"What is it, then?"

"I am making love to you. It's perfectly permissible between husband and wife, you know."

"You are not making love to me," she countered very seriously.

Startled, Julian raised his head to meet her eyes. "I'm not?"

"Of course not. How could you be making love to me? You do not love me."

"Call it seduction, then," he retorted. "A man has a right to seduce his own wife, surely. I gave you my word not to force myself on you but I never promised not to attempt to seduce you." There would be no need to honor the stupid agreement, he thought with satisfaction. She showed every sign of responding to him already.

Sophy leaned away from him, a deep anger lighting her turquoise eyes. "As far as I am concerned, seduction is but another form of forcing yourself on a woman. It is a man's way of concealing the truth of his motives."

Julian was stunned at the vehemence in her voice. "You have had experience of it, then?" he countered coldly.

"The results of a seduction are the same for a woman as the use of force, are they not?"

She scrambled awkwardly off his thighs, the wool skirts of her traveling dress twisting awkwardly around her in the process. The broken feather in her bonnet drooped further until it hung over one wary eye. She reached up and snatched it out of the way, leaving a broken feather shaft behind.

Julian shot out his hand and snagged her wrist. "Answer me, Sophy. Have you had experience of seduction?"

"It is a little late to ask me now, is it not? You ought to have made your inquiries into the matter before you offered for me."

And he knew quite suddenly that she had never lain in a man's arms. He could see the answer he wanted in her eyes. But he felt compelled to make her admit the truth. She had to learn that he would tolerate no evasions, half-truths, or any of the myriad other shapes a woman's lies could take.

"You will answer me, Sophy."

"If I do, will you answer all my questions about your past amours?"

"Of course not."

"Oh, you are so grossly unfair, my lord."

"I am your husband."

"And that gives you a right to be unfair?"

"It gives me a right and a duty to do what is best for you. Discussing my past liaisons with you would serve no good purpose and we both know it."

"I am not so certain. I think it would provide me with greater insight into your character."

He gave a crack of laughter at that. "I think you have enough insight as it is. Too much at times. Now tell me about your experience with the fine art of seduction, Sophy. Did some country squire attempt to tumble you in the woods?"

"If he had, what would you do about it?"

"See that he paid for it," Julian said simply.

Her mouth fell open. "You would conduct a duel because of a past indiscretion?"

"We stray from the topic, Sophy." His fingers closed more firmly around her wrist. He could feel the small, delicate bones there and took care not to tighten his hold too far.

Her eyes fell away from his. "You need not worry about avenging my lost honor, my lord. I assure you I have led an extremely quiet and unexciting existence. A somewhat boring existence, to be precise."

"I rather thought so." He released her hand and relaxed back against the cushion. "Now tell me why you equate seduction with force?"

"This is hardly a proper conversation for us to be conducting," she said in muffled tones.

"I have the impression you and I will have many such improper conversations. There are times, my dear, when you are a most improper young woman." He reached up and plucked the broken feather shaft from her bonnet.

She glanced at the shaft with an expression of resignation. "You should have considered my improper tendencies before you insisted on offering for me."

Julian turned the feather shaft between thumb and forefinger. "I did. I decided they were all quite manageable. Stop trying to distract me, Sophy. Tell me why you fear seduction as much as force."

"It is a private matter, my lord. I do not speak of it."

"You will speak of it to me. I am afraid I must insist, Sophy. I am your husband."

"Do stop using that fact as an excuse for indulging your curiosity," she snapped.

He slanted her a considering glance and considered the defiant tilt of her chin. "You insult me, madam."

She shifted uneasily, attempting to straighten her skirts. "You are easily insulted, my lord."

"Ah, yes, my excessive arrogance. I fear we must both learn to live with it, Sophy. Just as we must learn to live with my excessive curiosity." Julian studied the broken feather shaft and waited.

Silence descended on the swaying coach. The sound of creaking wheels and harness leather and the steady beat of the horses' hooves suddenly became very loud.

"It was not a matter that affected me, personally," Sophy finally said in a very small voice.

"Yes?" Again Julian waited.

"It was my sister who was the victim of the seduction." Sophy stared very hard at the passing scenery. "But she had no one to avenge her."

"I understood that your sister died three years ago."

"She did."

Something about Sophy's clipped voice alerted Julian. "Are you implying that her death was the result of a seduction?"

"She found herself with child, my lord. The man who was responsible cast her aside. She could not bear the shame or the betrayal. She took a large dose of laudanum." Her fingers clenched together in her lap.

Julian sighed. "I am sorry, Sophy."

"There was no need for her to take such a course of action," Sophy whispered tightly. "Bess could have helped her."

"Old Bess? How?" Julian frowned.

"There are ways that such situations may be remedied," Sophy said. "Old Bess knows them. If only my sister had confided in me, I could have taken her to Bess. No one need ever have known."

Julian dropped the feather shaft and leaned over to capture his wife's wrist once more. This time he deliberately exerted pressure on the small bones. "What do you know of such matters?" he demanded very softly. Elizabeth had known such things.

Sophy blinked quickly, apparently confused by his sudden, controlled rage. "Old Bess knows much about medicinal herbs. She has taught me many things."

"She has taught you ways to rid yourself of an unwanted babe?" he demanded softly.

Sophy seemed to realize at last that she had said far too much. "She… she has mentioned certain herbs that a woman can use if she believes she has conceived," she admitted hesitantly. "But the herbs can be very dangerous to the mother and must be used with great skill and caution." Sophy looked down at her hands for a moment. "I am not skilled in that particular art."

"Bloody hell. You had best not be skilled in such things, Sophy. And I swear, if that old witch, Bess, is dealing in abortion, I will have her removed from my land immediately."

"Really, my lord? Are your friends in London so very pure? Have none of your amours never been obliged to resort to certain remedies because of you?"

"No, they have not," Julian rasped, thoroughly goaded now. "For your information, madam, there are techniques that may be used to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place, just as there are ways to prevent contracting certain diseases associated with… never mind."

"Techniques, my lord? What techniques?" Sophy's eyes lit up with obvious fascination.

"Good God, I don't believe we are discussing such matters."

"You opened the discussion, my lord. I collect you do not intend to tell me about these techniques for preventing the, er, problem."

"No, I most certainly do not."

"Ah, I see. This is yet another privileged bit of information available only to men?"

"You have no need of such information, Sophy," he said grimly. "You are not in the one business that would require that you learn such things."

"But there are women who do know such things?" she pressed.

"That is quite enough, Sophy."

"And you know such women? Would you introduce me to one of them? I should dearly love to chat with her. Perhaps she would know other such amazing things. My intellectual interests are quite far-ranging, you know. One can get only so much out of books."

He thought for an instant she was teasing him again and Julian came close to losing his temper completely. But at the last moment he realized Sophy's fascination was oddly innocent and totally genuine. He groaned and leaned back into the corner of the seat. "We will not discuss this further."

"You sound distressingly like my grandmother. Really, it is very disappointing, Julian. I had hoped that when I married I would find myself living with someone who would be a more amusing conversationalist."

"I shall endeavor to amuse you in other ways," he muttered, closing his eyes and resting his head against the cushion.

"If you are talking about seduction again, Julian, I must tell you, I do not find the topic amusing."

"Because of what happened to your sister? I can see where such a situation would have left its mark on you, Sophy. But you must learn that there is a vast difference between that which goes on between husband and wife and the sort of unpleasant seduction your sister endured."

"Really, my lord? How does a man learn to make such fine distinctions? At school? Did you learn them during your first marriage or from your experience of keeping mistresses?"

At that juncture, Julian's temper frayed to a gossamer thread. He did not move or open his eyes. He did not dare. "I have explained to you that my first marriage is not a topic for discussion. Nor is the other subject you just raised. If you are wise, you will keep that in mind, Sophy."