Please, God, Sheridan beseeched. Don't let this baby die.

She grabbed a towel and began to vigorously rub the infant, praying all thewhile. Sheridan felt William beside her. She glanced up and caught thestricken look on his face. She massaged the baby's chest.

Come on! Come on!

Her prayers were answered as a shrill, beautiful cry pierced the air andthe baby took its first gulping breath.

Sheridan nearly collapsed with joy. Tears pooled in her eyes as she glancedat her friend. "Ye have a fine and healthy son."

The next moment, the bedroom door banged open. Nicholas stood on thethreshold, soaked to the bone but glorious to Sheridan's eyes. Behind himstood the doctor, his spectacles askew and his thin, wet gray hair hangingover his eyes.

The man hustled across the room and took over Sheridan's duties. She thought to protest, but was too drained to utter a sound.

She stepped back, watching the goings-on as if she stood somewhere outsideher body. She flinched at the touch of a hand on her arm.

Her gaze snapped up and connected with Nicholas's. Concern etched his face,but another emotion glinted in his eyes. He tugged her away from the bed andtoward the door.

"Where--"

"Ssh."

"I can't leave Jules."

"You can and you are."

"Danny?"

Sheridan stopped in the threshold at the sound of Jules's voice. Sheridanglanced over her shoulder to see the baby wrapped up tightly and cradled inJules's arms, William wedged next to his family on the bed. Sheridan had neverseen her friend look happier.

"Thank you," Jules murmured, tears brimming on her eyelashes. "You trulyare the sister of my heart."

Sheridan smiled because no words would come. Emotions choked her throat.

"Your father's name is Joseph, isn't it?" Jules asked.

Sheridan nodded.

Jules glanced up at her husband. Then she tilted the baby up in her arms.His small thumb was stuck in his mouth, his cherub cheeks pink and fat andhealthy. "I'd like to introduce you to my son, William Joseph DanielThornton."

*Chapter Twenty-four*

"You were wrong, you know."

Sheridan shook herself from the exhaustion that had seeped into her bodyand discovered she stood in front of her bedroom door with Nicholas.

She steeled herself as she looked up at his face, his jaw covered with afine layer of whiskers, dirt smudged across one cheek. Even a mess, he wasglorious, emanating strength and virility. A man any woman would feel blessedto be loved by--if he knew how to love.

"And what was I wrong about?"

"Jules's baby."

Sheridan frowned. "What about the baby?"

"She is a he," Nicholas replied, reminding Sheridan of her prediction thatJules's baby would be a girl. "And a fine, healthy boy at that. Thanks toyou." Sheridan flinched when he brushed the hair away from her face.

"You did an amazing job. You should be proud of yourself." His voicelowered as he added, "I am."

Sheridan would not be drawn in by his pretty words. "I did no more thananyone else would do in such circumstances."

"But you're not like anyone else. I've finally come to see that."

Sheridan turned away and put her hand on the doorknob. "I don't want tohear this."

Nicholas lay his hand on top of hers. "Do you still believe men don'tpossess the soul of a lion and the heart of a saint, Danny?"

The way he said her name made Sheridan's throat go dry. "I'm tired." Shecouldn't face him now, not when her guard was down, not when she was toophysically and emotionally drained to ward him off.

Nicholas moved closer to her. "Do you still believe that?" he pressed.

Sheridan laid her head against the hard wood portal. "I don't know what Ibelieve anymore."

"And what about me? Do you believe in me?"

Sheridan shook her head. She would not be so foolish again as to leave herheart open for another devastating blow. She turned the knob and let the doorswing open, staring into the room where she'd spent so many nights lyingawake, thinking about Nicholas, hoping he would come to her, tell her he lovedher. Say anything.

He never had.

Quietly, Sheridan slipped into the room, not looking back as she closed thedoor, shutting herself in... shutting Nicholas out.

She closed her eyes, a single tear slipping between her eyelashes as sheleaned heavily against the door. I still believe in him.

But it was too late. Too late to change the past. Too late to recall wordsalready spoken. Too late to believe in girlish dreams.

Sheridan straightened away from the door. Dawn's early light seeped throughthe curtains. She would rest for an hour, maybe two. Then she would leave andnever look back.

Numbly, she began to unbutton her dress, her fingers clumsy, her skinclammy. She'd never removed her wet clothes. They were dry now, but the chillseemed to just reach her. She wanted nothing more than to slip between thecool sheets and seek blessed forgetfulness.

Her dress slipped off her shoulders in a soundless sigh, puddling at herfeet, and then the door to her bedroom burst open.

Sheridan whirled around and gasped. Nicholas stood in the threshold, hisbroad shoulders filling the space.

"What are ye--"

"You wanted me to fight? Well, God damn it, I'm going to fight."

"Get out!"

He shook his head. "You don't scare me."

"I never did scare ye."

"Yes, you did. But not anymore. Now I'm ready for that fight."

"I didn't want ye to fight anyone. That was all in yer head."

"Maybe you didn't want me to fight over you, but you wanted me to fight foryou, and I didn't. Well, I'm not leaving this room until I've told you how Ifeel."

"So say what ye've come to say and leave."

"Fine. I love you, Danny."

Sheridan's breath came out in short, angry pants. "Oh, ye love me, do ye? Iwonder what tomorrow will bring? Hatred again?

"Listen--"

"Are ye happy now? Does it make ye feel better to have that off yer chest?"

"Not if it doesn't mean anything to you."

Sheridan turned her back on him. "I've given ye a chance to speak yerpiece. Now I want ye to leave."

"Damn it, Danny! I'm trying."

"Just leave."

The door slammed and Sheridan jerked. She spun on her heels, the words tocall Nicholas back clogging in her throat.

To find him a few feet behind her.

"I told ye to go."

"Do you love McDonough?"

"What?"

"Do you love him, Danny? I have to know."

"Ye lost any right to question me when ye threw me out. Ye do rememberthat, don't ye?"

His gaze captured hers. "I'll never forget it. But all that proves is thatwe are human. We make mistakes. You made a mistake."

"And what mistake have I made?"

"You said Jules's baby was going to be a girl."

" 'Tis not the same."

"Maybe not. But you believed it at the time, just like I believed I couldchoose who I was going to love, predetermine how my life would be, predictevery event. I foolishly believed all that until I met you. You blew into mylife like a whirlwind, and nothing has been the same since."

"Ye can have yer precious Jessica and yer normal life back. I'll be gone ina few hours."

"But that's not what I want. Don't you see?"

"I don't care what ye want."

Nicholas ignored her. "You made me believe in this magical land where alldreams come true."

" Tis a fairy tale."

"Well, I want the fairy tale."

"It doesn't exist."

"It does exist. It exists right here, right now, between you and me."

"Nothing exists between us."

"I always knew you were stubborn, and I'm willing to accept that part ofyou, but you're not giving me a chance. I judged you too quickly. My tempergot the better of me--"

"Ye said what ye felt. Don't belittle me now by trying to make me feelbetter. I lived without ye for eighteen years. I don't need yer pity or regretto help me move forward. In fact, Nicholas Sinclair, I don't need ye at all.Me and this babe will do just fine without ye."

Nicholas took hold of her upper arms in an unrelenting grip. "But I won'tbe fine without you. Jesus, can't you see you've changed me? You told me inthe stables that you wanted to understand me. I thought you did."

"I thought so, too."

"I was too afraid of the unknown, of what could happen should I let myselfcare too much. Now I'm afraid of what might happen to me should I not letmyself care at all, closing myself off to something I may regret for the restof my life. If you love me, tell me. If you want to make us work, I'll try."Nicholas glanced down at her stomach and gently laid his hand on it.

Sheridan's heart lurched at the feel of his hand against her, placed overthe spot where their baby grew inside her womb. It moved her when she toldherself it shouldn't.

She stepped out of his reach. "There is no us. Perhaps once I had foolishdreams. I don't anymore."

"You told me we were two souls entwined. I believe that."

Sheridan felt emotions roiling up inside her, anger and bitterness, pain.And love. "Aye, ye believe now. Why is that, I wonder? Because ye think ye oweme something? Well, ye don't. And I wouldn't take anything from ye anyway ...ye bloody landlord!" His eyes widened for a fraction of a second. "Aye, that's right. I know."

Nicholas smiled, then laughed.

"Ye think this is funny, do ye?"

"Insanely funny."

Sheridan gave him her back again. "Just ... go. Get out. I don't want tosee ye."