She straightened her shoulders and took a step forward. "And until they're old enough and strong enough to do without parents, they're stuck with the two of us."

She had completely misunderstood what he was asking her. He thought it was deliberate. He ignored her speech about fatherhood and turned her back to the question he most wanted answered.

"Why did you come here? What in God's name were you thinking?"

"We wanted to be close to you."

He wasn't buying it. "I was in Chicago," he reminded her. "You know where Chicago is, Taylor?"

"Yes, of course."

He nodded. "And so, in order to be close to me, you traveled over a thousand miles in the opposite direction. Have I got that right?"

"I don't believe it was even close to a thousand miles," she remarked.

He closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then he started over. "When did you decide to come here?"

She didn't believe telling him the truth would be a good idea now. He looked close to boiling over. He was spoiling for a fight, but she wasn't going to accommodate him. They were standing in the center of town, for heaven's sake, and their audience was growing by the second. She knew no one could hear their conversation. When Lucas got mad, his voice became softer, not louder. She counted that wrinkle in his personality a blessing.

"I don't wish to talk about this now," she told him. "When we have a moment alone, I'll be happy to answer all of your questions."

"I'm taking you back tomorrow," he announced.

She shook her head. She wasn't going anywhere.

He nodded. They would leave at first light.

Lucas didn't want to wait to get his questions answered, but he had calmed down enough to realize this was neither the time nor the place for their discussion.

"You know what, Papa? You know what?" Georgie was tugging on his pant leg and repeating the question for the fifth or sixth time. She was whispering, and Lucas realized she was trying to imitate him.

He picked her up and gave her his full attention. He stared into her wide blue eyes and suddenly realized she was going to grow up and drive some peace-loving man out of his mind... just like her mother.

"No, what?" he asked.

"Mama shot a damned snake."

His gaze flew to Taylor. "Is that so?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Children exaggerate."

"Up." Allie shouted her demand and put her arms out. Lucas lifted her into his arms and was surprised when she gave him a wet kiss on his cheek. She rubbed the palm of her hand over his beard, laughed with delight, and then told him her baby got wet and she had to cry about it for a long time. Lucas listened to every word. When she was finally finished with her story and had scrunched up her shoulders and smiled with self-pleasure, he asked her what else her mother had done.

The twins took turns telling on her. Taylor was astonished by their memories. She was also mortified.

Victoria would be, too, she realized, if she knew that Georgie had just told Lucas she was naked and crying and Hunter kissed her anyway.

Taylor started walking toward the wagon where Daniel David waited with Hunter and Victoria. She heard Georgie complain that her mama wouldn't let her see the dead cat and immediately quickened her pace.

Lucas followed her. He put the twins down when he reached Daniel David. The boy suddenly turned shy. He had his hands jammed in his pockets and was staring down at the ground. Lucas had a twin clinging to each leg, which made movement awkward. It didn't deter him, however. He lifted Daniel David up and gave him a hard hug.

The child squeezed him back. Lucas whispered something to him, and Daniel smiled while he nodded.

Then Lucas settled the boy in one arm and turned to Hunter.

"I owe you."

His friend was in full agreement. "You got that right."

Frank Michaels called out to Lucas and started down the steps. The crowd had kept away during the reunion and now wanted to join in. Lucas was surrounded by friends who took turns congratulating him on his marriage.

The women weren't ignored. Both Taylor and Victoria were surrounded. Roily asked for permission to touch their hair. Lucas heard the request and told the giant to keep his hands away from his wife and her friend.

Roily immediately turned to Lucas. He had noticed he hadn't kissed his wife. Did that mean there was trouble brewing in the marriage? Lewis could see about the divorce if that was the case, and Roily could start in courting Taylor within the month.

"There isn't going to be any divorce." Lucas's voice was emphatic. He stared at Taylor when he made the announcement.

He didn't speak to his wife again until late that evening. It took them two hours to get away from the town. Everyone offered them lodging. First Lucas refused, and then Hunter was asked. He also said no.

Taylor was more diplomatic. She thanked them for their offer and then explained that the twins were used to sleeping in the wagon, and that routine was important with all the commotion going on around them. The twins were exhausted and needed a good night's sleep. The men finally agreed.

Routine really was important to all three children, Taylor supposed, but the real reason she didn't want to stay in town was because of her husband. He wasn't going to continue to ignore her and when the confrontation came, she didn't want an audience. Since he was being so difficult Taylor decided not to tell him about the house she'd purchased. They could all wait until tomorrow to move in.

Love and trust. The two words echoed in her mind and with it came the questions. Did you have to have both or could one be enough ? She knew the answer but she stubbornly tried to ignore reason. How much did she have to tell Lucas about her past?

The answer was as clear as the air. She had to tell him everything. Taylor dreaded the task and turned her attention to her children. When she was busy, she could almost push the worries aside.

They made camp in a meadow just to the south of Redemption. There was a clear-water stream on one side, and the cloistered area was surrounded by trees.

After supper was finished and the children had been bedded down in one of the wagons, Victoria and Taylor decided to have another bath. Hunter led them to the deeper edge in the stream and then gave them privacy. He told them to call out if they needed him.

Victoria was a little nervous. The moon was bright enough to see where they were walking, but not sufficient to see beyond the far side of the water. She kept squinting her eyes and scanning the bank, looking for more wild animals ready to pounce, and Taylor was just as apprehensive, though for an altogether different reason. Lucas had her rattled, and dear God, what would she say to him to make him understand she really wasn't trying to trap him?

Lucas had disappeared right after supper. He came back to camp an hour later. Taylor and Victoria were sitting on a blanket in front of the fire Hunter had prepared. He sat across from them, and every now and then he would toss a couple of twigs on the blaze to keep it going.

Both women had put on clean day dresses so they would be modest, but Taylor hadn't bothered with undergarments. As soon as she climbed into the wagon to go to bed, she would change into her nightgown anyway.

The men were talking in low voices. Victoria turned to Taylor. "Lucas is still angry, isn't he?" she asked in a whisper.

"He'll get over it," Taylor whispered back. "As soon as he realizes I won't be making any demands on him, I'm certain he'll calm down."

"He doesn't want us here. I heard him tell Hunter he's going to take us back tomorrow."

"We aren't leaving."

"Can he make us?"

"No, of course not," Taylor replied. She changed the subject just a little then. "Have you noticed he hasn't said a word to me in hours?"

"I did notice. Are you in love with Lucas?"

Taylor's gaze turned to her husband. He was leaning back against a tree trunk. His hand rested on his knee. He was listening to something Hunter was telling him. From his dour expression, he wasn't happy about what he was hearing.

"I do love him," she whispered. Her gaze lingered on her husband for a full minute before she forced herself to turn away. "I really must be out of my mind."

Victoria kept glancing over at Hunter. She couldn't seem to make herself stop. She remembered how wonderful it felt to be held in his arms. And when he kissed her...

She pushed the memory aside. Hunter was leaving tomorrow. " 'Men should be what they seem,' " she whispered.

"William?" Taylor asked.

"Yes," Victoria answered. "It's from Othello . Hunter should be hard and cruel and frightening."

"Was that your first impression of him?"

"Yes," she whispered. "Then he started being kind and sweet and considerate."

She sounded as though the man had tricked her. Taylor was sympathetic. She understood what her friend was feeling.

"Georgie told Lucas that Hunter kissed you."

Victoria started to blush. Then Taylor told her the rest of the story. "She also told him you were naked."

"Oh, God." Victoria's face turned bright pink.

Taylor smiled. "Did you want him to kiss you?"

Victoria started to shake her head, then nodded instead. "He's leaving."

"You're certain?"

"Yes. Why do I feel as though he's abandoning me? Isn't that the most ridiculous reaction? I barely know the man."

"You know him quite well," Taylor argued. "You've spent every waking minute with him from the minute we left Sioux City until this evening. You're falling in love with him."

"He's leaving," Victoria repeated again. "None of it matters. We're a sorry pair, aren't we? Neither one of us has learned from our pasts."

"Madam used to tell me I couldn't always have what I wanted. I can't seem to learn that lesson."

She let out a sigh and turned her gaze to her friend. "You should probably go to bed. You need your rest."

"I felt the baby move today. She's getting stronger."

"You're also strong," Taylor said. "It was a difficult journey and you never once complained."

"It didn't seem difficult. Hunter kept a slow pace, and if you remember, he insisted I walk by the wagon every afternoon."

"I remember he had to drag you out of the wagon on several occasions."

Victoria shrugged. "I realize now he had my best interests at heart."

"Did he tell you why he's leaving?"

"I don't want to talk about him any longer," Victoria announced. She gave Hunter a frown and then turned back to Taylor. "Do you think Lucas will want to talk to you tonight?"

"Probably. I'm dreading it," she admitted. "I honestly don't know what I'm going to say to him. I shouldn't have to soothe him, should I?"

"Just tell him the truth," Victoria advised. "If you love him, you're going to have to start trusting him."

"I do trust him." So easy to say and so difficult to do, she thought.

Victoria shook her head. "You've got an odd way of showing it. You trust him to protect your children, but I don't believe you trust him with your heart yet."

"Why should I?" Taylor realized she'd raised her voice and immediately lowered it to a whisper again when she added, "The man doesn't want to be married. How do you think he'd react if he knew I loved him?"

Taylor didn't wait for her friend to venture an answer. "Trapped," she whispered. She turned her gaze to Lucas and glared at him, while she wondered why he had to be such a difficult man.

"'Men are deceivers ever, one foot in sea, and one on shore, to one thing constant never.' William," she added with a nod.

"You've got that right," Taylor muttered.

Victoria let out a loud sigh. "I shouldn't be giving you advice," she said. "But I would suggest that if Lucas gets the upper hand in your discussion, and you can't come up with a logical argument, use William."

Taylor perked up. "And what quotes do you suggest I use?"

Victoria nibbled on her lower lip while she considered what would be most appropriate. A minute passed in silence, then she said, "I've got it. 'In a false quarrel there is no true valour.'"

Taylor repeated the quotation. Then she nodded. Victoria added another quote to use in the event Lucas's temper still hadn't cooled down. Taylor repeated the second quotation and nodded once again.

Victoria was yawning every other minute now. Taylor stood up and then helped her friend to her feet.

Both women deliberately ignored the men. Victoria started to turn away, then stopped. "Don't you wonder why he rode so hard to get here? Hunter said he had to have set some kind of record. He seemed in an awful hurry for a man who doesn't want to be married."

She whispered good night and then circled the campfire to get to the wagon. She didn't look at Hunter.

She knew she'd make a fool of herself if she tried to be civilized and say good-bye to him. She couldn't be sophisticated tonight. She was hurting too much. Why in God's name had she allowed herself to become so attached to him?

Victoria lifted the flap at the back of the wagon, stepped up on the crate, and then climbed inside. She was crying before she got the first button at the top of her dress undone.

Taylor was too restless to sleep. She didn't want to sit back down by the fire and be ignored by her husband any longer. She'd had enough of his rudeness. She decided to go for a walk. She needed a few minutes alone to get her emotions under control. The anticipation of the inevitable confrontation was making her a nervous wreck. She would have to explain everything to him. He deserved to know the truth, and oh, God, that meant telling him about Malcolm. She honestly didn't know if she had the strength or the courage. She turned away from her husband and hurriedly walked back to the stream.

The men watched her leave. Hunter was the first to speak. "Your face on fire yet? Your wife's glare was hot enough to burn you."

"Victoria was giving you the same attention," Lucas pointed out. "Are you going to walk away from her?"

"I can't see any other way," Hunter answered. "What happened in Chicago?"

Lucas took the hint. Hunter didn't want to talk about Victoria.