mma's mouth fell open. "However," Alex continued mildly, "I don't think this is the most appropriate place. Did you get

that blasted voucher?"

"Actually," she replied archly, "I did." She waved the note in his face.

"In that case, I hope you'll excuse me as I throw you out the window." Alex yanked on Emma's arm and pulled her

across the room.

"Wait!" Emma exclaimed. "My coat! I left it tucked against the crack under the door. And I've also got to get my candle."

She scurried across the room, picked up her coat, and quickly wrapped herself in it. "Some prowler you are," she muttered.

Alex viciously grabbed the taper off of the desk and blew out the flame, but not before he shot a murderous glare in Emma's direction.

"I'm going, I'm going," she said quickly, scurrying toward the window.

She obviously wasn't going fast enough, because he picked her up and dropped her out the window himself, where she

landed in Dunford's waiting arms.

"You're here, too?" she asked weakly.

"If I were you, I'd be grateful for my presence. Ashbourne is nearly ready to explode."

Emma didn't doubt it. She twisted around to face Ned. "What is going on? Why are they here?"

Her cousin only shrugged.

"You can put her down now, Dunford." Alex vaulted down from the window. "Your candle," he said, handing the taper

to Emma, who immediately shoved it in her pocket. "Let's get out of here."

"Shouldn't we close the window back up?" Emma suggested.

With great patience, Alex turned back to the window. "Dunford, would you give me a leg up?"

Dunford cupped his hands together to form a step, and Alex reached up and shut the window.

"Actually," Emma said, just when Alex hit the ground again, "it wasn't closed all the way. It was open about three inches."

Alex took a deep breath. Emma gulped as she saw a muscle start to twitch in his cheek. He held steady, however, turning

back to his friend. "Dunford?"

Dunford cupped his hands again and hoisted Alex up. Alex pushed the window up a few inches. "Is this all right?" he asked in quite the most dangerously solicitous tone Emma had ever heard.

Emma was still furious with him. "It was a little higher," she said peevishly.

Alex moved the window up another inch.

"A little lower."

He tugged it down. "How about now?"

"Maybe a little—ouch!" She rubbed her ribs where Ned had urgently jabbed her. 'That will be fine, I'm sure," she said finally, giving her cousin a hard stare. "Oh, I got your voucher!" she exclaimed, handing it over to Ned. "I almost forgot to tell you.

This is it, isn't it?"

Ned unfolded the note, breathing a sigh of relief as he read it. "I cannot thank you enough, Emma."

"Oh, it was nothing, Ned. Actually, I had a lot of fun."

"I, on the other hand, had no fun whatsoever," Alex said very slowly, barely able to contain the rage that threatened to explode

all over Emma. He had been so worried about her. Frantic. It had been eight long hours between the time that Dunford had told him that Emma and Belle were up to some strange scheme and when he finally went to Lady Mottram's to confront her. Eight long hours of pacing, of raking his hands through his hair, of wondering what on earth she was up to and if she were in any danger. It had been an agonizing afternoon of nearly dying of guilt over the way he had treated her the night before. And then when he found out that she was planning to break into Woodside's townhouse, he'd wanted to put his fist through a wall. Eight hours of frantic energy and sheer terror on an empty, hung-over stomach did bad things to a man, and Emma's declaration that

she was having fun was definitely not soothing his temper.

Emma instinctively stepped back when she saw the dark look on Alex's face.

"May we leave now, or must I throw you over my shoulder?" Alex asked with chilling calmness.

Emma gulped down a nervous laugh, realizing wisely that a giggle would be horrendously inappropriate—and most probably dangerous to her well-being. "That—that won't be necessary," she stammered.

Alex turned his icy glare to Ned. "I trust you can make your own way home."

Ned nodded. "But what about Emma? She'll need an escort."

Alex snaked his arm through hers and pulled her tightly against his side. "I will see her home. Your cousin and I have a few matters to discuss."

"We really could have that discussion tomorrow," Emma put in hastily, trying to extricate herself from Alex's grasp.

He held firm. "No, I don't think we could." He nodded at Ned and started striding down the street so quickly that Emma

nearly had to run to keep up with him. Dunford followed at a respectable distance.

"Is it necessary to drag me?" Emma gasped, her feet flying down the street.

"If you're wise, you will keep your mouth shut for the next few minutes."

"Well, my legs aren't as long as yours," she muttered ungraciously. "I can't move that fast."

Alex stopped short. Emma, having worked up quite a bit of momentum, crashed into him. "What now?" she snapped.

"I can still put you over my shoulder," he warned darkly.

She shot him a scathing glare. "Don't even try it, you grimy little rodent."

Alex exhaled slowly, clenching and unclenching his fist, desperately trying not to lose hold of the tension that rocked his body. "Come along," he said savagely, once again pulling her down the street.

"Where are we going, anyway? In case you hadn't noticed, I live in the opposite direction."

"We are going to Dunford's house. It's only a few blocks away. We can get a carriage from there."

"Good. Because I expect you to return me home immediately," Emma sniffed. "Your behavior tonight has been deplorable."

Once again, Alex halted in his tracks. Once again, Emma slammed into his side. "Are you trying to infuriate me?" he hissed.

Emma stuck her nose in the air. "I really don't care about your feelings, your grace."

Alex nearly cringed at the obsequious way she referred to his title. He pointed his index finger at her as if he were about to

launch into a tirade. His face contorted as his jaw clenched, and he fought for words. Finally, he dropped his shaking finger.

He still had enough dignity not to shake her senseless in the middle of a public street. Not to mention with Dunford loitering

six feet in the background. "Let's get moving," he said tersely, continuing toward Dunford's home.

* * *

A few minutes later Alex came to a stop in front of Dunford's neat little townhouse. Emma tore her hand from his grasp and crossed her arms defiantly, glaring daggers at him all the while.

Dunford arrived about fifteen seconds later, took one look at the fuming couple, and said, "I'll go call for my carriage." He took

the front steps two at a time. When he reached the top, he turned around and said, "Er, why don't the two of you wait in my

hall? Some of the parties will be getting out around now, and I'm sure you don't want anyone to see you standing in the street. Especially in your, er, costume, Emma."

Emma marched right up the steps. "I certainly don't want to get caught up in some scandal which will trap me into marriage

with that monster."

Alex didn't say anything; he just marched up the steps right behind her. When they were both safely inside Dunford's front

hall, Emma stole a glance at him. The muscle in his cheek was still twitching, and the tension in his jaw and neck was visible.

He was definitely angry. Maybe even as angry as she was. But she didn't understand why he even cared. He had made his disdainful feelings for her abundantly clear the previous afternoon, and his appearance in Woodside's study, presumably to

save her from some perilous fate, was really quite puzzling.

"The carriage is ready," Dunford said quietly as he walked back into the hall a few minutes later, his hands clasped behind his back.

Alex grabbed Emma again by her arm. Before he left, he turned back to Dunford and said, "I thank you for all your assistance."

"You'll stop by tomorrow?"

"I may not be through with her by tomorrow." Before Emma had time to question him about that ominous statement, he pulled

her through the door and down the front steps. After unceremoniously dumping her in the carriage, Alex strode to the driver,

gave him instructions, and then climbed in beside her.

Emma crossed her arms mutinously and then sank back into the corner of the cushioned seat. He'd not get another word out of her, she silently declared. She couldn't imagine why he thought he had the right to prance into her business, take over her life,

and then treat her like an annoying piece of baggage. She let out a furious breath of air and then clamped her lips together, determinedly looking out the window. After a minute or two, however, she found she could not contain her rage any longer,

and she burst out, "You high-handed louse! I cannot believe the way you have acted this evening."

"A rodent, a monster, and a louse all in one evening," Alex mocked. "This must be one of my good days."

"I'll say." Emma went back to glaring out the window. "What on earth!" she shrieked suddenly, whirling around to face Alex.

"We just passed my home. Where are we going?"

"We are going to my home."

'Just another example of your blasted arrogance!" Emma blazed. "What right do you have to steal me from my home!"

"If you recall, I didn't steal you from your home. I stole you from Woodside's home, and believe me, you're far better off

in my clutches than you are in his."

"I demand that you turn this carriage around this instant and take me home."

"I really don't see how you have any say in the matter, Emma."

She drew back. "Are you threatening me?"

Alex leaned forward so that his nose was very nearly touching hers. "Yes."

As if on cue, the carriage ground to a halt. Alex quickly disembarked, and when Emma wouldn't budge off of the seat cushion,

he leaned back in, hauled her out, and flipped her over his shoulder. "We won't be needing you any longer!" he called out to the coachman. With Emma kicking and grunting (she had just enough presence of mind to realize that screaming would result in scores of onlookers, a huge scandal, and then most probably a despicable marriage), Alex trudged up the steps and into the hall, kicking the door shut with a vicious slam.

"Will you put me down?" Emma finally demanded.

"Not just yet," Alex ground out, ascending another flight of stairs.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked angrily, trying to twist her head around so that she could figure out where she was.

"Somewhere where we can talk."

"Where we can talk or where you can lecture me?"

"You are trying my patience, my lady."

"Really?" Emma asked scathingly. "I had hoped that I had already tried it."

Alex strode through a doorway and kicked the door shut, finally dumping Emma down upon a large four-poster bed. She immediately made a mad dash for the door, but Alex ably blocked her, redeposited her on the bed, crossed the room, and

locked the door with a resounding click.

"Why you—"

Alex tossed the key out the window.

"Are you crazy?" Emma ran to the window, judging the distance to the ground.

"You'll never make it without injury," Alex said. "You, my dear, are my captive audience, and believe me, I have a few

things to say to you."

"Good!" Emma retorted. "I have a few things to say to you, too."

"Emma," he said with dangerous softness. "You ought to be scared right now."

"Fine," she declared, crossing her arms. "Talk away."

Alex took careful stock of her features. She didn't look the least bit repentant, but he was so furious with her, he started

his tirade anyway. "First of all—" he thundered.

"Do you mind if I take off my coat?" Emma interrupted sarcastically. "It does seem that I'm to be your guest for some time."

"By all means."

Emma unbuttoned her coat, shrugged it off, and laid it on a nearby chair.

"What on earth are you wearing?" Alex yelled.

Emma looked down at her breeches. "For goodness sake, Alex. I can't very well go prowling around in an evening gown."

Alex's eyes slid down her trim figure, every curve of which was indecently hugged by her breeches. His muscles tightened,

and his anger was further inflamed by his body's mutinous response to her. "You have just given me another matter about

which to yell at you," he snapped. "I cannot believe your cousin let you out of the house dressed like that."

"Oh, really," Emma scoffed. "You didn't say anything in Woodside's study. I didn't have my coat on then," she reminded him.

"I didn't notice," Alex bit out. "It was dark."

She shrugged. "Get on with your lecture, will you? I've had a long day."

Alex took a deep breath. He was convinced she was deliberately trying to provoke him. He could grant her that. She had

every right to be furious with him over his behavior the day before. But that didn't excuse her blatant disregard for her own welfare this evening. "Do you have any idea what kind of danger you placed yourself in tonight?" he finally asked, trying to

keep his tone even.

"We had a very good plan," Emma returned. "Which obviously worked."

"Oh, really? Do tell me about this plan of yours. What were you planning to do if Woodside came home and surprised you

while you were burgling his study?"

"Belle is keeping him busy at Lady Mottram's. She promised us that she wouldn't let him leave before midnight."

"And what if she failed?" Alex demanded. "Your cousin is hardly strong enough to restrain a grown man."

"Oh, use your head," Emma snapped. "Woodside has been drooling over her for a year. He would never leave a party

while she was flirting with him."

"But you couldn't be sure of that. He might have taken ill and had to leave."

"It's called a calculated risk, your grace. We take them every day of our lives."

"Damn it, Emma!" Alex exploded, raking his hand through his hair. "Of all the harebrained, damned fool things to do! If

Woodside had caught you he could have thrown you in prison! Or worse!" he added meaningfully.

"I had to take the chance. Ned was in trouble and he needed help. I don't abandon the people I love," she said sharply.

Something in Alex snapped at that moment, and he took her by the shoulders, shaking her and clutching her as if he were

holding on for dear life. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? Do you?"

Emma gulped, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to quell the tears that had been rolling nonstop down her cheeks for

nearly a day. She had to compose herself. She couldn't let him see her cry.

Alex stopped shaking her, but he didn't release his hold, and Emma found his touch oddly comforting. The very heat of him seemed to pour through her shirt, and a small part of Emma longed to throw herself against him and wrap herself in his strong arms. But a larger part of her still stung from his brutal temper the day before. His lack of trust in her had wounded her to the core. "I wasn't aware that you cared, your grace," she answered very quietly.

"Well, I do!" he said savagely, turning away from her and banging his hands down on his writing table. "I care too damned

much. I nearly went insane today, knowing that you were involved in some ridiculous scheme and not being able to stop you."

"How did you know?" Emma asked, perching herself on the edge of the bed.

"Dunford overheard you and Belle talking earlier this afternoon," Alex said flatly. "He heard you say something about how imperative it was that Belle meet Woodside tonight at Lady Mottram's. Considering Woodside's character, we were both frantic."

"I would have thought you'd have been content to leave me to the wolves."

"I made a mistake yesterday," Alex said hoarsely, still facing away from her. "I'm sorry."

Emma's eyes widened with shock over his admission. He was a proud man, and she couldn't imagine that apologies came

easily to him. As he stood leaning against the table, every line of his body spoke of raw tension and pain. This wasn't easy

for him, she knew that. And he was probably racked with guilt over his behavior. Her heart went out to him— she couldn't

stop it if she tried, she loved him so much. But none of her tender feelings could erase her pain. "I accept your apology,"

she said with quiet dignity.

Alex whirled around, hope and doubt colliding in his eyes.

"But that doesn't mean I'll be able to forget," Emma added sadly. "We're not going to be able to go back to the way we were."

"Emma, if you needed money for Ned, you could have asked me for it."

"What was I supposed to do, Alex? Walk up to you and ask you for a loan of ten thousand pounds?"

"I would have given it to you."

"I'm sure you would have, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable with it, and I don't think Ned would have, either. Besides,

it seemed silly when I have more than enough money of my own. I've got an inheritance right here in London. It's in trust

until I reach my twenty-first birthday." She swallowed nervously, glancing away and studying a medieval tapestry that hung

on the wall. "Or until I marry."

"I see."

"I didn't ask you to marry me just for money," Emma burst out passionately, still unable to turn around and face his emerald

gaze. "I think it's what gave me the idea to ask you, but it's not why I did it. It was an excuse, I suppose. I wanted you so

badly, and I felt trapped. A man can pick and choose who he wants to marry and when, but women have to sit at home and

wait for an offer. I was afraid you'd never get around to asking."

Alex sighed. If she'd only waited three more days, this entire mess would have been averted.

"The money was just an excuse," Emma continued forlornly. "I guess I thought that if I had an urgent enough reason, then

I could defy tradition and ask you instead of waiting. I don't think I would have had the courage to propose if I hadn't needed

to get the money for Ned."

Alex moved to the bed and sat beside her, taking one of her hands and holding it between his own. "Can you understand why

I reacted as I did?" he asked, stroking her palm with his thumb. "All my adult life I've been chased by greedy women eager

for a title. When you said you needed money—I don't know what happened. I just snapped."

"I just don't understand how you could have thought that of me." Emma raised her stricken eyes to his. "Don't you know me?"

Alex looked away, unable to think of any words that might express the remorse he was feeling.

The silence grew interminable, until finally Emma said. "You should have trusted me."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I can understand your jumping to the wrong conclusion." she said, her voice breaking slightly. "But you didn't even stop to

think. You just treated me like a common harlot and threw me out of your house. You didn't even ask for an explanation."

Alex couldn't meet her eyes.

Emma wiped away a tear that threatened to spill down her face. "I would have thought that you knew me well enough to

realize that I'm not a 'greedy little bitch".

He flinched as she tossed back the cruel words he had blurted out in anger. "I know I was wrong, Emma. Believe me,

it didn't take me very long to realize that I had misunderstood you."

"I don't know. I feel very uncomfortable knowing that you don't trust me."

"But I do. I do now."

Emma smiled sadly. "You say you do. I'm sure you believe you do. But I'm not certain that you wouldn't jump to the very

same conclusion all over again. You spent ten years hating women. It isn't easy to undo a decade of such strong emotion."

"I don't hate women, Emma."

"Hate, mistrust. It amounts to the same thing."

"I admit that I did not hold most women in the highest regard," Alex said, tightening his hold on her hand. "I didn't know any

outside of my family whom I could respect. But you changed that. You shattered every preconception I held about women."

Emma wet her lips as she relived the ugly scene in Alex's parlor. "Obviously I didn't."

"For God's sake, Emma, give me a chance!" he suddenly burst out, jumping to his feet. "You're right! I made an ass of myself yesterday because I didn't trust my instincts. I knew you were everything I wanted in a woman, but I was afraid to admit it.

Are you satisfied?" He strode across the room, taking deep breaths of air. Hands on hips, he stared at the very same tapestry

that had captured Emma's gaze a few minutes earlier. He didn't turn to look at her when he finally said, "But now you're doing

the exact same thing to me. You don't trust me enough to believe that I learned something from yesterday's debacle."

"Oh, Alex," Emma moaned, placing her face in her hands. "I'm so confused. I think I've been confused since the moment

I met you."

"You've been confused?" Alex said, turning around as his lips twisted into a wry smile. "You've turned my entire life upside

down. Do you know how many damned balls I've been to in the last two months?"

At her blank stare he continued, "More than I've been to in the last ten years! I don't like ton parties. I hate ton parties.

But I went to all of them—gladly—just to be near you."

Emma blinked up at him through watery eyes. "I wish I knew what to do," she said sadly. "Could— could you just—" She

bit her lip, fumbling for words. "Could you just hold me? Just for a little while?"

Alex's head rose at her request, and his heart began to beat rapidly. He walked across the room, sat down next to her,

and wrapped his arms around her, his lips settling on the tender skin just next to her ear.

Emma closed her eyes, lost in the comfort and solace she found in his arms. When she found her voice, it was very small

and quite uneven. "I think that if you keep holding me, maybe I can forget how much I'm hurting."

Alex tightened his hold. "I'm so sorry, Emma," he murmured. "So very sorry."

Emma nodded, finally allowing the tears she'd been holding back all evening to trickle down her cheeks. "I know. And

I'm sorry that I worried you so much tonight. I'm not sorry I did what I did," she added with a sniffle and a sheepish smile.

"But I am sorry that I worried you."

Alex crushed her to him. "Oh God, Emma," he said hoarsely. "Please don't ever put me through something like that again."

"I won't. I'll try not to."

Alex drew back so that he could see her face. "I've made you cry," he whispered, touching her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

Within the warm haven of Alex's arms, Emma let loose all the tears which had been brimming up within her for the past two

days and which she had valiantly fought to conceal from the concerned eyes of her relatives. As each tear fell, it seemed to

her that a weight had been lifted from her soul, and she slowly felt the tension leave her body. At some point her tears trickled

to a halt, and Alex laid her sleepy body down upon his massive bed. With a contented smile on his face, he slipped off her shoes, pulled the covers up, tucked them under her chin, and kissed her goodnight.