Daisy was filled with an agony of regret. “I was never even nice to you,” she said sorrowfully.

“I was damn glad you weren’t. If you had been, I probably would have gone up in flames on the spot.” Matthew stayed her with a gesture as she moved toward him. “No. Don’t. As I told you before, I can’t marry you under any circumstances. That’s not going to change. But it has nothing to do with how much I want you.” His eyes glowed like molten sapphire as he glanced over her slight form. “My God, how I want you,” he whispered.

Daisy ached with the desire to throw herself into his arms. “I want you too. So much that I don’t think I can let you go without knowing why.”

“If it was possible to explain my reasons, believe me, I would have by now.”

Daisy forced herself to ask the question she feared most. “Are you already married?”

Matthew’s gaze shot to hers. “God, no.”

Relief swept over her. “Then anything else can be resolved as long as you’ll tell me—”

“If you were just a bit more worldly,” Matthew said moodily, “you wouldn’t use phrases like ‘anything else can be resolved.’” He made his way to the other side of the dresser, leaving a clear path to the door.

He was silent for a long moment, as if considering some weighty matter.

Daisy was still and silent, holding his gaze. All she could offer him was patience. She waited without a word, without even blinking.

Matthew looked away from her, his expression distant. His eyes turned hard and flat as chips of polished cobalt. “A long time ago,” he eventually said, “I made an enemy, a powerful one, through no fault of my own. Because of his influence I was forced to leave Boston. And I have good reason to believe this man’s grievance will come back to haunt me someday. I’ve lived with that sword hanging over my head for years. I don’t want you anywhere near me when it drops.”

“But there must be something that can be done,” Daisy said eagerly, determined to confront this unknown enemy with every means at her disposal. “If you’ll just explain more, tell me his name and—”

“No.” The word was quiet, but it contained a finality that caused her to fall abruptly silent. “I’ve been as honest with you as I can, Daisy. I hope you won’t betray my confidence.” He gestured to the door. “Now it’s time for you to go.”

“Just like that?” she asked in bewilderment. “After what you just told me, you want me to leave?”

“Yes. Try not to let anyone see you.”

“It’s not fair that you get to speak your piece without letting me—”

“Life is seldom fair,” he said. “Even for a Bowman.”

Daisy’s thoughts raced as she stared at his hard profile. This wasn’t mere obstinacy on his part. This was conviction. He had left no room for argument, no opening for negotiation.

“Shall I go to Llandrindon, then?” she asked, hoping to provoke him.

“Yes.”

Daisy scowled. “I wish you’d be consistent. A few minutes ago you were ready to make mincemeat of him.”

“If you want him, I have no right to object.”

“If you want me, you have every right to say something!” Daisy strode to the door. “Why does everyone always claim women are illogical when men are a hundred times more so? First they want something, then they don’t, then they make irrational decisions based on secrets they won’t explain and no one is supposed to question them because a man’s word is final.”

As she reached for the doorknob, she saw the key in the lock, and her hand paused in mid-air.

She glanced at Matthew, who was firmly planted on the other side of the dresser to keep a safe distance between them.

Although Daisy was the mildest-tempered of all the Bowmans, she was by no means a coward. And she would not accept defeat without a fight.

“You’re forcing me to take desperate measures,” she said.

His reply was very soft. “There’s nothing you can do.”

He had left her no choice.

Daisy turned the key in the lock and carefully withdrew it.

The decisive click was abnormally loud in the silence of the room.

Calmly Daisy tugged the top edge of her bodice away from her chest. She held the key above the narrow gap.

Matthew’s eyes widened as he understood what she intended. “You wouldn’t.”

As he started around the dresser, Daisy dropped the key into her bodice, making certain it slipped beneath her corset. She sucked in her stomach and midriff until she felt the cold metal slide to her navel.

“Damn it!” Matthew reached her with startling speed. He reached out to touch her, then jerked his hands back as if he had just encountered open flame. “Take it out,” he commanded, his face dark with outrage.

“I can’t.”

“I mean it, Daisy!”

“It’s fallen too far down. I’ll have to take my dress off.”

It was obvious he wanted to kill her. But she could also feel the force of his longing. His lungs were working like bellows, and scorching heat radiated from his body.

His whisper contained the ferocity of a roar. “Don’t do this to me.”

Daisy waited patiently.

The next move was his.

He turned his back to her, the seams of his coat straining over bunched muscles. His fists clenched as he struggled to master himself. He took a shuddering breath, and another, and when he spoke his voice sounded thick, as if he had just awakened from a heavy sleep.