She turned suddenly. "How dare you!"

"Huh?"

"To presume I'd marry you simply because you helped me escape."

"It was Henri's idea."

Her fine blonde eyebrows arched high indeed. Her blush deepened and penetrated down to her throat and maybe even further beyond. Cord was entranced. She was stunning and he desired her.

"Henri's idea?" she asked tightly, as if under great control.

Cord made a vague gesture, worried now that he'd made a mistake.

"You mean you didn't want to marry me until Henri thought of it? Is that right?"

Cord, knowing he'd said the wrong thing, now said nothing.

"Or was it simply the idea of becoming a knight that drove you?" she asked.

"I will be knight, Lady Alice. I won't let Philip, Hugh or Earl Roger Mortimer steal what's mine."

"They did steal it."

"Then I'm taking it back."

"By marrying me?"

Cord licked his lips and took a step closer. "Why are you angry with me? I faced Reynald for you. Maybe you and Henri helped, but neither of you stood toe-to-toe with him."

"You did it so you could become a knight. You did it because Philip blocked your marriage with Bess Miller. You've done all these things in order to beat Philip."

"Very well," he said. "I did those things so I could become a knight and thereby someday defeat Sir Philip. Who plans on killing me, by the way."

"Then why lie to me?" she snapped.

"I haven't lied."

"Then why did you say you did those things for me?"

"...You're free, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"So didn't I do it for you?"

"NO! You freed me to use my money! You're just like all the others, Dog Boy."

"I'm a squire!"

She laughed. "What a joke. You hardly know how to sit a horse."

He advanced upon her, suddenly almost uncontrollably angry. Then, before he knew what he was doing, he crushed her against him, against the big brass buckle of his baldric. He took a fistful of her beautiful hair and tilted up her head. He kissed her fiercely, mercilessly. She pounded his back with her fists.

"Proud Lady Alice de Mowbray, you're mine."

Suddenly she melted against him and returned his kisses with a fierce passion of her own. She hugged his hard body. "Cord," she whispered.