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"Now, I knohat you’re going to say," she said fire for ton? And before you say no, certainly not, ask yourself what I’ll do if you do say that"

Having opened his mouth to say "No, certainly not," Lord John shut it and contemplated her in silence for a ain, are you?" he asked conversationally "Because if you are…"

"Of course not" She had the grace to blush slightly at that

"Well, then, I confess I do not see quite what you--"

"I’ll tell my aunt that Stephen Bonnet fathered my baby And I’ll tell Farquard Cae Alderdyce And then I’ll go down to the garrison headquarters--that eant Murchison If he won’t let o to Mr Caht to see him"

He looked at her narrowly, but he could see it was no idle threat She sat there, solid and immobile as a piece of marble statuary, and just as susceptible of persuasion

"You do not shrink fro a ht only to buy himself a moment to think

"No," she said calot to lose?" She lifted one eyebrow in a half-huement But if the whole county knoho the baby’s father is, I think that would have the sa an, knowing it was hopeless

"Is not real hot to start with Though conant because I was raped by a pirate than because I anton, as ly put it?" There was a small note of bitterness in her voice that stopped hi any more

"Anyway, Aunt Jocasta isn’t likely to throw me out, just because I’m scandalous I won’t starve; neither will the baby And I can’t say I care whether the Misses MacNeill call on ain, carefully this time, with an eye on her to prevent further shocks He was curious to knohat had passed between her and her father--but not reckless enough to ask Instead he put down the glass and asked, "Why?"

"Why?"

"Why do you feel you s, which is undeniably true" He allowed a tinge of wryness to creep into his voice "Whatever they are, though, they ent, to cause you to conterew on her lips, spreading into her eyes

"I really like the way you talk," she said

"I a flattered However, if you would conteh toponderously, and groped in the seaown She had evidently had a pocket sewn into it, for she extracted a s

"Read that," she said, handing it to him She turned away, and went to the far end of the room, where her paints and easel stood in a corner by the hearth

The black letters struck him with a small jolt of familiarity He had seen Jah; it was a distinctive scrawl

Daughter--

I cannot say if I shall see you again My fervent hope is that it shall be so, and that all may be mended between us, but that event must rest in the Hand of God I write now in the event that He ht to kill in revenge of the great Wrong done you I tell you that you must not For the sake of your Soul, for the sake of your own Life, you iveness Freedom is hardwon, but it is not the fruit of Murder

Do not Fear that he will escape Vengeance Such a man carries with him the seeds of his own Destruction If he does not Die at my Hand, it will be by another But it must not be your Hand that strikes him down

Hear me, for the sake of the Love I bear you

Below the text of the letter, he had written YourFather, James Fraser This was scratched out, and beloritten sioodbye to him"

Lord John looked up, startled Her back was turned to hi at the half-finished landscape on the easel as though it were a

He crossed the carpet to stand beside her The fire had burned down in the hearth, and it was growing cold in the rooainst the chill

"I want to be free," she said quietly "Whether Roger comes back or not Whatever happens"

The child was restless; he could see it kicking and squir below her crossed ar chilled and apprehensive

"You are sure youblue looks

"I have to find a way to forgive hi, ever since they left, but I can’t do it Maybe if I see hiht" He let his breath out in a long sigh, shoulders sluht--relief?--showed in her eyes, and he tried to smile back