“What do you think about it yourself?” he asked.

She gave him a swift, side look, just a raising and dropping of the lashes.

“Say what you think first,” she coaxed.

“Well, then, I will.”

He put his two hands suddenly on her shoulders, big, bronzed hands, hard and muscular, that seemed to seize upon her delicate flesh with a master’s grip.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

She obeyed. The gray eyes held hers like a magnet.

“I think no. You don’t belong to the public, you belong to me.”

The color ran up into her face to the edge of her hair.

“Oh, Gam,” she whispered on a rising breath, “I’m so relieved.”