Bliss smiled and patted Elisabeth’s head. “Thank you for those reassuring words,” she said, knowing that such a chance wouldn’t come again. “Sweetheart, you love your Uncle Papa, don’t you?”

Elisabeth nodded, a smile lighting her beautiful little face.

Bliss crouched, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial, child-to-child tone. “I love him, too. And I think he’s in terrible trouble. Elisabeth, I’ve got to go and help him, before it’s too late.”

Elisabeth McKenna might still be young, but she was nobody’s fool. She shook her head. “You’re supposed to stay here,” she said flatly. “No matter what.”

Bliss sighed. To think that she had come to such a pass as to be held prisoner by a child. “I’ll just go upstairs and get a book to read, then,” she ventured when Elisabeth was thoroughly absorbed in her sketching again.

“All right,” the little girl replied, so sweetly that Bliss felt guilty for planning what she did.

Moving at a sedate pace, she proceeded out of the parlor and into the entryway. When Elisabeth didn’t sound the alarm, she crept to the front door and turned the knob. It made no sound, but the hinges creaked when Bliss flung herself headlong into freedom.

Holding her skirts high, she dashed down the long road leading between two rows of banana trees, her heart hammering against her rib cage. Behind her, she could hear Elisabeth shouting for her papa.

Bliss ran blindly on. Only as she was nearing the main road did it occur to her that she might be better off hiding from whoever was in pursuit. Hurtling down the driveway in her sunshine-yellow dress, she was easy prey.

She leaped into the tall grass, praying none of the snakes Elisabeth had mentioned would greet her, and ducked, gathering her skirts around her as closely as she could. She hardly dared breathe, hearing Reeve’s footsteps on the road as she did, along with his curses.

Finally, he paused, so close that Bliss might have reached out and touched the toe of his boot. “All right, Bliss,” he said, “I’ll give you your way. Come out, and we’ll go looking for Jamie together.”

Bliss buried her face in her knees. She wanted to trust Reeve, but she didn’t. She hadn’t known him long enough, or well enough.

It was a rustling sound in the grass that betrayed her. A milk snake passed by her right hip, going on its merry way, and she uttered a shriek of complete terror.

Reeve reached down and caught her by the upper arm, causing her no pain but not exactly holding her gently, and hauled her up onto the road. “Do I ’ave to lock you up in the attic?” he demanded furiously.

Bliss stared at him. Now she was going to find out whether he’d been bluffing that night on the stairs or not, and she had an awful feeling that she’d pegged Reeve McKenna wrong. Tears of fear and frustration sprouted in her eyes. “You promised that we’d go and find Jamie together!” she cried.