He straightened, and she decided it was his movements, so smoothly controlled, so reminiscent of leashed power, like a panther not yet ready to pounce, that most unnerved her. Leaning one aim along the mantelpiece, he looked down at her.

"Why?"

She frowned. "Why what?"

The very ends of his lips twitched. "Why won't you agree to marry me?"

"Because I have no need of a husband " Especially not a husband like you. She folded her arms beneath her breasts and focused, solely, on his face. "My role within the vale does not permit the usual relationships a woman of my station might expect to enjoy." She tilted her chin. "I am unmarried by choice, not for lack of offers. It's a sacrifice I have made for my people."

She was rather pleased with that tack; men like the Cynsters understood sacrifice and honor.

His black brows rose, silently he considered her. Then, "Who will inherit your manor, your position, if you do not marry and beget heirs?"

Inwardly, Catriona cursed, outwardly, she merely raised her brows back. "In time, I will, of course, marry for heirs, but I need not do so for many years yet."

"Ah-so you don't have a complete and absolute aversion to marriage?"

Head high, her eyes locked on his, Catriona drew a deep breath and held it. "No," she eventually admitted, and started to pace. "But there are various caveats, conditions, and considerations involved."

"Such as?"

"Such as my devotions to The Lady. And my duties as a healer. You may not realize it, but…"

Propped against the mantelpiece, Richard listened to her excuses-all revolved about the duties she saw as devolving to her through her ownership of the manor. She paced incessantly back and forth; he almost ordered her to sit, so he could sit, too, and not tower over her, forcing her to glance up every time she wanted to check his deliberately uninformative countenance, then he realized who her pacing reminded him of. Honoria, Devil's duchess, also paced, in just the same way skirts swishing in time with her temper. Catriona's skirts were presently swinging with agitated tension; Richard inwardly sighed and leaned more heavily on the mantelpiece.

"So you see," she concluded, swinging to face him, "at present, a husband is simply out of the question."

"No, I don't see." He trapped her gaze. "All you've given me is a litany of your duties, which in no way that I can see preclude a husband."

She had never in her adult life had to explain herself to anyone, that was clearly written in the astonished, slightly hoity expression that infused her green eyes. Then they flared. "I don't have time for a husband!" Quick as a flash, she added: "For the arguments, like this one."

"Why should you argue?"

"Why, indeed-but all men argue, and a husband certainly would. He would want me to do things his way, not my way-not The Lady's way."

"Ah-so your real concern is that a husband would interfere with your duties."

"That he'd seek to interfere in how I perform my duties." She paused in her pacing and eyed him narrowly. "Gentlemen such as you have a habit of expecting to have your own way in all things. I could not possibly marry such a man."

"Because you want to have your own way in all things?"

Her eyes flashed. "Because I need to be free to perform my duties-free of any husbandly interference."

Calmly, he considered her. "What if a husband didn't interfere?"

She snorted derisively and resumed her pacing.

Richard's lips twitched. "It is possible, you know."

"That you would let your wife go her own way?" At the far end of her route, she turned and raked him with a dismissively contemptuous glance. "Not even in the vale do pigs fly."

It was no effort not to smile; Richard felt her raking gaze pass over every inch of his body-he had to clamp an immediate hold over his instinctive reaction. Ravishing her wouldn't serve his purpose-he had yet to decide just what his purpose was. Learning more of her would, however, greatly assist in clarifying that point.

"If we married, a man such as I," his tone parodied her distinction, "might, given your position, agree to"-he gestured easily-"accommodate you and your duties." She shot him a skeptical glance, he trapped her gaze. "There's no reason some sort of agreement couldn't be reached."

She considered him, a frown slowly forming in her eyes, then she humphed and turned away.

Richard studied her back, the sweeping line of her spine from her nape to the ripe hemispheres of her bottom. The view was one designed to distract him, attract him-the stiffness of her stance, the sheer challenge of her reluctance only deepened the magnetic tug.

"You're not seriously considering marrying me."

She made the statement, clear and absolute, to the darkness beyond the window.

Richard lowered his arm and leaned back against the mantlepiece. "Aren't I?"

She continued to gaze into the gloaming. "You only claimed the week's grace because we all took it for granted that you would refuse." She paused, then added. "You don't like being taken for granted."

Richard felt his brows rise. "Actually, it was because you took me for granted. The others don't count."

The swift glance she shot him was scathing. "I might have known you'd say it was my fault."

"You might have noticed I haven't. You were the reason I so promptly claimed the time, but… on reflection"-his gesture encompassed the woods through which he'd tramped-"I would have claimed it anyway."

She frowned. "Why?"

He studied her and wondered if he could ever explain to anyone how he felt about family. "Let's just say that I've a constitutional dislike of making rushed decisions, and Seamus laid his plans very carefully. He knew I wouldn't appreciate being used as a pawn to disenfranchise his family."

Her frown deepened. "Because of being a bastard?"

"No. Because of being a Cynster."

Her frown grew more puzzled. "I don't understand."

Richard grimaced. "Nor do I. I'm not at all clear, for instance, on why Seamus went to such lengths-such machinations-to get me here, into this bizarre situation."

She humphed and turned back to the window. "That's because you didn't know Seamus. He was forever plotting and scheming-like many men of wealth and position. Indeed, he often spent so much time making plans he never got around to the execution."

Richard raised his brows. "No wonder my father was sent here." Catriona looked her question; he met her gaze. "Cynsters are renowned for action. We might plan, just enough, but our talents lie in the execution. Never ones to drag our heels."

She humphed softly and turned back to the night. After a moment, she raised a hand and started drawing spirals on the cold pane. "I was thinking…" She paused; he could hear the grimace in her voice. "Seamus may have envisioned marriage to me as a penance-a sort of deferred punishment-with you paying the price in place of your father."

Richard frowned. "If he thought that, then the joke's on him. It would be no hardship to be married to you."

She turned her head; their gazes locked-everything else did as well. Time, their breathing, even their heartbeats. Desire shimmered, filling the air, heightening senses, tightening nerves.

She drew breath and looked away. "Be that as it may, you aren't considering it."

Richard sighed. When would she learn she couldn't sway him with her tone? "Think what you will. But the solicitor's left and won't be back for a week. I won't make my decision until then." He wouldn't be rushed, he wasn't impulsive-and he needed to know more. Of her, and why Seamus had made such an iniquitous will.

She humphed and muttered something; he thought it might have been "stubborn as a mule."

Pushing away from the mantlepiece, he strolled toward her, his footfalls muffled by the carpet. As he neared, she whirled, only just suppressing a gasp. She went to step back-and stopped herself. And tilted her chin instead.

Inwardly, he smiled-she looked deliciously ruffled, and it was he who'd done the ruffling. "Don't worry, I'm not about to pounce."

The gold flecks in her eyes flared. "I didn't imagine-"

"Yes, you did." He looked down at her, at her too-wide eyes, at the way her breasts rose and fell. Bringing his eyes back to hers, he grimaced. "If it eases your mind, as my host's ward and a virtuous, unmarried lady, you are effectively removed from my list of potential seductees."

He could follow her thoughts easily in her vibrant eyes.

"Ah, no," he murmured, "that doesn't mean you're safe with me." He smiled. "Just that I won't seduce you without marrying you."

She glared-at this distance, he could feel the heat. It stopped abruptly; an arrested expression filled her eyes. Then she focused on him.

"I just realized… Seamus only required you to agree to marry me, not that I agree to marry you. He knew I wouldn't agree; I'm under no compulsion to obey him." She frowned. "What did he imagine he'd achieve?"

Looking down into her upturned face, at her eyes, wide and puzzled, at her lips, warm and slightly parted, Richard fought down an urge to kiss her. "I told you-Seamus made a very thorough study of the Cynsters."

"So?" She searched his face, then his eyes.

"So he knew that, if I publically declare I'll wed you, I will."

Her eyes flew wide, then narrowed to green shards. "That's ridiculous! You can't simply declare we'll wed- I have to agree. And I won't!"