Page 77 (1/2)

And the world quite simply fell apart

She didn’t knohat to do, didn’t knohat to say She let go of his shoulders as her body straightened and then arched, everyimpossibly taut

And beneath her, he exploded His face contorted, his body lifted the himself into her Her na in volume until it was the barest of whispers And when he was done, all he said was, "Lie with me"

She did And she slept

For the first time in days, she slept deeply and truly

And she never knew that he laid awake the whole tiainst her hair

Whispering her na other words as well

Chapter 20

… Michael will do what he wishes He always does

– fro, three days after the receipt of Helen’s ht Francesca no peace When she thought about it rationally-or at least as rationally as she was able-it seemed as if she should have found soic in the air, soht tell her what to do, how to act, what sort of choice she needed to

She’d made love to him twice

Twice

To Michael

That alone should have dictated her decisions, convinced her to accept his proposal It should have been clear She had lain with hih that did seeiven that it had taken her a full two years to conceive with John

But even without such consequences, her decision should have been obvious In her world, in her society, the sort of inti

She must marry him

And yet she couldn’t quite suht she’d convinced herself that it hat she had to do, a little voice inside of her argued for caution, and she stopped, unable to s and try to figure out why she felt so paralyzed

Michael didn’t understand, of course How could he, when she didn’t understand herself?

"I shall call upon the vicar to," he’d murmured at her ear as he helped her e She had awakened alone sometime in the late afternoon, a brief note fro Felix back to Kilmartin and would return shortly with a newher once again to share the saddle, this time perched behind him

"I’ her chest "Don’t go see him Not yet"

His face had darkened, but he didn’t allow his temper to rise any further "We will discuss it later," he’d said

And they’d ridden home in silence

She tried to escape to her roo about needing to bathe, but he caught her hand, his grip fir, and she found herself alone with hi room of all places, the door shut firmly behind them

"What is all this about?" he asked