“Lass!” he said, his voice husky. “You will unman me.”

“You mean no other woman has looked at you?”

“Not like this.” He started to turn over, but she put her hand on his back and kept him in place.

“I’m not done with you yet.” She felt another scar on his left thigh. “And this one?”

“Dragged by a horse over a broken piece of iron. I nearly lost my leg with that one.”

“And you were?”

“Ten.”

“I’m glad you came to me whole.”

“Whole and growing,” he murmured. “Edilean! I can take little more of this.”

She moved down to his feet. There were several little scars around his ankles, but none that looked as though they’d threatened his life. She sat down at his feet and looked at the long, glorious, nude form of him before her. How strange it all was, she thought. She’d gone through her life being warned by nannies and teachers to keep her body covered at all times, but here she was, totally naked and staring at this magnificent man who had on not a stitch.

Slowly, she slid her body up his, feeling her breasts on every inch of him, kissing his warm, dark skin all the way up. When she reached his neck, he turned over to pull her on top of him. “Wait!” she said, “I want to see the front of you.”

“How about if you look while sitting up?”

“Sitting-?” she began, but then he lifted her and sat her down on top of the part of him that was eagerly awaiting her. “I see,” she said. “Sitting. What do I do now?”

“Anything you want to,” he said in a way that made her smile-and feel powerful.

“Is it like riding a horse? Shall I try posting?” She went to her knees and began to move up and down, slowly and rhythmically. She’d spent a great deal of her life on a horse, and her thighs were strong.

“How about a gallop?” she said.

Angus pushed her down onto the bed, never breaking contact. “How about if your horse takes command and runs away with you?” he said as he thrust into her.

“Yes,” was all she said.

An hour later, Edilean was asleep, her nude body half on his, half on the bed, and Angus wanted to stay with her forever, but he could hear people stirring about and he knew he must get up. If he didn’t, within minutes someone would be pounding on his door, wanting to know where things were and why wasn’t he handling whatever problem had come up.

This will be my last day, he thought as he eased himself out of the bed, careful not to disturb Edilean. He’d let her sleep some more, then he’d come back to the room and they’d… He wasn’t sure what they’d do, but he knew that they’d do it together.

As he dressed, he watched her, looked at her beautiful, bruised face, at the way she twitched her nose while she slept, the way her small body showed under the covers.

I hope she’s with child, he thought, and paused as he pulled on a shoe. Yes. With child. A little girl who looked just like her. They’d name her Catherine after his grandmother. Catherine Edilean. Angus smiled. What would the last name be? Since he was a wanted man, they couldn’t use McTern, but then he didn’t want to continue using the Harcourt name either. When she woke up, he’d have to talk to Edilean about it, and together they’d choose a new name.

When he was dressed, he tiptoed out of the room and went into the tavern.

Dolly glanced up at him. “Thought you’d quit. Or maybe you just want to because of the filly you have in your room.”

Angus smiled. He was used to living where no secrets were kept. “Just another one,” he said. “Nothing special.”

“That’s not what I heard.” She nodded toward the young man who’d brought Edilean to him the day before. He was sitting at a table with half a dozen other men, and he was telling a story that obviously fascinated them.

Angus turned away so Dolly wouldn’t see his frown. “And what has he been telling people?”

“That she can fight as good as a man.”

“What else?”

“There’s more?”

Angus wanted to ask her if the bigmouthed young man had told who Edilean was, if he’d told where she lived.

Dolly stepped closer to him. “He hasn’t told who your little lady is, if that’s what you’re worried about. In fact, the boy’s made it seem that she’s one of those transported criminals.”

He looked at her sharply.

“I saw the two of you,” she said, her eyes crinkling as she smiled. “I was young once. She’s no criminal, and he’s a good boy, that one.” Turning away, she went out from behind the bar to serve breakfast to the men.

Angus drew a tankard of beer for himself and drank it in one gulp. He hadn’t had any sleep during the night as Edilean had been… Smiling, he remembered the night, the kisses, the sounds, the positions. She had embarrassed and surprised him when she’d studied the back of him, but he’d loved it. It looked like her curiosity about the world extended to more than countries and manners. All in all, it had been a night of such pure joy that he thought that if he were to die now, he would regret nothing.

It was when he put his tankard down that he saw the handbill on the wall. It was the same one that had been posted in Scotland, and it was the picture that Edilean had drawn of him when his hair was wild and his face covered with whiskers.

For a moment Angus stood still, paralyzed, unable to move as he stared at the picture hung on a nail in the wall. The handbill hadn’t been there yesterday.

When Dolly came back to the bar, he was still standing there. She got drinks and put them on a tray, but Angus still didn’t move. When Dolly started out with her full tray, he caught her arm.

“Where did this come from?” he whispered, unable to make his voice work properly.

“A man brought it here last night. I thought it looked a bit like you.” She was teasing him.

“Did you tell him that?” Angus asked.

Dolly took only a second to see what was on his face. “No. I told him nothing. I didn’t like him. He’s a beautiful man, but he knows it. He treated me like I was his slave.”

“Where is he now?” Angus asked, swallowing hard.

“Asleep, I reckon. Go,” she said in the next breath. “Do what you need to do. I’ll hold him off as long as I can. A man like him won’t like soup poured on his clothes, but I’ll do it.”

“Is he alone?”

“No. He has two thugs with him. Frightening-looking men. Angus…” Her face was full of fear and concern for him. “You can’t stand up to all of them. You must go!”

For the second time in two days, Angus kissed Dolly’s cheek, then he swiftly left the tavern. When he got to his room, he stopped outside the door. His instinct was to wake Edilean and tell her that James was there, that he’d come to America with his handbill and the warrant for Angus’s arrest, and that he hadn’t come alone.

Angus had always known it was a possibility that James would come to America to seek him out. You couldn’t humiliate a man like James Harcourt and not expect retribution. But still, seeing the handbill had shocked him. If James had only come the day before! If he’d only come before Edilean and Angus had spent the night together, things would now be different. Angus could slip away, and no one would be hurt.

But now he was going to have to leave, and there would be a great deal of pain. Angus knew that he couldn’t stay with Edilean. He couldn’t even tell her that he was leaving. She would never agree that Angus had to get away and leave her behind. She’d want to go with him.

For a moment he rubbed his eyes to clear them. Above all else, he couldn’t let Edilean know the truth. He couldn’t go to her and say, “I love you but I have to leave you behind to protect you.” She’d never agree to their parting, but that’s what was going to have to happen. They’d have to separate forever.

It was as though he could see in a crystal ball and he knew the future. James would hunt Angus down wherever he went-and if Angus had a wife and children, he’d still find him. And then what? If James didn’t have Angus killed outright, he would enjoy seeing Angus taken to jail. Imprisoned. If he couldn’t be prosecuted in America, it was for sure that James Harcourt would find a time when Angus wasn’t alert and he’d kidnap him and take him back to Scotland. There he’d be tried, convicted, and sentenced to death or maybe he’d receive “just” a lifetime to rot away in a stinking prison.