BOOK 3

'Oh, but there is no need. I mean, are we not . . . ?' She stumbled to a halt.

'No,' Brand said. 'We're not.'

'But—we are married.'

'I'm aware of that. But you needn't worry. I've already taken advantage of you once. I don't plan to do it again.'

'You would not be taking advantage.' She held herself stiffly^ unwilling to betray her hurt.

'Of course I would. You're scarcely more than a child.'

'That is not what you thought three nights ago.'

Brand put a hand over his eyes. 'Isabella, you have to understand. Three nights ago I had only just lost my wife. I didn't know what I was doing, and you offered comfort. For which I was grateful.'

'Comfort? That was all?'

'No, of course it wasn't all. You know that as well as I do. But it didn't mean anything, Isabella. Other than that I'd temporarily lost my sanity—along with the wife I had waited four years to marry.'

Oh. Yes, of course. Brand was still in love with that fluffy blonde Mary—which was as it should be. All the same, she couldn't hel