Exactly at seven that evening, the doorbell rang. Susan was already dressed to go out — and furious. She yanked the door open, which drew an admiring whistle from Alan. She knew exactly how the white cotton dress with its thin straps looked against her tanned skin, and she saw him swallow. Let him look! She was beautiful tonight, she was furious, and her eyes told him precisely where he could go.

"Never order me around again! And as for tonight — nothing is going to change, because I've made my decision! I have no intention of marrying!"

"The reprimand I accept — the refusal I don't. The child deserves better than that!"

"'The child,' as you call it, is still rather hypothetical at the moment! Besides, you're hardly the type who likes looking after anyone!"

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because..." She cast about furiously for something to hold against him — and, finding nothing, shrugged. "I just do!"

"Then tonight I'll have to convince you otherwise! Shall we?" Alan gestured toward the door.

Susan hesitated. His face was too impassive to read his intentions. Frowning, she grabbed her bag and locked up the apartment.

"We can walk!" she declared at last.

Alan turned away, but not before she caught the beginning of a smile. He held the lift door for her, and they rode down to the ground floor in silence. Susan settled into his car — a black Laguna — and went on saying nothing while he threaded through the capital's traffic. The restaurant he took her to had a summer garden, snug and cool; after the hot day, the deep shade of the trees was soothing. She chose a light salad to start and gazed at the water of the little fountain near their table. Alan watched her from under his brows, silent and glum.

"Are you going to be angry with me all evening, Sue?" he asked quietly. She started, and looked up at him.

"I'm not angry! Actually — tell me, how is Grandpa? I read the letter and it worried me."

"He's fine. When I left Medea a few days ago he was quite his old self — but he misses you terribly!"

"He's not ill, then?" She sighed with relief. "Perhaps I should visit him before the school year starts!"

"Sue, just think how happy he'll be when he learns we're having a child!" he ventured. She visibly stiffened.

"I don't think I'll tell him... yet!"

"Sooner or later you'll have to! Unless you're planning an abortion!" His voice had gone cold as ice. Susan's eyes flew wide.

"No! The baby is mine! Naturally, I want it!"

"It's ours, Sue! We made it together!" Alan pressed. She looked away, ashamed.

"Alan, I can't just up and get married! I'm not ready for it!"

"Nobody's ever ready! But in our case, it's necessary!"

Susan's eyes narrowed. His words cut deeper than she would have believed possible. So in the end, her pregnancy was her own fault, was it! Fine — so be it! She clenched her fists and held her tongue while their food was set on the table.

"There's no need to marry at all!" Susan said quietly, when they were alone again. Alan's jaw tightened.

"What?" he asked, his voice calmer still. Susan took a fortifying sip from her glass.

"To me, marriage is for life!"

A dark cloud settled over his face.

"I thought I knew you better, Sue — clearly I was wrong! We've known each other since we were ten, and you still haven't grasped what kind of man I am! Thank you very much!"

She dropped her gaze, feeling more hurt and wronged than ever before. Her eyes filled with tears. There — she'd made a mess of it again! She had lost yet another true friend. She swallowed against the tightness in her throat and said:

"Many people live without marriage, Alan! It's not necessary to marry to have a child!"

"No! But it is necessary to be together to raise it! So — what's your final answer, Sue?" he asked firmly. He would not force her; neither would he give her room to waver any longer. She went pale and bowed her head lower still.

"All right. Let's live together... for a while. If it doesn't work, we go our separate ways."

Alan leaned back. He looked, she thought, entirely too satisfied with himself — like a man who had just been handed something he had wanted for a very long time and had no intention of giving back.

"All right! Then that's what we'll do, Sue! We'll live together, and we'll be in everything together. When life gives us lemons, we'll make lemonade!" he smiled. "Those are your grandfather's words, aren't they?"

Susan quickly swallowed her tears and raised her head. The decision was spoken now. There would be time enough to sort out her thoughts and feelings — and time enough to come to know him truly. The boy she remembered from seven years ago, the one who had been a real knight, could not have vanished entirely. Surely, he still lived somewhere behind the hard mask of the handsome man across the table.

"Yes — I suppose I'll have to!"

"Well — don't fight the feeling!" Alan parried at once, eyebrows raised.

"Cheers — to us!"

Susan reached for her glass and took another nervous sip. Yes — she would have to hold the line in this battle! Then her appetite suddenly got the better of her, and she fell on the food with pleasure. So long as Alan mounted no serious campaign against her convictions and her way of life, she was relatively safe! Careful, this time, to drink no alcohol, Susan relaxed and enjoyed his company.

Alan drove her home, but when he made to follow her inside, Susan barred his way with her hand.

"Alan, no! Let's leave it here until tomorrow!"

"But Sue! You said yourself we'd live together!"

"I didn't say starting when!"

In one swift motion Alan slipped past her and drew her inside, closing the door.

"That's—" Her words were drowned in a long kiss. The familiar desire rose, and Susan felt her resistance dissolving. No man had ever had such power over her! The barriers she had raised began to fall, one by one. She could feel how much he wanted her.

"I can't go on living until you are truly mine! I want you, Sue!" he murmured. The words snapped her back to reality.

"Nonsense!" she said and, still in his arms, managed to turn her back on him. Alan didn't let go.

"Sue, I don't understand why you keep denying what you feel for me! Let's call a truce — in the bedroom!" he whispered at her ear.

"Nonsense!"

He began kissing her ear, teasing it with the tip of his tongue. A moan escaped her before she could stop it. Alan braced one hand on the hall chest beside her and wrapped the other around her waist, his fingers exploring her from the front.

"Please — don't touch me like that!" Susan gasped.

"Why not? Come on — admit the wanting is driving you as mad as it's driving me!"

"I... I... let me go, Alan!"

"I can't!" he groaned. She felt him harden as she pressed back against him.

Susan cried out, betrayed by her own body. Her hands reached back of their own accord, her palms sliding down his thighs in an insistent caress. Heat flared low inside her. She arched back against him, her lips seeking his, silently admitting to herself that she wanted him — truly wanted him. She never knew quite when Alan lifted her dress; his hand slipped beneath the silk of her underwear, and his finger found her wet, throbbing heat. A cry broke from her when, a moment later, two fingers entered her. Her breath seemed to scorch her lungs. His fingers found a devilish rhythm and drove her to the peak, and she cried out, high and helpless. The shudders that shook her body only made her want more. Then suddenly his fingers left her, abandoning her to the ache of unfinished desire. In protest, Susan dug her nails into his thighs. Alan bent her gently forward, and she rocked her hips, urging him on.

"Say that you want me, Sue!"

"Yes."

Alan groaned raggedly. He gripped her hips, lifted her, and entered her from behind while she braced her hands against the hall chest. He filled her — huge, hungry, so deep that the very contact tipped her at once into orgasm. At her cries of release his rhythm broke; his thrusts quickened, and seconds later he followed her.

Susan's legs were shaking; had he not held her about the waist, she would have crumpled. Alan turned her around, swept her up in his arms, and carried her to the bedroom, the faint light from the windows showing him the way to the bed. He laid Susan down, stretched out beside her, and reached over to switch on the bedside lamp.

Her eyes had drifted shut. In the pale light her face was flushed and soft. She opened her eyes only when his fingers set about removing her dress entirely. When he had undressed her, he stood and dealt with his own clothes — and at the sight of his lean, muscled body, Susan forgot to breathe. He lay down beside her again.

"That was wonderful!" said Susan, pushing the hair from her face. Alan said nothing, propped on one elbow, watching her with meaning.

"You're shameless!" she murmured.

"And you are soft, and sweet, and willing!"

She smiled and stroked his chest.

"I think I really do want your body!" Susan concluded, in all sincerity.

Something crossed his face that she was too drowsy to read — there and gone again, like a door closing. Her eyes shut; within a minute she was asleep. The last thing she felt was his arm gathering her in, and a sigh she did not understand.