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“I do seem to recall the occasion.”
    “It is our wedding night.”
    “One usually follows the other.”
    “You are going to make me say it, aren’t you?”
    He held his hands in the air as if to ward off blame. “I am not making you do anything. Nor am I the one who knocked on your door in the middle of the night. I wish to heaven you had not.”
    “Why?”
    There was no subtlety to the woman at all. Perhaps she was right and she would not make a good politician’s wife. Instead of answering, he said, “Go back to your room, Genie, where you will be safe from me.”
    “Why?”
    Not why she would be safe, but why she would sleep alone on their wedding night. “Because I cannot.”
    “Oh, you are sick, then.” Now her face was scarlet, and not from the heat. “That is why you do not mind about the baby, because you cannot have one of your own. I am so sorry to have reminded you, to have…you know.” She tried to leave, but he held her hand.
    “No, I am not lacking in that regard.” Not judging by the fire in his blood or the bulge in his breeches.
    “You do not find me attractive?”
    Not judging by the bulge in his blood or the fire in his breeches. “I find you damnably attractive.” He needed all of his mental strength to drop her hand and step back, away from temptation. “And that is the problem. I will be damned forever if I make love to you tonight.”
    “But we are married.”
    “But I gave my word. I could simply say I am tired or ill in some other way or too busy.” He gestured toward the desk, which was piled high with papers. “I will not lie to you if I can help it. I want you. But I made a promise.”
    “To me, so it does not matter.”
    He looked away from her, staring into the flames in the fireplace. “To me it does.”
    “But I absolve you of your vow.”
    “I have sworn to be an honorable man, a man of my word, not governed by base urges and selfish motives. I have to be better than an ordinary man.” Better than the man he was.
    “You would be a saint?”
    He laughed at the thought of what those lofty beings would do if he joined them. “If I knew how, yes. I am not that ambitious, however. It will be enough to be honorable, I hope. I will not touch you while you grieve for Macklin’s memory.”
    “But I do not mourn him, except as a useless death. Do not think his was a noble end, fighting the French to keep England free. He died drunk in another woman’s arms. A married woman, whose husband was wearing his sword, and who was sober enough to aim it true.”
    “Macklin is lucky I did not come to fetch him.”
    Her forehead puckered in confusion. “Did you know my husband, then?”
    “No, but one of my…associates did. I pray he was delivered to the right place.”
    “But they said he would be buried here, with the other fallen men. There are far too many to transport home. And that way his family does not have to know the truth.” She took a hesitant step nearer. “So Elgin is no longer my burden to bear.”
    “You bear his child.”
    “And I bear my own brand of honor. I wed you of my free will, and I will do my duty.”
    He slammed his fist into the mantelpiece, causing a vase of flowers to jump. He steadied it. “I do not want a woman out of duty! Or gratitude, or servitude. I helped you in the only way I could, without conditions or demands. That was what I needed to do.”
    “Then I am just another good deed?”
    “You are my wife.”
    “In name only?”
    “In respect and friendship, I hope.”
    “And the other part of marriage, the, ah, intimate aspect?”
    “A woman should make love when she feels love. No other time.”
    Now there was a novel concept. If true, Genie would not be pregnant.

Chapter Six
    No baby? Then there would have been no need to marry Lord Ardeth. His theory was interesting, but with no relation to reality. In her experience, men took, women gave. That was the way of the world, not some pretty pipe dream.
    Genie accepted the