When at last the sun rose and she opened her eyes, the dark-haired stranger with the vivid green eyes and fast hands was calmly going through her saddlebags. His back turned to her, he didn't seem to care if she knew he was rummaging through her possessions.

Lainie's first waking thought was that she was still asleep and this was a nightmare, because the man's reproving eyes had haunted her sleep, making her twist and turn endlessly. She couldn't set aside the feelings of guilt either. She had pushed the limits and now it seemed she would pay the price.

In her dreams, she had tried to get closer to the handsome stranger, hoping he might be that miracle from God. She hoped he would be the one man who would guard her at night and ride beside her during the day. Each time she was reminded of a man just like her brothers. But each time she was close enough to talk to him, she saw him don a mask as if hiding from her, and then he would turn his back and walk away leaving her alone and more vulnerable than she'd ever felt before.

She knew he was nothing like her brothers. He was a man who would take what he wanted and leave her to live with the shame.

Now that Lainie was awake, the last thing she wanted was to get closer to the dangerous man with the vivid green eyes. She reminded herself there were few men on this earth a woman could trust. Trying for subtlety, she began to ease her hand toward the dirk she had strapped to her leg. Since the day Bertram attacked her, she had never slept without the dirk--never been without a weapon--never forgotten the horror of that day.

Through shuttered lashes, and breath held tight in her lungs, Lainie studied the early morning intruder. She tried to keep the shudders sweeping down her spine at bay as well as the trembling of her hands. She steadied her nerves and fought to breathe slowly, pretending sleep. She didn't shift her position in any noticeable way. She didn't want the man with the lightning fast hands who was so calmly rummaging through her possessions to know she was awake. She remembered all too well the deadly violence he could unleash so easily and so very quickly.