Her eyes sparked chips of anger. “There could be any number of reasons, but you chose not to give me the benefit of the doubt. You chose to assume that I’d run off with another man, or to another man.”

He couldn’t deny it. Though he wasn’t going to admit it and give her more ammunition.

Her eyes narrowed. “You did think it, didn’t you? Even though I agreed to remain betrothed to you. Even though I gave you my word. Which you obviously don’t believe in.”

He couldn’t deny that either, but he said in a conciliating tone, “But I must, must I not, because you claim you don’t break your promises.”

It apparently wasn’t conciliating enough. She bared her teeth at him. “There is a first time for everything.”

“What if you have a child?” And where had that question come from? He needed an heir, of course, but . . . It was her duty to him that was the issue. Surely.

“Then of course I will belong to them,” she said as if he’d asked a particularly stupid question.

At that, the tension in him began to abate. Yes, he couldn’t see her leaving a child to the uncertain care of servants. She’d probably be as fiercely protective as a mother bear . . .

They each looked out of their respective windows. Several miles passed in silence. She gave a cross snort and said as if to herself, “As if I would run off with a rake.” A moment later she added in a low mutter that he was sure he wasn’t meant to catch, “I wouldn’t touch another man with a barge pole. It’s bad enough with you.”

A hollow opened up in his stomach. “What do you mean? What’s ‘bad enough’?”

There was a long silence. Color rose in her cheeks, and just when he was sure she wasn’t going to answer, she said in a low voice, “This . . . these feelings.”

“Feelings?” He held his breath, waiting for her response.

“Sensations, then,” she muttered unwillingly. She’d turned a glorious wild rose color.

His breath came rushing back. His anger dissolved. He moved to sit beside her. “What sort of sensations?” he almost purred.

She glared at him and crossed her arms defensively. “You know perfectly well what I’m talking about.”

“You mean this?” He stroked a finger along her arm, almost but not quite touching the soft swell of her breast. “Or this?” He trailed the back of his hand down her cheek.

“Stop it!” She moistened her lips, unaware of how seductive he found it.

“You like my attentions, don’t you?”

She pressed her lips together and looked out the window. Refusing to answer him because then she would have to tell him the truth. Because she always did.

Because she always did . . . Something unraveled inside him.