Fire burned in his belly as he surged to his feet, fists clenched by his sides, searching for the source of the invisible voices. He cursed his tongue for the way he had told Serena the dark tale, cursed a misbegotten life that had led him to this moment, and cursed G.o.d for abandoning him to it all.

Let the dragon reign. It was all he had.

BLINDED BY TEARS, her side aching and breath rushing in and out, Serena ran. It had begun to snow, soft and light and melting as it fell in the spring air, but Serena couldn't delight in the wonder. Her only thought was home and some sense of firm ground amid the sinking sand of her life.

She fumbled with the door latch, her hands shaking as she jiggled the handle up and down. Taking off a glove she finally achieved her goal and shouldered her way into the warm quiet of the house. Mindlessly she pulled off her bonnet and let it slide to the floor as she walked to the bedroom. She shut the door behind her and flung herself on the bed, letting the sobs she'd been holding back overtake her.

What had she done?

Slowly, like a heavy weight dropping through layer after layer of tissue paper, the truth lodged into her mind. She had married a stranger . . . a murderer . . . and G.o.d knew what else. She certainly didn't. The image of her husband enraged, shaking her, took hold of her thoughts.

He is dangerous. He will hurt you. If you anger him enough, he might even kill you.

She shook her head. "No. He wouldn't." But the doubts remained, roiling inside her with sickening certainty. For the first time since her marriage, she was afraid she might have made a horrible mistake.

The wind picked up, whistling about the window, lending to the eerie feel in the room. The pretty snow was turning into a storm.

She curled on her side, careful now to stay on her portion of the bed, to keep his side unrumpled. She cried until she had cried herself out and lay staring at the wall, unable to think, unable to feel.

She heard the front door open and sat up, quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. It might be her parents returning from meeting . . . or it could be Drake. She tensed.

The k.n.o.b turned and Drake's form filled the doorway. He had a way of filling up a room with his presence that always made her breath catch, but this time she looked at him with fear.

"I beg your pardon. I just came to get my things."

Serena stared without understanding, sitting straighter on the bed in a slow daze. "Your things?"

"Serena." His voice was raspy and dead. "You must want me to leave."

She drew a shaky breath, her eyes wide. "Leave?"

He went around to the far side of the bed and pulled out the trunk from underneath. She watched as he began packing his meager belongings. It only took moments, it would seem, to end something intended to last a lifetime.

Like their marriage.

He hefted the trunk under his arm and looked down at her. "You will be better off without me." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the backs of her fingers, then closed his eyes and lowered her hand, letting go.

She felt the warmth from his hand, a living thing, seep into her skin, melting her shock. In a moment all the lessons of the Friends came to her mind-lessons on honesty, sin, rage, and murder. In the same moment, she saw this man, whom she loved with her whole being, intent on leaving her so that she would be unsullied by his past.

She knew she should let him walk away . . . that she should spend the rest of her live in safe solitude, in the quiet, una.s.suming browns and blacks of the life she'd always known. The cost of the full spectrum of life's color hit her. But as she looked into his eyes, all she knew was her love for him-a love that didn't care what he'd done or what he might yet do or how wrong his whole life appeared to be.

"No! Don't go. Do not go . . . Drake." It came out as a soft pleading. She reached out her hand toward him. How could she have doubted what they had? It was too strong to be denied. "I love thee." It was a helpless plea.

He stood there, his face on the verge of crumbling . . . muscles quivering throughout his whole body. For what seemed an eternity he weighed her words, testing their validity. He finally set down the trunk and pulled her from the bed into his arms, sighing heavily into her hair. "I will make it up to you . . . to G.o.d. From this day forward I will do only what is right."

She looked into those fierce eyes, seeing determination and pain, a battered person resolving to be righteous.

"I will be a good husband. I'll work hard, provide for you and any family we have. I'll be a devoted father. I . . . I will be kind and . . . patient . . . like your father. I will be like your father."

"Being good, even as good as my father, will not undo what thou hast done. Thou must pray for forgiveness and then seek rest.i.tution with the man's family." It was hard to say, but she knew they must face the truth of it.

He slid to the floor in front of her, dropped his head against her stomach. "I have prayed, many times. I just don't know if anyone is listening. Why should He listen to someone like me?"

"G.o.d is always listening. He knewest what thou wouldst do when He made thee in the beginning of creation. And still He made thee. He knew all the sin man would commit from the beginning to the end-then He made rest.i.tution for sin by allowing His perfect Son to take it upon Himself. Thou hast repented, thou art forgiven. 'Tis so simple and yet hard for us to truly grasp." Serena sighed. "The other, though, I am not certain. I know not how to recompense for a man's life."

"I cannot go back!" he rasped. "I am tormented by it, but I've no desire to hang."

Serena gasped, feeling as though a lance had been driven through her heart. "They would hang thee?"

Drake looked up at her, his eyes bleak. "It is possible."

She wavered. "But thou didst not really intend to kill him, didst thou? Tell me true, Drake. Didst thou mean to push him over?"

Drake shook his head. "I thought to scare him, that is all. Something changed . . . I don't know what happened, but I was so angry, I couldn't see or think. I have very quick reflexes, honed by years of swordsmanship. After going over and over it in my mind, I know I could have grasped his hand and saved him . . . but I didn't. And I do not know why."

He grasped the fabric of her skirts in his fists. "I am sorry-so sorry. If I could go back and make it right I would, but it's too late. I need more time, Serena. Maybe someday I can go back and face the charges, but not yet, not when I have just found you."

Serena shivered at the idea of them going to London where Drake might be hanged, leaving her a widow and a stranger in an unknown world. Or worse, his going back alone, she not knowing if she would ever see him again. Suddenly she knew she couldn't demand it of him. She didn't want to risk his life any more than he did.

A rattle at the door brought them out of the moment. Drake stood, and Serena straightened out her skirts and smoothed back her hair. "I'll go and help mother with dinner." She clasped his strong hand in hers and squeezed it. "If we need to leave Philadelphia, I think I know of a place we could go."

He half-smiled with a frown between his eyebrows. "Where?"

"Dost thou think farming would be more to thy liking than silversmithing?" Her eyes were hopeful.

"Serena . . ."

"I have a friend, in the Shenandoah Valley. He has more land than he can currently farm and, I think, would sell some to us and help us get started."

Drake's countenance darkened. "This friend wouldn't be Christopher Kingsley, would it? Did he not want to marry you?"

Serena shrugged and looked down. "He may have at one time, but he knows I love thee." She pleaded with her eyes. "Drake, 'tis beautiful there, buried in the mountains. We . . . thou . . . wouldst be safe there."

Drake shook his head. "I do not like it."

"We could begin our own life there-together."

Drake felt the dragon within retreat to its lair, folding in its wings, settling back, far back into him. To sleep again. It was borrowed time . . . but he was willing to take it, to keep the monster asleep.

"I will consider it."

Chapter Sixteen.

THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

The Great Trading Path-or Great Warrior's Path, as some called it-was more of a deep gouge in the earth than a path. The surface was worn down ten inches or more in spots and muddy from the spring rains. Muck sucked at Drake's shoes. Wilderness-dense, leafy screens on either side-flanked them, its green arms reaching toward them, trying to reclaim the trail man had carved through its belly.

The group of six trudged through the mire. Serena paused to wipe her hand along her forehead and readjust the grip on her walking stick. When she didn't move, Drake stopped the packhorse and two-wheeled cart he was leading, went to her, and placed a hand on her back.

"Water?" He held out the flask, and she nodded, taking it and drinking, clearly not caring that water ran down her chin and neck.

"It should not be so hot in May." She smiled up at him, her hand shielding her eyes.

"Rest a minute. We will catch up with them soon."

Serena gave him a grimacing smile. "I had no idea the trail would prove so difficult."

Drake could only agree. This land astounded him. From the time they had left the outskirts of Philadelphia and hiked into the lush vegetation of the forests, Drake felt he had entered another world. In places the undergrowth was so thick they had to hack their way through with swords and cutla.s.ses. Birds squawked at them from the trees. Squirrels and racc.o.o.ns scurried across their path, stopping to stare with round unblinking eyes, as if they had never seen a man before. Deer startled easily, their turned-up tails fluffy white, a beckoning target as they disappeared into a thicket. The woods smelled of moss, gra.s.s, and wet earth, the air moist and unusually hot.

Serena took another drink and pa.s.sed the canteen back to Drake. "There. I am better now."

"You could ride awhile. The horse seems well enough to hold your slight weight."

"No, I'll not add to the poor beast's burden unless I truly fear collapse." She grinned and took a deep breath. "Let us be on our way, husband, or we shall find ourselves in the forest at dark. That thought alone should spur me on."

Drake kissed her quickly and nodded. He had to agree with her: It would be far better to be in town by nightfall.

Here was the wild land he had heard tales of back in England, fraught with the perils of hostile Indians and wild creatures. Sometimes, especially at night, he felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck rise, sure that someone or something lurked in the dense brush, watching them. Drake gripped the comforting b.u.t.t of his flintlock musket, felt the steady slap against his leg of the English cutla.s.s he'd traded for, and set his teeth. He watched the trees, listening to the life of the forest, alert to any danger. His nerves hummed, his muscles stood out and ready, and he was amazed to discover he felt better than he had since the night they had read his father's will. Here, he felt a man, with the strength of his arms and the quickness of his senses their protection.

Truth be told, he found it exhilarating.

Five days into the wilderness and Drake felt he was finally finding himself once again. Well outfitted by Josiah and released from all debt, it was truly a new beginning for them. Drake insisted he pay Josiah back with interest as soon as he could; Josiah insisted he would do no such thing as they were family now. They had left the issue in a stalemate.

With the proceeds from selling his ring and the meager savings they had acc.u.mulated, they thought to have enough to get a start. Drake traded the clothes of a n.o.bleman for clothes better suited to wilderness living: buckskins, moccasins, and simple linen shirts. Serena's clothes were already appropriate, but they purchased a warmer coat for the cold winters in the valley.

Leah insisted on going through her store of blankets, linens, dishes, and the basic tools to cook and clean and do the laundry. By the time she was done, they'd loaded their small cart to the brim. Josiah gave Drake a gun and an ax to build their cabin with. The thought of building Serena a cabin had filled Drake with excited antic.i.p.ation. He wanted nothing more than to get out from under her parents' security and provide for her with the labor of his own two hands.

Going west to Lancaster, they'd trudged through the dense forest and then turned southwest to cross the Susquehanna River at Wright's Ferry. At its sh.o.r.es they met up with a party of four Scots-Irish, three men and a woman, also headed to the Shenandoah Valley.

Davis Lyle, Thom Patrick, and Henry and Delana Trimble were looking for the same thing Drake and Serena sought-cheap land. But their differences soon became known as the four became more and more themselves, course speech and manners surfacing. They constantly bickered and belittled each other. In the face of Drake's cultured speech and manners and Serena's quiet innocence, the others turned from friendly to watchful. And then their eyes had turned to mistrust and hate.

Finally Drake noticed how the men's eyes watched Serena.

He became more and more protective of his wife, trying to shelter her from their companions' influence, wanting to be rid of the four but having no real excuse to leave them until York. From there, he and Serena would travel the rest of the journey to Christopher's land alone. Hopefully their letter had reached him and he would be expecting them.

SERENA CAUGHT UP with Drake. "Are we close to York?" She couldn't disguise the anxiety in her voice.

"We will not stop until we get there." He smiled encouragement. "Come, climb up on my back for a bit of piggyback. You're light as a feather, and I would see you rested if we get lucky enough to have a bed to ourselves tonight."

Serena laughed at the wicked sparkle in his eyes. They had been too exhausted to appreciate a night together since starting out, so it was little wonder he was hopeful. Scrambling up onto his strong, broad back, Serena giggled. "I have not done this since I was five. I am not too heavy?" Before he could answer, she leaned in and blew into his ear. He groaned and attempted to slap her on the backside.

"None of that, my dear." Hoisting her up into a better grip, they went along.

They heard the town before they saw it. The others had been there for some minutes, waiting on the outskirts.

"Looks like the missus found herself a right comfortable seat."

Serena didn't care for the odd tone in Thom Patrick's voice. She slid down to the ground, gazing at the village in the twilight. "I hope there is an inn. I am famished."

Delana Trimble huffed. "Don't be counting on it, miss. Nor a bed to yourselves. We'll be lucky to all share a room."

Serena exchanged a look of trepidation with her husband.

Drake whispered down to her. "No. I will find you a bed, my dear." His hand came to rest possessively at the small of her back as they walked into the town.

It wasn't hard to find the inn, alive with music as it was. The Golden Plough Tavern, or so the sign read, was a large building with red shutters and a red painted door. The bottom half was made of timbered logs with white mortar c.h.i.n.king; the top half was red brick with timbered crossbeams.

Serena watched as Drake spoke with the innkeeper. The man was shaking his head but then suddenly did an about-face and showed Serena directly to a private room with a large feather bed.

"Whatever didst thou say to the man to change his mind?" She flung herself back into the feathers. The mattress sunk down, encompa.s.sing her in the softness. Drake's face appeared above her.

"I have amazing powers of persuasion, remember? Just wait, the best is yet to come."

Serena giggled. "What hast thou done?"

As if in answer to her question, there was a knock on the door. A young girl came in bearing two steaming bowls of deer stew. Another, even younger, with hair so light it was almost white, appeared behind her carrying a bottle of wine and two cups. Even more astonishing was the boy who followed with a bucket of steaming water, a large bowl, and a cloth with a sliver of soap tucked inside. Serena's delight escaped on a gasp.

"I can wash?" Looking at her beaming husband, she shook her head. "Truly amazing."

The food was tempting, but the steaming water beckoned. Serena smiled in happy contentment as she poured water into the deep bowl, dipped the cloth into the water, and lathered it with the precious piece of sweet-smelling soap. She could feel Drake's eyes on her as he busied himself pouring wine and setting out the bowls for their dinner.

Head thrown back, she washed her face and neck, dipping the cloth as far into the bodice of her gown as the neckline would allow. She longed to strip naked and really get clean, but there wasn't enough water and she wanted to save some for Drake. Instead she rinsed, poured fresh water into the bowl, and soaped up the cloth again before walking over to Drake, a half smile on her lips.

He sat still on the edge of the bed, eyes closed as she ran the cloth along his face, jaw, and then neck. Unb.u.t.toning his shirt, she opened it and cleaned the rugged planes of his chest, then ran the warm wetness over his shoulders and onto his back, dragging the shirt off as she went.

They were both breathless, the food forgotten. "However didst thou manage all this?" She spoke with her lips close to his as she reached around one shoulder. It was the first time she had taken the lead in their lovemaking, and she found it powerfully affecting.

"Some things are better left secret." He rasped out, eyes closed.

Serena gazed at his features. He hadn't shaved since they'd been on the trail, and dark whiskers covered the lower half of his face. His dark hair was blue-black, shiny as a raven's wing. Long black eyelashes lay against lean cheekbones. She wanted to see his eyes and on an impulse kissed one eyelid. His lips, almost too red for a man, curved into a smile, but he didn't open his eyes. Serena tried again, this time touching the outer eyelid with the tip of her tongue. His response thrilled her.

With sudden strength he pulled her down on the bed. "What are you up to, madam minx?" She always forgot just how strong he was until he handled her. Arms like manacles wrapped around her, caging her against him.

"I want to play." She squirmed out of his grasp. His eyes finally opened and Serena caught her breath. There was such a look of happy love coming from them. She sat up and, movements slow, sought to mesmerize him. She uncoiled her hair from its knot, letting the strands wrap around her shoulders the way he liked. He watched in worshipful silence, then reached for her, the dance begun.

MUCH LATER THEY ate the cold stew and drank the warm wine, still wrapped in one another's limbs among the feathers.

"We should sleep, love. Another hard day on the trail faces us in the morning."

Serena nodded sleepily against his chest. "We are about halfway there? Another five or six days?"