h Lord, what was she thinking? Tuesday afternoon saw Emma standing on the steps in front of Alex's bachelor's lodgings,

an elegant townhouse located only five blocks away from the Blydon home in Grosvenor Square. It wasn't very large; Alex

didn't like to entertain, and Emma supposed he planned to move into the family mansion when he married.

Which she hoped would be rather soon.

She lifted her hand up to the large brass knocker and then quickly whirled around. "Would you just go away?" she hissed.

Ned was loitering about six feet away from the bottom of the steps.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Someone has to walk you home."

"Alex can walk me home."

"What if he says no?"

"Ned Blydon, that is a perfectly cruel thing to say," Emma blurted out, her heart dropping into her stomach. "He's not going

to say no," she muttered. "I think."

"What?"

"Go!"

Ned started walking away backwards. "I'm going. I'm going."

Emma watched Ned disappear around the corner before turning back to the brass knocker that was looming large in front of

her forehead. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the knocker and let it fall with a resounding thud. The noise was overly

loud to her already frazzled senses, and she jumped nervously backwards, catching her heel on the edge of the step. With a

small yelp, she flailed her arms, trying to catch her balance until she desperately grabbed hold of the railing, pitching herself forward at a bizarre angle.

And that was her position when the butler opened the door and looked down at her in an extremely quizzical manner.

"Oh, hello," Emma chirped, smiling weakly as she straightened herself as quickly as she could. "Is his grace receiving?"

The butler did not reply immediately, preferring to look her up and down in silent judgment. She was Quality, that was sure,

but it was unheard of for a wellborn lady to call unescorted at an unmarried gentleman's home. He was wavering over the

wisdom of allowing her to enter when Emma suddenly looked up at him with those huge violet eyes, and he was lost. Closing

his eyes momentarily, he went against his better judgment and said, "Won't you come in?" He ushered her into a small parlor

just off the main hall. "I'll see if his grace is available."

The butler trudged up the stairs until he located Alex in his study on the second floor.

"What is it, Smithers?" Alex asked absently, barely looking up from the papers he was studying.

"There is an unescorted young lady to see you, your grace."

Alex laid the papers down on his desk, gave his butler a sharp look, and then replied, "I do not know any young ladies who

would call on me at home without an escort." He picked up his papers again and leafed through them briskly.

"As you wish, your grace." Smithers started to back out of the room but stopped just short of closing the door. "Are you

certain, your grace?"

Alex put down the papers again and looked at his butler with an irritated expression. "Am I certain of what, Smithers?"

"Are you certain that you do not know this particular young lady? She seemed quite, er, earnest, your grace."

Alex decided to humor his butler. "What did she look like, Smithers?"

"She is quite petite, and her hair is a rather bright color."

"What?!" Alex burst out, standing up so sharply he banged his knee on his desk.

The crinkles around the butler's eyes softened slightly. "And she has the biggest violet eyes I have seen since Mrs. Smithers passed on seven years ago."

"Good Lord, Smithers, why didn't you say so!" Alex dashed out of the room and nearly hurtled himself down the stairs.

Smithers followed at a somewhat more sedate pace. "I wasn't aware you were interested in the color of my late wife's eyes,"

he said softly, smiling.wider than he had in seven years.

"Emma!" Alex exclaimed as he bounded into the room. "What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong? Does

your family know you're here?"

Emma licked her lips nervously before answering. "No, no they don't. Except for Ned. He walked me over."

"Your cousin allowed you to come here unescorted? Is he insane?"

"No, although he thinks I am," Emma admitted, her voice a little mournful. Alex didn't look overjoyed to see her. She stood

up hastily. "I can leave if this isn't a good time."

"No!" Alex exclaimed loudly as he crossed the room and shut the door. "Please stay. I'm just rather surprised to see you here."

"I know this is highly irregular," Emma began, not having any idea how to broach the subject of marriage. "But I wanted to

speak to you privately, and you know how difficult it is to get a few moments alone in London."

Alex raised an eyebrow. He knew.

"Ned told me that you returned yesterday afternoon. He said he saw you last night at White's."

Alex wondered if Ned had also told her that he had spent the better part of an hour grilling him about Emma.

Emma stood up suddenly, too anxious to sit down. She began to pace, nervously catching her lower Up between her teeth.

"You do that a lot," Alex pointed out with an indulgent smile.

She whirled around. "What?"

"Nibble on your lower lip. I find it rather endearing."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

Alex crossed the room and caught her upper arms in his hands. "Emma," he said in a low voice, looking very deeply into her eyes. "Please tell me what is wrong. You're obviously very upset about something."

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared up into Alex's intense green eyes. With her head tipped back in a vulnerable

position, she felt as if he could see into the very depths of her soul. She swallowed convulsively, fighting the urge to press

her body against his and simply melt into his arms. She could feel the heat emanating from his body and desperately longed to become a part of that warmth.

Alex could see her violet eyes begin to smolder with desire, and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to lean

down and capture her lips with his own. He had no idea how to try to make her feel better, but he was fairly certain that

what she didn't need was another intimate encounter with him.

Emma didn't know how long she remained in that position before she remembered to breathe, but she finally exhaled and said,

"I need to talk to you about something, and I cannot think clearly when you are standing so close to me."

Alex took that as a good sign. "Of course," he said solicitously, releasing her arms and motioning to the sofa where she had

been seated just moments earlier. Scratching his chin thoughtfully, he began to consider his situation. He'd been planning to propose to Emma on Friday, but this might be as good a time as any. She must have some tender feelings for him or she never would have dared to come by herself to his townhouse. And after all, he'd have more opportunity here to kiss her senseless after she said yes (which he was praying she would) than he would at her cousins' home, where he'd been planning on proposing. He'd just wait until she told him whatever it was that was bothering her so much, and then he'd ask her. It would be a great moment.

Emma scurried over to the sofa and sat down, perching herself on the edge. "Alex?" she said, leaning forward. "I have to ask

you something, and I'm afraid you'll say no."

Alex sat down in a chair adjacent to the sofa. He leaned forward, too, so that his face was not so very far from hers.

"You'll never know unless you ask."

"I'm even more afraid you'll say yes," she muttered.

Alex was intrigued, but he didn't say anything.

Emma took a deep breath, swallowed, and squared her shoulders. She'd known this wasn't going to be easy, but she had never dreamed how terrified she would feel as she was trying to get the words out. "Alex," she said suddenly, her voice coming out overly loud. Swallowing again, she willed herself to talk a little more softly. "Alex," she repeated. "I need—that is, I want—No, no." She looked up at him, her eyes wide and luminous. "This is very difficult for me."

"I can see that," Alex said consolingly. He thought she was going to shred the handkerchief she held in her hands.

"Alex, I would like to request your hand in marriage." The words tumbled out very quickly, and Emma suddenly exhaled,

not even aware that she'd been holding her breath.

Alex blinked, but other than his eyelids, he did not move a muscle.

Emma looked at him anxiously. "Alex?"

"Did you just ask me to marry you?"

She started to twist the folds of her dark green skirt in her hand, not quite brave enough to look him in the eye. "Yes."

"I thought that's what you said." Alex suddenly sat back, rather stunned. He'd just managed to convince himself that it was

time to ask Emma to marry him, and she'd beaten him to the punch. A small voice in the back of his head was telling him

that this was a good thing, that if she had actually asked him to many her, it probably meant that she'd say yes to him when

he finally got around to asking her the same question. But an even larger voice in the front of his head was saying that this

was all wrong, that she had somehow denied him something he wanted very badly. Damn it, he'd been looking forward to proposing. He'd been rehearsing nonstop for two days. He couldn't get to sleep at night because he couldn't stop himself from playing out various scenarios in his mind. He had even given serious thought to getting down on one knee. Instead he was slouched in a chair that wasn't quite big enough for him while Emma was perched so precariously on the edge of his sofa that

he was afraid she'd fall off.

"Emma, are you sure you know what you're doing?" he finally said.

She deflated. That wasn't a very positive response.

"What I mean is," Alex continued, "usually it's the man who asks the woman to marry him."

"I just couldn't wait until you got around to asking me," Emma said, somewhat sheepishly. "If you got around to asking me."

"You wouldn't have had to wait very long," Alex muttered under his breath.

Emma obviously didn't hear him because she looked no less anxious than she had earlier. "The problem is that I need to

marry you rather quickly, I'm afraid."

Alex thought that was an extremely cryptic comment indeed, since they hadn't performed the act that usually required a

woman to many a man rather quickly.

"This is very uncommon," he said, shaking his head.

"I realize that," she improvised, "but you've often told me I'm an uncommon female."

"I haven't actually heard of a woman proposing to a man," Alex said, measuring his words carefully. "I don't think it's exactly illegal, but it just isn't done."

Emma rolled her eyes. She was beginning to understand what was going on here. She had bruised Alex's considerable male

pride. Normally she would be enjoying this, but her entire life's happiness was at stake. He was sitting over there, feeling

sorry for himself because she'd stolen from him some kind of inherent male right, and he hadn't even given one thought to

how much courage it must have taken her to come to his home unescorted and ask him to marry her. This wasn't exactly something she'd been brought up to do. "Methods of proposing marriage" definitely had not been squeezed in between Latin

and piano lessons when she was growing up. Nevertheless, she decided that one of them was going to have to be the mature

one in this scenario, and it might as well be her.

"Really, Alex," she said with a sweet smile. "You should feel flattered. It's a rare man who has a woman so besotted with

him that she defies convention and asks him to marry her."

Alex blinked. "I was going to ask you on Friday," he said in a slightly petulant tone. "I had even rehearsed what I was going

to say."

"You were?" Emma exclaimed joyfully. "You did? Oh, Alex, I'm so happy!" Unable to contain herself, she bounded up off

of the sofa and knelt in front of Alex, taking both of his hands in hers.

He looked down at her, his expression still a little bit childish. "I was rather excited about proposing. I've never done it before,

you know. And now I don't get to."

Emma beamed, giving his hands a squeeze. "You still can. I promise I'll say yes."

Alex sighed and then suddenly looked very seriously into her eyes. "I'm not acting very gracious, am I?"

"No," she admitted, "but I really don't care. I'm just so happy that you want to marry me."

"I haven't said yes yet, you know."

Emma scowled.

"But I will, I suppose, if given the proper encouragement."

"And what would that be, your grace?"

Alex looked heavenward in mock innocence. "Oh, I don't know. A kiss would do rather well to start with."

Emma leaned forward, propping her hands on the arms of his chair. "You're going to have to cooperate," she murmured,

feeling extraordinarily daring now that he had accepted her proposal.

Alex leaned down, his hands covering hers. "By all means."

He stopped suddenly, his mouth achingly close to hers. "Oh, Alex," Emma sighed, lifting her lips that last half an inch. Ever so gently, she brushed her mouth against his, marveling in the thought that this was the very first kiss she'd initiated and thinking

that it must be the sweetest of all for that very reason.

"I'm so very glad I thought to close the door," Alex said, smiling as he nuzzled her neck. "Although..." His words trailed off as

he reluctantly turned his head away from Emma and twisted his neck until he was facing the parlor door. "Smithers!" he yelled abruptly. "Get your ear away from that door! You've heard everything you wanted to hear! Now be gone with you!"

"Right away, sir," was the muffled reply.

Emma could not help but laugh as she heard footsteps disappear down the hall and up the stairs.

"He's been trying to get me to settle down for years/' Alex explained. "Now where were we?"

She smiled seductively. "I think we were about to move over to the sofa."

Alex groaned. He hoped Emma had no plans for a long engagement. He rose from his chair, pulled her to her feet and then off her feet, only to set her down on the sofa. "Oh, darling," he murmured as he sat beside her. "I've missed you so much."

"You just saw me three days ago."

"That doesn't mean I didn't miss you."

"I missed you, too," Emma said shyly. "When I wasn't working myself into a frenzy of nerves about coming here today."

"I'm most happy you did." Alex brushed his lips against hers again, this time deepening the kiss with his tongue, running it

along the smooth line of her teeth. When she let out a soft sigh, he took advantage of the moment, pressing in further,

drinking her in, tasting her sweetness.

"I'm so glad marriage lasts a lifetime," Emma said softly against his lips. "Because I don't think I'll ever get enough of your kisses." She drew slightly away from him, placing her hand on his cheek. "You make me feel so beautiful."

'"You are beautiful."

"It is very kind of you to say so, but red hair is hopelessly out of fashion, and besides, it would be impossible for anyone to

look as lovely as I feel right this moment."

Alex gazed tenderly down at her face. Her clear, fine skin was flushed rosy pink with desire, and her eyes were wide and sparkling, framed by the longest lashes he'd ever seen. And her lips, oh Lord, they had never looked quite so pink before, nor

so full. "Then you must feel very lovely, Emma. Because I've never seen anything in my life as exquisite as you are right now."

Emma felt a warm glow take over her body. "Oh, Alex, please kiss me again."

"Gladly, my love." Placing his hands on her cheeks, he pulled her face to his. Emma offered no resistance at all, and his tongue immediately dipped into her mouth, stroking her soft flesh. Emma shyly followed suit, curiously exploring him in the same manner.

Alex thought that her hesitant caresses would be the death of him, he was so eager for more. He pulled her to him passionately, pressing her body intimately against his own, his hands roving uncontrollably.

Emma moaned with pleasure, barely able to believe the shivering tremors of joy that shot through her body. And then just when she thought she could take no more, Alex placed his hand on her breast, squeezing it ever so slightly. It felt like a fire had burned right through the fabric of her dress, searing her skin, branding her as his future wife. She was slowly losing control; all she could think about was getting as close to him as possible, touching him everywhere.

Just as Emma hovered at the brink of losing herself completely, Alex pulled himself away reluctantly, very reluctantly.

"Darling," he said, summoning chivalry he'd never dreamed existed, "I'm going to stop now, before we get to the point when

I cannot. Do you understand?"

She nodded tremulously.

"I want our wedding night to be perfect. At that moment, you will belong to me in every way."

"And you will belong to me," Emma said softly.

He dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. "Yes, I will. It will be the most beautiful moment of our lives, I promise you that, and I

don't want to spoil it in any way. Now, if you don't mind, I think I would like to put my arms around you and hold you for a few moments before I'm forced to send you back home."

Emma nodded again, unable to find words to express the emotions coursing through her. She had never dreamed it was possible for a woman to feel as utterly full of joy as she did right then. Dimly she realized that he hadn't yet said that he loved her, but then, neither had she, and that didn't diminish her feelings for him in any way. Besides, she could sense his love, feel it, almost touch it. Over the past few months she had come to know Alex quite well. He couldn't hold her like this if he didn't love her at least a little bit. And in time, she knew he would say the words. Perhaps she'd even work up the courage to tell him first. How difficult could that be? She'd already asked him to marry her. Nothing could be scarier than that, and she had come through it just fine. But she'd have to put off talk of love. For now, she was content just to rest in his arms. She'd found a home there.

After a few minutes, Alex knew that he was going to have to take Emma home. She had said that Ned had escorted her to his front door—Alex didn't even want to guess what Emma had done to convince her cousin to bring her here. Nonetheless, he knew that Ned would come for her if she remained overlong, and if that happened, the entire Blydon family might get involved. All hell

would break loose. Everyone would be appeased, of course, once informed of their impending nuptials, but Alex thought that it would not be a rather auspicious beginning to their lives together.

And so, with great regret, Alex nudged Emma's shoulder. "Wake up, my love. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you home."

"I wish you didn't have to."

"Believe me, love, I wish I didn't have to either, but the last thing we want is your entire family descending on us."

Emma yawned and slowly extricated herself from Alex's arms. "I despise reality."

Alex chuckled. "How does next week sound?"

"How does next week sound for what?"

"Our marriage, you ninnyhead."

"Next week? Are you mad?"

"Obviously."

"Alex, there is no way I can plan a wedding by next week." Then Emma remembered that the entire point of her proposing

to him was that she needed to marry right away.

But Alex had already given in. "Two weeks, then."

"All right," she said slowly. "Aunt Caroline is going to have a fit of the vapors. She'll want a lavish affair, I'm sure."

"Do you want a lavish affair?"

Emma smiled up into his eyes. "I really don't care," she sighed. All she really wanted was Alex. Although, now that she thought about it, she'd always dreamed of a beautiful gown, of gliding down an aisle to meet her future. "A week from Saturday," she

said quickly, hoping that she could find a dressmaker willing to work under such time constraints.

"Very well. I'm going to hold you to that date."

Emma giggled slightly. "Please do."

Alex was still wondering about her rather odd comment about having to marry him quickly. Whatever the matter, it must be something urgent for her to defy all convention and propose marriage. "Emma," he said, touching her chin lightly. "I have one question for you/'

"Yes?"

"What on earth prompted you to ask me to marry you?"

"What prompted me? Well, it's all rather silly, actually, and I could just kill Ned over it, although I have to say it all worked out very well in the end. I really couldn't be happier." Emma looked up at Alex and gave him a sheepish grin. "I needed money, actually, and I can't use my—" She stopped abruptly, horrified by the change that had just come over Alex. His entire body seemed frozen, tensed for a fight, and his face was a granite mask, hard and unyielding. Emma stumbled back a step, almost feeling as if she'd been pushed back by his frown. "Alex?" she said hesitatingly. "Is something wrong?"

Alex felt a white hot rage consume him, and he felt unable even to speak. Fury pounded through his mind, blotting out all reason.

I needed money I needed money I needed money. Emma's words echoed unyieldingly in his head, and the walls around his heart that she had so recently broken down began to reform. How could he have been such a fool? He thought he'd finally

found a woman who seemed to care for him, not for the material comforts and prestige that came along with his name. And

he had actually believed himself to be in love with her. What an idiot. In the end, she'd proved to be just like all the others. He couldn't believe she'd actually come out and admitted to him that all she wanted was money. That, he supposed, was a point

in her favor. At least she hadn't been devious like all the rest.

Alex stared coldly at her, his eyes two chips of emerald ice. "Get out," he said harshly, practically spitting the words at her.

Emma felt all the blood drain from her face, and for a moment she thought she might faint. "What?" she gasped, unable to

believe she'd heard him correctly.

"You heard me. I want you gone."

"But what about—?" She could barely get the words out.

"You may consider any agreement we have reached here today to be null and void." His voice was icy, and he grabbed

her arm, propelling her to the door.

Emma felt hot tears welling up in her eyes, and she fought to keep them from rolling down her cheeks as Alex pushed her

through the room. "Alex, please," she pleaded as she stumbled out of the parlor and into the main hall. "What is wrong?

What happened? Please tell me. Please!"

Alex whipped her around to face him and looked her hard in the eye. "You greedy little bitch."

Emma felt as if she'd been hit. "Oh my God," she whispered, no longer able to control the tears that flowed freely from her eyes.

"Wait outside," he said, roughly, putting her out on the front step. "I'll get a carriage to bring you home." He turned on his heel and stepped back inside. Then suddenly, he turned around. "Don't ever come back."

As Emma stood on the steps, she wondered if she had died. Wiping some of the tears off her cheeks, she took great big gulps

of air, trying to regain her equilibrium. She had to get out of there. The last thing she wanted was to return home in his carriage. Pulling her shawl over her head to hide her bright hair, she hurried down the steps and along the street.