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the police I’d be responsible for you till then. I’m a man who pays attention to my responsibilities, even the unpleasant ones, but I won’t have you dragging my name into the gutter any more. You will stay on this farm with no long-term visits to any so-called friends from school.
    If you behave reasonably well I’ll give you use of one
     
    of the cars to go shopping on occasion. I know how you love to spend money,” he added bitterly, the fire lighting up his cold, handsome face.
    “Willy will be around to entertain you, as will Aunt Ermy. You’re simply going to have to CUrb your jet set tendencies for a while, until I’m free of you. There are the horses, as you well know, and you might even have Mrs. Morse teach you a bit about cooking if you’ve decided to put on a housewifely act. But don’t think for a moment that you’ll fool me again. Most of all, you’re to keep out of my way and out of my business. Is that understood?”
    She had a temper. Dr. Hobson had warned her of it, but she hadn’t seen much of it in the short time her memory had been active. During the last twelve or so hours she’d been alternately frightened and uneasy.
    But right now her anger overrode any lingering nervousness that might be plaguing her. She looked at the cold, handsome man who insisted he was her husband, the man who’d just dismissed her so cavalierly, and her last attempt at polite behavior vanished.
    “You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” she said.
    “You want me to go away, keep my mouth shut, leave you alone and stop asking questions. Sorry, I won’t do that. You can’t dismiss me like a good little girl and expect me to be seen and not heard.”
    “You’ve never been a good little girl in your entire life,” he snapped.
    “I didn’t expect you to start now.
    Your so-called amnesia is only supposed to cause memory loss, not total personality change. “
    “My supposed amnesia?” she echoed.
    “You don’t think I buy that for a moment, do you? It’s a little too convenient, Molly dearest. You don’t usually underestimate me—I suggest you don’t start now. I don’t believe in your amnesia, I don’t believe in your lost little girl act, and I don’t believe in your country gift look either. If you want to reinvent yourself, wait till you have a more appreciative audience. You lost me years ago.”
    “I thought we’d only been married ten months?” It silenced him, effectively, if only for a moment.
    “Get out of here, Molly.”
    “I’m not that easy to get rid of.”
    “No, you aren’t,” he said in a faintly menacing voice.
    “That doesn’t mean I won’t try.”
    “Is that a threat?”
    “Take it whatever way you want.”
    “What I want are some answers. You can give me that much, can’t you?
    Just a few answers to a few simple questions? That shouldn’t be too much of a strain on your good nature. “
    He stared at her for a long moment. There was no warmth, no caring in his cold face, but a certain angry resignation.
    “I’ll answer your questions,” he said, “if you promise to leave me the hell alone once I do.”
    Molly sat back, an equally chilly smile on her own face. This, at least, was familiar. She’d fought with this man before. The familiarity, unfortunately, was far from comforting.
    “Okay,” she said.
    “Question number one. Why do you hate me?”
     
    “I don’t hate you, Molly,” he said in a cold, weary voice.
    “I don’t give a damn about you one way or another.”
    “Why not? I’m your wife.”
    “What makes you think marriage makes people get along? We used to be better friends before we made the stupid mistake of getting married.”
    “Why did we get married?”
    “Youthful passion,” he snapped.
    “I thought you were going to answer my questions.”
    “Those I feel like answering. I’m not in the mood to do a postmortem on our tangled relationship.”
    She stared at him, frustrated. Memory might fail her, but instinct told her she