"Stop me from what?" he asked.
"Leaving."
He leaned back against the trunk. "Is that what you think I'll do?"
She let out a sigh and shook her head. "No," she whispered. "You won't leave. You're too honorable. But you'll want to," she predicted. "I won't blame you, Lucas."
She sounded heartbroken. He had to resist the urge, to take her into his arms and comfort her. He knew that if he touched her, he wouldn't get any of his questions answered tonight, and he'd already vowed neither one of them was going to bed until all his nagging questions had been answered.
"Did you know you were going to raise the twins when you married me?"
"Yes."
"Did Madam know?"
"Yes."
"When were you going to tell me about Georgie and Allie?"
"Do you mean in the beginning?"
"Yes."
She took a breath. She knew he wasn't going to like her answer. She'd promised to give the truth, however, and she wasn't going to break her word. "You weren't ever supposed to know," she whispered. "We were going to part in Boston, remember? I was going to take the babies away."
"Where?"
"I was going to choose a city somewhere in the West. Oh, I had it all figured out, Lucas." She paused to shake her head over her own foolishness and naivete. "I was going to hire a housekeeper and a cook and try to talk Mrs. Bartlesmith into staying on as their nanny. If she didn't want to, I was going to hire another qualified woman. I planned to disappear with the twins. Only Madam and I knew George had died. We didn't tell the rest of the family about the twins' father."
He mulled the information over in his mind and then asked, "So you did in fact marry me just to protect your inheritance?"
"No, I married you to protect the twins."
"Taylor, if I wasn't ever supposed to know about them, how was I going to protect them?"
His anger and his exasperation were both evident in his voice. She took an instinctive step back.
"You were my safety measure," she explained. "At the time, even I didn't fully understand. But Madam did. She insisted I marry you. She'd found out all about you. She had a file the size of a hatbox in her room. She'd gathered quite a bit of information about you and was certain that if I ever needed you to protect the babies, you would be there."
Lucas had tensed at the mention of the file. "Did you read the information she'd gathered?"
He wasn't able to keep the worry out of his voice, but reason pushed his initial panic aside. Her grandmother obviously hadn't had access to his war file. She never would have allowed her granddaughter to marry him if that was the case. There was also the possibility that Travis and his cohorts had softened the truth about him. By the end of the war, he had turned into a combination of a gunfighter and a bounty hunter, but the army hadn't looked at it quite that way. Hell, they'd given him medals for what they called valor. In Lucas's mind, killing was killing, and fancy medals couldn't change that fact. He'd put the medals away and never looked at them again. They were a part of his life he was determined to forget.
Taylor misinterpreted his reaction to her news about the file. She thought he was angry. She couldn't blame him. Madam had invaded his privacy, and that was terribly wrong, even though her intentions were honorable.
"No, I didn't read the file. I trusted my grandmother. She told me you were an honorable and courageous man. She even called you a prince among men. I believed her."
He relaxed against the tree trunk again. Taylor folded her hands together in front of her and turned her gaze to the ground.
"You told me about Redemption. Do you remember?"
"Yes," he replied. "You asked a lot of questions and I wondered why, but I sure as certain didn't think you were intending to come here."
"You said a man could walk for a mile and not see another person. I believed the twins would be safe here. Women have dreams, too," she added with a nod. "I always dreamed of one day living on the frontier, but I was going to be reasonable. I planned to wait until the twins were older. Then things changed."
"You needed my help in finding the children."
"Yes," she admitted. "And Madam died. She named the twins in her will. I wanted to believe Malcolm wouldn't look for them. Why would he care? They lived with their father and there wasn't any money to speak of that he would go after."
"Your grandmother left a considerable amount for each twin and that made Malcolm curious to find out where they were. Isn't that right?"
"He's their legal guardian now. I received two telegrams while I was in Cincinnati. You had already left for Chicago." She added that piece of information so he wouldn't think she'd hidden the wires from him. "Tell me about them," he ordered when she didn't immediately continue.
"One was from the banker telling me Malcolm had protested the will. Until the matter is resolved, the money can't be touched. The other wire came from Malcolm. He knows that the twins' father is dead. He told me the court had granted him legal custody of the twins and that he was sending an armed escort to bring them home to him."
Lucas heard the fear in her voice and wanted to take her in his arms again. He forced himself to stay where he was. He was determined to find out everything while his wife was being so agreeable. "Keep explaining, Taylor. I'm listening."
She couldn't look at her husband now. She turned around and stared out into the night. Telling family secrets was difficult, but the shame in her family made the explanation almost unbearable. Marian had told her they were never to speak of the atrocity. It was too vile and sinful.
Taylor gripped her hands together and said a prayer for courage. Her voice echoed with sadness when she continued. "I have been running away from my uncle since I was a very little girl. Marian warned me about him. She told me what he would try to do to me. She protected me from the demon."
She turned around and looked at him. She was searching for signs of disgust. She didn't find any and decided he still didn't understand.
"I slept with the dresser in front of my bedroom door from that day on," she told him. "And I kept a knife under my pillow."
Lucas closed his eyes. The pain he heard in her voice washed over him. He pictured her as a little girl trying to defend herself against a full-grown man's sick cravings and started shaking with rage. He shouldn't have been surprised, for in the time they'd been together, she'd given him sufficient hints. Yes, he had guessed the truth, yet hearing the confirmation still stunned him.
"Did he ever try-"
She wouldn't let him finish his question. Her words were hurried now, for she was anxious to get the rest of the sins told before weeping.
"The little dresser wasn't an obstacle for Malcolm, of course. He came into my room late one night. I didn't wake up until he sat down on the side of the bed. God, I was so terrified. I found the knife under my pillow and when he reached down to cover my mouth with his hand, I cut him."
She took a long shuttering breath. "He didn't know I had a weapon, thank God, or he certainly would have been able to take it away from me. I almost blinded him," she added. "He let out a scream of pain. There was blood everywhere."
"And then what did you do?" he asked. Lucas kept his voice as soothing as possible. His rage was burning inside him, and it was all he could do not to shout with fury on her behalf.
"I ran and hid under Madam's bed. She was out for the evening and I remember I didn't go to sleep until I heard her come into the room. I still don't know what lie Malcolm told her about the injury."