BOOK 3

'What reason have you given me to trust you? You want it all, don't you, Isabella?' Brand's voice vibrating across the room was low, gravelly, giving her no hint that she had ever touched his heart.

She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the scorn she was certain would be written all over his face. When she opened them again he was standing up, and on the television a moon-faced cowboy was wailing a lament for lost love. As usual. Brand's body seemed much too big for the small room.

'Yes.' She kept her voice level with a superhuman effort. 'Yes, I want it all. Brand.'

'Well, you're not going to get it,' he, said, almost conversationally. 'You ask too much of me, Isabella.'

She didn't answer, but went on gazing at the point where his belt buckle bulged slightly beneath his sweater. The next thing she knew, his hands had closed over her wrists.

'What's this?' he asked, his voice suddenly distorted, as if there was some further obstruction in his throat.

'What's—oh.' She followe