The velvet night was attuned to the rhythm of her love. She felt herself, in this sea of moon romance, being swept from her moorings. Star-eyed, she gazed at him while she still fought again his dominance.

“You are uncivilized. Would you beat me when I didn’t obey?” she asked tremulously.

He laughed in slow contentment. “Perhaps; but I’d love you while I did it.”

“Oh, you would love me.” She looked across under her long lashes, not as boldly as she would have liked, and her gaze fell before his. “I haven t heard before that that was in the compact you proposed. I don’t think you have remembered to mention it.”

He swung from the saddle and put a hand to her bridle rein.

“Get down,” he ordered.

“Why?”

“Because I say so. Get down.”

She looked down at him, a man out of a thousand and for her one out of a hundred million. Before she was conscious of willing it she stood beside him. He trailed the reins of the ponies, and in two strides came back to her.

“What—do you—want?”