"Poor Nora."

"The gossip ruined her. There was no hope of marriage. Her family did not have the social power it would have taken to force Nora's seducer to marry her."

"So they whisked her back home and contrived to marry her off to you?"

"They concluded that the humbling country squire next door was unlikely to discover the truth." Marcus glanced at his hands again. "They were right. To this day I sometimes wonder if I would ever have learned what a fool I had been if Nora had not miscarried the babe."

"Surely you would have known the truth when the child was horn several weeks too soon?"

"I doubt it. I told you, I knew little of such matters. I would have been informed that the infant was horn prematurely and I would have wanted to believe it."

"The rumors I beard said that Nora died of a fever." "She did. Six months after she lost the babe."

"Ale duel," Iphiginia whispered. "That was what the duel was A about, was it not? Shortly after Nora died, you went to London and challenged her seducer."

"He told me I was a fool, which was no doubt true. I-le demanded to know what possible difference it all made now that the wench was dead. I did not give him any answers because I had none."

"You defended your wife's honor even though she had wronged you. Even though she was no longer alive." Iphiginia felt a tear trickle down her cheek. "Marcus, that is so exactly like you."

Marcus scowled. "Bloody bell. Are you crying?"

"No." She gave a tiny sniff.

"I should hope not. The matter does not warrant tears."

"But it does, Marcus. I feel sorry for both you and Nora. She must have been literally terrified when she discovered that she was ruined and pregnant."

"She was young and desperate. She was an innocent girl who had allowed herself to be seduced. She had broken one of Society's strictest rules. She knew that she would have to pay a terrible price. So she turned to you, her childhood friend."

"The thing is," Marcus said, "I wanted her so much I would have taken her on any terms. I would have given her my name and claimed the babe as my own. If only she had not deceived me. That was what I could not forgive."

"Because whenever you think back on her deception, you feel you played the fool."

"I did play the fool." Iphiginia felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. She, tool had deceived him. He no doubt believed that he had played the fool with her, also.

She reached out and put her gloved hand on his leg. "Nora did not make a fool of you, Marcus. No one could do that. You behaved in a noble, chivalrous fashion. You avenged her honor and you kept her secret."

"I had little choice in the matter. I could hardly reveal her dishonor without making myself appear a naive, gullible idiot."

"I do not believe that it was the thought of appearing naive or gullible which bothers you the most about the past," Iphiginia said. "I think it was the fact that you had given her your heart but she did not love you in return. You feel that she used you to save herself."

"And so she did." "I will not quarrel with your conclusion," Iphiginia said. "Nora was little more than a girl and she was no doubt hysterical with fear at the time. Her parents must have been equally frantic and desperate to save their daughter from utter ruin."

«Yes.» "Your marriage was begun under a dreadful cloud. You say that you were the virgin on your wedding night, but I think you were years older than Nora in all the ways that truly count. You had been obliged to grow up very quickly, after all. Nora, on the other hand, was barely out of girlhood."

Marcus said nothing. "Do you know what I think?" Iphiginia said. "I believe that if she had lived, Nora would have grown up and fallen deeply in love with you. She would have learned to love you when she was mature enough to comprehend your finer qualities."

Marcus stated at her. "For an intelligent female, you sometimes spout the most outlandish nonsense. What in the name of the devil makes you believe such a ridiculous thing?"

She smiled. "Because I know how very easy it is to fall in love with you, my lord. Indeed, I have done so myself."

Marcus said nothing. "Do you know what I think?" Iphiginia said. "I believe that if she had lived, Nora would have grown up and fallen deeply in love with you. She would have learned to love you when she was mature enough to comprehend your finer qualities."

Marcus stated at her. "For an intelligent female, you sometimes spout the most outlandish nonsense. What in the name of the devil makes you believe such a ridiculous thing?"

She sniffled. "Because I know how very easy it is to fall in love with you, my lord. Indeed, I have done so myself."

MARCUS FELT AS THOUGH THE GROUND SHIFTED around him, leaving him in a different place than he had been a moment earlier. The light from the stars seemed to come from a slightly different angle. The moon had altered its position in the sky.

Iphiginia had said that she loved him. Again.

Quite clearly. Marcus studied her very closely. She did not appear to be overwrought as she had the other night in the Temple of Vesta when she had thought she'd murdered him.

"Marcus?" Iphiginia frowned in concern. "Are you all right, my lord?"

"No." But he could not explain what was wrong or changed or different. He could not even form a coherent sentence.

He reached out and caught Iphiginia around the waist. He dragged her off the seat and into his arms.

She uttered a small, delicious gasp of surprise and then dropped her fan when he crushed her mouth beneath his own. Her shawl fluttered to the floor of the carriage.

"Marcus." Her arms stole around him. She sighed softly and nestled close.

Without taking his lips from hers, Marcus closed the carriage curtains. The cab was Idled with soft darkness.

He kissed Iphiginia deeply, hungrily, with all the consuming need that he had kept tamped down since the night in the Temple of Vesta.

She did not appear to mind his desperation or his lack of subtlety. She clung to him. Her hands moved in his hair. Her head fell back against his shoulder.

Marcus put his hand on her stocking-clad calf. He slid his palm up to her knee, past her garter, and all the way to the warm, silken flesh above. Her delicate petticoats foamed around his arm and cascaded across his legs.

He found his way to the heated place between her thighs and groaned when he discovered that she was already damp. She smelled of roses and feminine desire. It was the most intoxicating scent he had ever encountered. His whole body clenched with need.

Marcus realized that his hands were trembling. He fought for breath and control. He would not throw himself on her the way he had last time, he vowed. He would not act the rough, clumsy farmer. He would make it good for her.

He wanted to please her. He was desperate to please her. He had to please her.

He eased her to a sitting position until she straddled his thighs. Her white skirts pooled on the black velvet cushions. He reached down to unfasten his breeches.

Iphiginia braced her hands on his shoulders. "Marcus, what are you doing?"

"Making love to you." His erect shaft sprang free. "In your carriage?" A narrow sliver of light from the crack in the curtains revealed her wide-eyed expression.

"It must be either here or on your front doorsteps. I cannot last until we find the comfort of a bed. Touch me."

"Yes. Oh, yes." Tentatively, she removed her hand from his shoulder. She took the tip of one gloved finger between her teeth and tugged. Then she went to the next finger. Slowly she eased the white satin glove off her hand.

Watching her strip the glove from her fingers was one of the most excruciatingly erotic sights Marcus had ever witnessed.