sweet water. They drank from a small wooden cup which Alec produced, explaining that he had carved it in camp early in the war and still carried it with him in his pack. After they finished eating, Alec leaned back against a tree to smoke a thin brown cheroot. Caroline sat nearer the fire, and as they talked he watched her face, which was framed by molten-gold firelight. Her hair spilling over her shoulders, she looked poignantly young and vulnerable in her voluminous shirt.
"Will you tell me about the future?" she asked. "Where are we going? And what will you do with me after we get there?"
He smiled behind the thin curls of smoke which drifted up and dissolved into the darkness.
"Ah, yes, I imagine your head must be full of questions! We are going to Philadelphia, where I live. I’ve decided that after we arrive I shall install you at my parents' home. It wouldn't help you at all socially to be living at my house! As it is, if I were any sort of gentleman at all I'd marry you as soon as we encounter a parson."
Caroline's eyes were wide with astonishment.
"Marry me! Whatever for?"
"Why, to make an honest woman out of you, my dear. Moral codes these days don't have clauses allowing men and women to spend the night together unchaperoned—no matter how innocent the circumstances may be. And in our case, I have a feeling we'll be alone together several nights." He was smiling at her as if the prospect delighted him, and Caroline shifted uneasily. "However, no one needs to know what our circumstances have been before we arrived in Philadelphia. I will solve this problem by explaining that I am your guardian..." He grinned again, looking to Caroline like a scoundrel, "I am not a particularly honorable man, especially where women are concerned. Take that as my warning, cherie! Also, I have no intention of ruining both our lives by trapping us into a marriage neither of us wants—just for the sake of propriety. You are young and very beautiful, Caro, and I'm certain that there will be scores of young swains in Philadelphia who will be eager to win your affections. Besides, we must make sure that you are not already married!"
Caroline's eyes had been growing larger with each sentence Alec spoke, but with his last words her mouth dropped open.
"Married! Me? But—but—"
"It is entirely possible that you were running away from a husband."
Alec had no doubt that she was old enough, for he had become quite familiar with the attractive curves beneath her smock during their ride on Ivan that day. He knew a great deal about women, and there was no doubt in his mind that she was indeed a delightfully fully grown woman.
Caro—how she liked the way Alec pronounced her new nickname!—sat quietly for a few minutes, her profile pensive in the firelight. Finally, Alec broke the silence.
"You look like you're trying to remember something."
"I am." She paused. "You know, I feel as if I know all about myself, but for the moment it all eludes me. It's as though it's there, in my head, but I cannot reach it."
"Or perhaps you don't want to," he offered gently.
"What do you mean?"
"Only that whatever is in your past may be so painful to you that you've buried it—blocked it out—without even realizing it."
Their eyes met, and though she did not speak, Alec knew that she understood what he was saying. Her face was so lovely, and in it he could see bewilderment and fear.
The air was growing colder and Alec moved forward from the shadows to add more wood to the fire. Caro observed him with interest, uneasily aware of his nearness. He turned to look at her, reaching out to grasp one of her hands.
"Are you warm enough? Here, put this on." He wrapped his own heavy blue wool coat around her shoulders. It was a handsome garment with a rich satin lining, wide lapels, and brass buttons. Then Caro found herself leaning back against the tree next to him, his arm around her, her cheek against his chest. A sudden feeling of well-being flooded her, and she began to ask him more questions. At length, the conversation turned to his family, which Alec described with relish.
"My father was really a pirate—I was telling you the truth. He did a great deal of illegal trading with the colonies during the days when trade with England was so expensive and troublesome.