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perfect pair. I've no doubt that she loves you, but last night you must have insulted her very badly if she refused your proposal today. How do you behave with other women if you treat your own precious cousin so rudely?"
    Falcon would have come right back at any other man who had manhandled him that brutally, but he had too much respect for his father to fight him. He yanked his buckskins back into place, but there was nothing he could do about the sharp pain in the back of his head. "Women have always liked me," he replied as soon as he had caught his breath, "and that's because I treat them as well as you treat Mother. I know how all this sounds—"
    Hunter came close to bouncing Falcon off the wall a second time, but caught himself at the last instant. "I know from bitter experience just how quickly a woman's passions can change. You may never have another chance to win Belle for your wife. Don't waste it."
    Sick of taking everyone's abuse, Falcon was too angry to keep sacrificing himself to protect Belle. "It would never have gone past the first kiss had Belle not wanted me, too. She wanted me!"
    Shocked by the vehemence of Falcon's tone, Hunter backed away. "Yes, and she was sober. Never forget that." He gestured toward the door. "We need discuss this no further. You're too thin. Come, let's have dinner with the others."
    Falcon had lost his appetite. He had expected a respite from danger when he had come home, but he had stumbled into more peril than he faced from the British. "Is Uncle Byron home?"
    "Yes. Are you afraid of what he'll say about this?"
    Falcon had always admired his uncle. Byron had attended the Continental Congress, which had declared war on Great Britain, and was widely respected by the men who supported the Patriot cause. He was also a generous uncle who

    had never made any distinction between his cousin Alanna's children and his own.
    "Yes, and with good reason."
    "You have far more reason to fear me," Hunter warned, and led the way inside.
    Still doubting he could eat, Falcon followed his father into the dining room. His brother, Christian, was apparently unaware of the trouble he was in and wore a ready grin as he came forward to greet him. Christian's wife, Liana, was smiling prettily, and their five-year-old daughter, Liberty, ran to meet him. He caught the lively red-haired girl in his arms and lifted her high. Only a quarter Seneca, she was the image of her mother, but the laughing child Falcon saw in his mind was Belle. He hugged Liberty tightly, then set her down and she dashed back to her mother's side.
    His sister, Johanna, and her husband were there, too, but his nephews had been left at home in the servants' care. Falcon hugged her and shook David's hand. He moved on to his uncle, but it was plain from Byron's good-natured smile that he had hot been told anything yet. Falcon shook his hand, then his cousin Jean's, who at sixteen was nearly as tall as his father. He was a studious lad who planned to follow his father into Congress.
    Falcon nodded to Dominique and feeling relieved that Belle had deigned to join them, included his whole family in the warmest smile he could manage. "It's good to be home." As a chorus they cheered him and replied how good it was to see him.
    As everyone began to move to their places at the long table, Falcon quickly decided against taking his usual chair between his mother and Dominique. Instead, he cut around the end of the table to take Beau's empty seat across from Belle. Her mother occupied the place at the end of the table, and Arielle appeared, like his mother, to be making an attempt to pretend nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
    Falcon caught Belle's gaze and held it. When she smiled

    slightly, he realized she was more provoked with her mother and aunt than with him over the proposal issue. That was an enormous relief, but he still felt far from content at the way they had parted. Things had gone so badly he was ready to go, but he knew he