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eyes remained closed. “Then do not make it one,” Rachel said in a lowered tone.
    “Why can you not accept my help?”
    For a moment she thought she heard hurt in his voice, but when she looked at him, she met a totally neutral expression. “Why can you not accept my answer?”
    “Because I know what Dalton Farm looks like. Because I know how hard it would be for a man, let alone a woman with a baby. Because I know that you gave birth just yesterday and were in an accident too.”
    “I am not helpless. I know there will be some work involved.” She fought to erect a barrier of polite formality between them.
    “Some work? You have no idea, Rachel.”
    His use of her given name wiped all her intentions away. The very situation they were in made a mockery of her denying the connection between them. He had possibly saved her life and that of her daughter’s.
    He towered over her, his hands balled at his sides, his expression no longer bland but full of frustrated anger. Then suddenly it evened out. “How are you going to get to the farm?”
    “I’m going to…” She remembered the broken cart; she remembered her horse running away.
    “To what? Walk?” He folded his arms over his chest. “How are you going to get your trunks there?”
    She bit her lower lip, set the bowl in her lap, and clenched her hands. “Perhaps you could give me a ride.” The words tasted like bile on her tongue. She hated having to ask any more of him.
    He mumbled under his breath something she could not hear. Flexing his hands, he glared at her. “The only help I’m going to give you is the use of my home. At least until you are well enough to be on your own.”
    “You cannot force me to stay against my will.”
    “I’m not. You can leave at any time, but I will not contribute to putting you in danger.”
    “I have to learn to do for myself.”
    “Fine, when you are physically up to it.”
    Impotency washed through her. She chewed the inside of her cheek. Her hands shook with exasperation. After the last time Tom had taken his pleasure out on her, she had vowed no one would force her to do anything she did not want to do. “You promise you will take me to Dalton Farm when I am better, not one day later?”
    “Yes, I will see you settled.” Relief eased the tension etched into his face.
    “Then I shall stay.” As if I really have a choice .
    “Good. Rest. Your lessons begin tomorrow morning bright and early.”

    Nathan stormed outside, welcoming the coolness of the pine-scented air in the woods. That woman is impossible. There is no way she can run the farm with only herself and her maid .
    Visions of all the things that could happen to her berated his thoughts. In town there had been talk of a gang of unsavory men hiding out in the forest north of Charleston. Although they were west, that was still too close. Her farm edged the swampy land near the river. What would she do if she encountered an alligator? In the spring the beasts became more active.
    He picked up his ax and positioned a log on the stump to be split. Putting all his energy into it, he struck the piece of wood again and again. One blow after another, until he had a pile of logs for the fireplace. How was she going to chop wood for the fire?
    Finally, sweat drenching him, he sat on the stump, his ax resting on the ground near his booted feet. He needed to solicit his sister’s help to persuade Rachel that Dalton Farm was no place for her. If he could not convince Rachel to return to Charleston tomorrow after he showed her a few things she would need to be able to do, he would contact Sarah.
    He walked down to the stream that flowed a few hundred feet from his cabin and splashed cold water on his face and neck. Then he headed back up the slope, hoping he could maintain his patience long enough to get the point across to Rachel. She did not belong here. He did not want to be responsible for another human being.
    As he approached the cabin, Faith’s cries