Dangerous to Love by Elizabeth Thornton Page A

themselves by visiting such places.”
    “Very true, but not unescorted.”
    “As to that, I became separated from my escort. Oh, I don’t blame him. He didn’t desert me. I was supposed to wait for him.”
    “Your escort deserves to be horsewhipped for leaving you unprotected. Do I know him?”
    She smiled at his vehemence. “Oh no, Major Raynor. My escort that night is no concern of yours. I refuse to divulge his name.”
    “It might be my concern if he chooses to avenge your honor. An enraged beau—”
    “He was not my beau—”
    “—or brother.”
    She opened her mouth and quickly changed direction when she perceived his trap. “There is not the least likelihood of anyone avenging my honor.”
    He lifted a dark brow cynically. “I see. Go on.”
    She took a moment to arrange her thoughts in orderbefore saying, “I panicked. It’s as simple as that. When the militia arrived, I panicked, fearing that they would learn my identity and escort me home in disgrace. You see how it was. You were there and, as I thought, offering a way out of my dilemma. It never entered my head that things would go so far.”
    “So the presence of the militia did have something to do with it,” he said, as though thinking aloud. He had braced one hip on the edge of a long library table, and seemed to be mulling over what Serena had just told him.
    She didn’t want him to think too closely about the presence of the militia that night. Her clear blue eyes unflinching, she said, “Now that you understand all the circumstances, you must see that any reference to that night, any memory of it, fills me with loathing and disgust. We can have nothing more to say to each other, Major Raynor. Please leave this house and in future, if we should happen to meet, do me the kindness of refusing to acknowledge the acquaintance.”
    He stared at her long and hard, then shook his head, mocking the pose she had adopted. “I think I prefer Victoria to Serena,” he said. “So, you are determined to make me the villain of the piece? Loathing? Disgust? That is not how I remember it, but we have already had this argument.”
    He paused, then inhaled sharply as if steeling himself to perform an unpleasant duty. “I am at your service, Miss Ward, willing to make amends for my unknowing villainy. Tell me what you wish me to do.”
    Marriage was implicit in his offer. Reluctance was evident in the insulting way the offer was made. Pride, as well as her own inclinations, dictated only one answer. “I have told you what I require of you, Major Raynor. I never want to see you again, nor ever wish to speak with you again.”
    Nothing registered on his face but polite interest. “Have you considered that there may be consequences from our night together?”
    She couldn’t prevent the flush that stole from throat to hairline. It was pride, again, that kept her eyes on his. “There is nothing to fear on that score,” she said, and immediately began to count off days in her head.
    “Good God! Surely it occurred to you before now? When last did you have your woman’s courses?”
    She gasped. “Even if I were with child, I would never lower myself to accept you for my protector or my husband.”
    A muscle tightened at the corner of his mouth. “It is, I know, a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. If that day should ever come for you, I wish you to know that I would still honor the obligation my conduct has unwittingly incurred.”
    “That day will never come,” she said scathingly. “I would as soon take up a life of debauchery as trust myself again to your honor.”
    His eyes darkened to slate. He bowed stiffly and retreated a step. “You have made your sentiments clear. Your obedient servant, ma’am.”
    His hand was on the doorknob when she called out to him. “I have been meaning to return this to you,” she said, holding out his fifty-pound note as though she had laid hold of a dead rat.
    He looked at the note, then glanced at the