded rolling hills to her left, the small village of Cranbourne ahead to her right.

She rode toward the oak forest, said to have been inhabited by Druids centuries before. She'd discovered it the second day at Castle Rosse, and now, whenever she went out for a ride, she returned here again and again. It was private, a place to be at peace. And if there were ghosts, they were as calm and peaceful as the sweet air itself.

If she saw a ghost she'd ask him or her where the wretched jewels were. She'd examined every one of Theo's books. No luck.

There was simply no place else to look.

What was she to do?

Just as he'd seen her the day before by the ornamental lake, he saw her again, her back against a thick oak, staring down at her riding boots. Her hair wasn't loose and flowing today; it was in a severe knot at the nape of her neck.

"Good morning, Lily," he said, all affability, as he strode toward her.

She threw her hand out in front of her, to ward him off, he supposed, but Knight only smiled and kept on coming toward her. He saw the indecision on her face and said quickly, "No, don't run from me today, Lily. I'm frankly not in the mood for another chase. Just stay put."

"Why don't you leave? Go back to London. To your damned mistress. Just leave. There'd be no talk if you weren't here."

"I can't leave," he said and stopped only six inches from her.

"The weather is fine. Of course you can."

"No. Neither of us will leave until we're married. Then we'll take a wedding trip. Where would you like to go?"

"Knight, stop it. I pray you to leave be."

"I'm delighted it's such a warm day. Just fancy, it's early November and I'm actually sweating." He smiled down at her with such warmth that she felt herself heating to a near sweat herself.

"Would you like to know what I intend to do, Lily?"

"You will tell me. I usually have no choice where you're concerned."

"First I'm going to ask you again. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"No."

"All right," he said, still all affability. He shrugged out of his coat, loosened his cravat, and tossed it to the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm undressing myself. Then I'm going to undress you. Then I'm going to make love to you, right here, under this beautiful old oak tree."

Sixteen.

Lily stared at Knight. He was musing about the history of the oak forest even as he began to unbutton his shirt. He couldn't be serious. No, it was impossible. It was the middle of the day.

On the other hand, he had entered her bedchamber, ripped open her nightgown, touched her and kissed her, and made her scream with pleasure. A pleasure she'd never even known existed. A wonderful pleasure. A pleasure devoutly to be sought. Oh, dear, she had to do something.

"No, damn you." Lily picked up her riding skirts and bounded away from him.

"Not again," Knight said, frowning after her. "Lily, I really don't want to marry a mountain goat!" He would have caught her quickly enough if they hadn't been in that damnable oak forest. She whipped behind a tree. He went one way and she went the other.

He stopped immediately and waited. Her head peeked around one side. He didn't move. Neither did she.

They stared at each other.

"You wouldn't consider coming here, would you?"

"No."

He sighed. Of course, she'd played this game with the children. She probably knew the moves better than he did.

"Lily, when was your last monthly flow?"

She actually squeaked.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you, well, perhaps I really don't care, but you see, if I get you pregnant-and out here in the forest you can't do anything to prevent it-well, then, that will solve our problems. Now, do you have an answer for me?"

All he heard was her harsh breathing.

"Lily, you can be certain that I'll stay inside you for as long as I can. To give us the best chance-of getting a child in you, that is. Now-"

"Go away, Knight. You miserable man, you don't love me."

"The last I heard, love had nothing at all to do with marriage, Lily. I beg you not to be a twit, a romantic twit, a weak-headed romantic twit."

"Knight, please, just go away. I'll have nothing to do with you, nothing."

"Lily, enough. Come along now."

She was pale, a bit openmouthed. "You expect me to come out, to say, 'Why, certainly, my lord, please rape me'?"

"Don't be a fool," he said, irritated now, his mood more disagreeable than otherwise. "I'm not about to force you, just give you a bit of, well, encouragement, that's all."

"Liar. Listen to me, Knight. You don't even like me, you despise me, you believe me a whore, the lowest kind of female. You can't want to marry me. You can't."

"Well, I do, so there's an end to it. I will simply forget all about the others. As a matter of fact, I will keep you so occupied in my bed you won't have the time or the energy to pursue any other gentlemen." As he finished speaking, he lunged, but Lily, no slouch, was faster. She dashed to the cover of another oak tree, this one so gnarled and twisted Knight was certain it must have been the site of many a religious sacrifice in the misty past.

He grabbed for her but was left with a handful of air.

He cursed, then set himself to masculine, and thus superior, stratagems.

Lily watched him, distrusting that concentrated look on his face. His fox's eyes gleamed yellow. Then he looked straight at her and she knew, knew deep down, that she'd lose. She also knew that she just might want to lose. Perhaps it wasn't really losing at all- He feinted left, then in a flash dipped right and was on her in the next moment. She yelled, turned, but he had her arm in a firm grip.

"I've got you," he said with great relish and jerked her against him. "I have got you, Lily," he repeated, then kissed her. "Today is the beginning of our lives together, and admit, you will admit that's true."

She wasn't about to admit to anything, but she did want that kiss, and another one after that and another. Why not admit that she would quite willingly do anything he asked if he would keep kissing her like this? She gave up her struggles.

Her arms went around his back and she felt the smoothness and musculature of him. It was heady stuff, this man's body and to feel his flesh beneath her fingers-Lily moved closer. Knight deepened his kiss. His tongue was lightly exploring her mouth, not ravishing her by any means. Her tongue tentatively touched his and she froze for a moment at his moan. She could do that to him?

"Knight," she said, worried now because her hips were pressing against him and she could feel him hard against her, and it was embarrassing to feel like this, to see in his eyes that he knew she was feeling this heat deep in her belly.