"No." I said, sniffling, "I want the line to s-stay up."

"Okay. Okay. Whatever you want. Anything. Just don't cry."

I took the napkin from him and blew my nose and sighed shakily. "I'm sorry I exploded out there. I shouldn't have overreacted."

He hovered, paused, shifted like a restless animal in a cage. "You spend half your life taking care of her, protecting her, and then one day some ass**le is shooting her across the yard on a line five feet off the ground with no helmet. Of course you'd be pissed."

"It's just...she's all I've got. And if anything ever happened to her—" My throat constricted but I forced myself to continue. "I've known for a long time that Carrington needs a man's influence in her life, but I don't want her to get involved with you and Churchill because this won't last forever, us being here, and that's why—"

"You're afraid for Carrington to get involved," he repeated slowly.

"Emotionally involved, yes. She'll have a hard time when we leave. I...I think this was a mistake."

"What was?"

"Everything. All of this. I shouldn't have taken Churchill's offer. We never should have moved here."

Gage was silent. A trick of the light made his eyes gleam as if with their own illumination.

"What?" I asked defensively. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"We'll talk about it later."

"We can talk about it now. What are you thinking?"

"That you're projecting again."

"About what?"

I stiffened as he reached for me. My thoughts scattered as I felt his hands, the heat of male skin. His legs bracketed mine, the muscles hard beneath thin worn denim. I gasped a little as his hand slid around my neck. His thumb made a slow pass at the side of my throat, and the light stroke aroused me shamefully.

Gage spoke against my hair, the words sinking to my scalp. "Don't pretend this is all about Carrington. You're worried about your own damned emotional involvement."

"Am not," I protested through dry lips.

He eased my head back, bent over me. A mocking whisper tickled my ear. "You're so full of it, darlin'."

He was right. I had been so naive to think that somehow we were going to visit the

Travises' world like a pair of tourists, participating without becoming involved. But somehow connections had been formed, my heart had found purchase in unexpected places. I was involved more than I had ever dreamed possible.

I began to tremble. There was a low tightening in my stomach as Gage's mouth wandered to the edge of my jaw, the corner of my lips. I backed away from him until my shoulders came up hard against the cabinets, causing a delicate rattle of china and crystal. Gage's supporting arm forced an arch at the small of my back. With every breath I took, my chest lifted against his.

"Liberty...let me. Let me..."

I couldn't talk or move, just waited helplessly as his mouth eased over mine.

I closed my eyes, opening to the taste of him, to slow kisses that explored without demand, while his hand moved to cradle the side of my face. Disarmed by his gentleness, I let my body relax against his. He searched more deeply, nudging, caressing, still with that maddening restraint, until my heart was pumping as if I'd run a marathon.

Closing his hand in the heavy mass of my hair, he held it aside and kissed my neck, taking forever to work his way up to the hollow behind my ear. By the time he had reached it. I was twisting to get closer to him, my fingers gripping the unyielding surface of his upper arms. With a murmur, he took my wrists and drew them around his shoulders. I wobbled on my sneakered toes, straining in every muscle.

He held me firmly, anchoring me against the hard framework of his body, and took my mouth again. This time his kisses were longer, grinding, wet. deeply consuming, and I couldn't catch my breath. I molded all my weight against him until there wasn't a millimeter of space between us. He kissed me as if he were already inside me, greedy kisses with teeth, tongue, lips, kisses of unbearable sweetness that made me want to pass out but instead I clung to his body and moaned into his mouth. His hands slid to my bottom, cupped me snugly against a hard jutting pressure that felt like nothing else in the world, and the desire turned into madness. I wanted him to bear me down to the floor, I wanted him to do anything, everything. His mouth ate at mine, licked deep, and every thought and impulse dissolved into a hum of white noise, raw pleasure rising to the top of my skull.

His hand slipped beneath the hem of my shirt, finding the skin of my back, which was flushed and tender as if I'd been scalded. The cool brush of his fingers was an unspeakable relief. I arched in frantic welcome, while his hand spread like an unfolding fan. traveling up my spine.

The kitchen door burst open.

We sprang apart, and I lurched a few feet away from Gage, throbbing in every part of my body. I fumbled with my shirt, trying to pull it into place. Gage stayed at the back of the pantry, arms braced on the cabinets, head lowered. I saw the muscles bunch beneath his clothes. His body was rigid with frustration; it came off him in waves. I was shocked by my response to him, the pure erotic burn of it.

I heard Carrington's uncertain voice. "Liberty, are you back there?"

I emerged hastily. "Yeah. I was just... I needed some privacy..."

I went to the far end of the kitchen where my sister was standing. Her small face was tense and anxious, her hair comically wild like a troll doll's. She looked as if she were going to cry. "Liberty..."