ECIDING THAT DIANA HAD NOW HAD AMPLE TIME TO FACE reality as he'd portrayed it, Cole said quietly, "I wasn't trying to hurt or embarrass you, I was only trying to describe your situation as it actually exists."

She swallowed audibly and looked down at her hands; one held her champagne glass but the fingers of the other one were clutching the railing so tightly that her knuckles were white, and when she realized Cole had noticed that, she automatically loosened her grip. She didn't like having her emotions exposed to anyone's eyes, even his, Cole realized. That was something else they had in common, and it pleased him because what he wanted from her was a completely impersonal partnership, a businesslike arrangement with no emotions to deal with while it existed, or while it was being dissolved.

On the other hand, her continued silence was not what he wanted, and he deliberately forced her out of it. "Diana, if you're blaming me for something, then blame me for being blunt, but not for creating your unhappiness."

She drew a deep, steadying breath, but there were angry tears in her voice. "Why should I blame you for stating the problem in all its ugly reality?"

"I didn't merely state the problem," Cole pointed out gently. "I also offered you a perfect solution. Me."

"Yes, you did, and I do appreciate the offer—honestly I do…"

She trailed off, and Cole realized that although his solution still struck her as bizarre and impossible, she was being careful not to hurt his feelings. The knowledge made her seem very sweet in his estimation, and very naïve, because his feelings were not involved in this bargain. He preferred to live his life in a permanent state of unemotional objectivity.

"The problem is," she began again in that same soft, gentle voice, "I can't quite see the logic in exchanging a fiancé I loved but who didn't love me for a husband I don't love and who doesn't love me either."

"That's what makes it so perfect!" Cole said, putting his hand on her arm as he pressed his point. "Our marriage won't be complicated by messy emotions."

She put down her glass and wrapped her arms around herself as if she were chilled by his attitude, dislodging his hand in the process. "Are you really as cold and unfeeling as you sound?"

Gazing into her beautiful, upturned face with her breasts only inches from him, Cole felt anything but cold. For the first time since he'd conceived his hasty plan tonight, it occurred to him that sexual desire for her could actually become a complication. He circumvented the obstacle by silently vowing to avoid all serious intimacy with her. "I'm not cold," he said aloud. "I'm being practical. I have a pressing problem that acquiring a spouse would solve for me, and you're in exactly the same predicament. Our marriage won't be complicated by messy emotions; it will be a friendly business arrangement, terminated at the end of a year by a quiet, congenial divorce. We're the perfect solution for each other. If you were superstitious, you could say this was fate."

"I don't trust fate. I used to believe Dan and I were fated for each other."

"There's a major difference between Penworth and me." Cole said with a bite in his voice. "I don't break my word when I give it."

It was at that moment, with his steely eyes boring into hers and his deep voice resounding with conviction, that Diana truly accepted that he was in absolute, dead earnest about all this. She was still reeling from the shock of that when he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger; he forced her to meet his compelling gaze. "During the year we're married," he stated, "I give you my word that I will conduct myself publicly as if I were the most devoted and faithful of husbands. I will not knowingly do anything to cause you even a moment of the humiliation or anger that Penworth has brought you. In fact, I will do everything in my power to ensure you never regret our bargain in any way," he finished and then set down his champagne glass.

There is no bargain, Diana's mind warned her in a whisper, but the silent argument was being overturned by the effect of a somber handsome face, a deep, hypnotic voice, and a powerful male body that loomed before her, tall and strong—a man who was offering to shield her from the world with a pair of broad shoulders that looked as if they could shoulder all her burdens. The combination of all that was becoming dangerously, sweetly appealing, particularly because he wasn't talking about love or even affection.

"In the eyes of everyone," he continued, his low voice gaining force, "you will appear to be my cherished wife, and during the year we're married, you will be that."

Cherished… An antiquated word… sensitive and sentimental… unlike anything Dan had ever said to her. And totally unlike anything she'd have expected Cole to say.

His hands slid up her arms then down, velvet manacles pulling her closer to him, deeper into the sensual spell he was weaving with the help of a great deal of French champagne and wine laced with romantic Texas moonlight. "Naturally," he continued with gentle firmness, "I will expect the same promises from you. Is that agreeable?"

Diana couldn't believe she was seriously considering going through with this, not even when she felt herself nod slightly.

"I haven't agreed to the whole plan," she warned shakily, "only to the conditions."

His right hand left her arm and came to rest lightly against the side of her face, tipping it up to his. "Yes, Diana," he said with a knowing smile, his fingers spreading over her cheek, "you have. You just haven't said the words yet." His eyes and his voice were casting a spell. "By tomorrow, all your worries and all of mine can be over. All you have to do is say you agree, and I'll have my plane ready to take off for Nevada in an hour."

If he'd kissed her then, she would have bolted; if he'd released her from the gentle hold of his hands, she'd have run for her life. But when he slid his hand around the back of her nape and pressed her face against his chest in a strangely paternal gesture, Diana's remaining resistance suddenly collapsed. He was offering her, personally and professionally, a safe haven for a year… He was offering her his protection… He was offering to rescue her from humiliation, anxiety, and stress.

He was offering all that to Diana, who had been exhausted, disillusioned, and angry earlier, but who was now beginning to enjoy the increasingly delicious mindless languor induced by more alcohol than she normally consumed in an average month and by a man who made everything seem simple and easy. Cole was offering to rescue her and cherish her this very night. All she had to do was nod her head and it would be over.

Above her, his voice was a whisper lightly stirring her hair. "We can leave in an hour and be back here in time for breakfast."

Diana swallowed and closed her eyes, blinking back sudden tears that turned the small gold studs on his shirt into blurry little knots. She tried to say something, but the words lodged in her throat behind a huge lump of fear and hope and relief.

"All you have to do is give me your word that for a period of one year, you will do exactly what I'm offering to do— which is to give a convincing performance for all the world to see that we are truly and happily married."

Diana finally dragged sound through the giant constriction that seemed to start in the pit of her stomach and reach to her chin. "We don't even live in the same city," she protested weakly.

"Which makes our pretense that much easier to maintain. Our separate business interests require me to maintain a Dallas residence, while yours require you to keep your residence in Houston. Since the two cities are only a forty-five minute commute by plane, people will simply assume we're commuting."

Diana smiled a little, her cheek pressed against the starched pleats of his shirt. "You make everything sound so simple."

"Because it is simple. All we have to do is maintain a spirit of friendly collaboration. During the year we're married, you'll occasionally need me to escort you to some function or another, and I'll arrange my schedule to be there for you. Just give me as much notice as you can."

Diana thought that over as best she could; then she leaned her head back and studied him with a hazy smile. "No matter where it is, and even if it involves the press? I know you hate reporters, but the media is important to our business."

Despite her unsteady condition and the bizarre offer he was coercing her into accepting, Cole noted with amused admiration that his intelligent future wife was warily trying to close up loopholes before she agreed. He nodded. "No matter where it is," he agreed, "and I'll expect the same from you. Fair enough?" Cole waited expectantly for her to agree.

Instead she lifted her head and peered hard at his face, obviously trying to compensate for the poor light and the dulling effect of the champagne on her senses. "Do you have any other terms?"

The last thing Cole wanted to do was get mired down in details and lose the forward momentum he'd been steadily gaining. "We can talk about all the little details tomorrow. Do we have a deal?" Again he waited for her to agree.

His future wife bit her lip, considered that for a moment, and ruefully shook her head. "I think now would be better." she stated; then she gave him a tiny smile, as if to apologize for putting him to so much trouble. "That way, we won't have any miscon—misunderstandings," she amended when the right word eluded her.

Cole couldn't suppress his admiring grin. Even when she was under extraordinary pressure, Diana Foster was neither a fool nor incautious. He was beginning to understand how she had become such a formidable force within her own industry. "All right," he conceded, "here are the only major terms we need to agree upon: First, at the end of one year, we will obtain a quick, quiet divorce with neither of us making any sort of financial claims against the other. Agreed?"

She winced at the word "divorce," and Cole felt a tiny pang of guilt for making her first marriage one that was a sham. On the other hand, she had as much to gain from this marriage as he did, and far less to lose. Since Texas was a community-property state, and since Cole was far wealthier than she, he had much more to lose if she tried to renege on the postnuptial agreement that would have to be drawn up immediately after their marriage.

"Agreed," she whispered solemnly.

Cole's voice gained force and his mind shifted to travel arrangements. "Beyond that, I'll only ask for two other concessions. First, neither of us will ever reveal to anyone that this marriage was merely a convenient business arrangement. Second—"

"No."

"What?" He stared at her in disbelief. "Why not?"

"Because I'll have to tell my family. I'll have to tell my sister. You know—Corey?" she provided helpfully, and Cole suddenly suspected that she was either far more tipsy, or far more nervous, than he'd supposed a few minutes ago.

"I know Corey," he gravely assured her.

Behind her back, he lifted his wrist and tipped the face of his watch to the light from the doorway. It was ten minutes past eleven. The pilots of his Gulfstream jet were staying at a motel near the airport and they both carried pagers. His limousine was on twenty-four-hour call. If the wedding chapels in Lake Tahoe didn't stay open all night, he knew they did in Las Vegas. The logistics were not a problem. Diana was.

"I'll have to tell my whole family. And Spence, too. He's part of the family."

"What if I refuse to agree?"

She rolled her eyes at him in amused superiority. "We can't very well expect them to believe we took one look at each other tonight, fell in love, and eloped, now can we?"

"They can't prove it isn't true. Let's stick with that story, anyway."

She stepped away from him and lifted her chin to its haughtiest and most obstinate angle. "I will not upset my family with a lie, and I will not knowingly make a promise I can't keep."

She meant every word, Cole realized. Obviously, Texas's Businesswoman of the Year hadn't sacrificed her scruples or her youthful idealism during her climb up the ladder of success, and his voice was gruff with pleasure and something that felt like pride. "In that case, I concede."

"You—do?" Diana was feeling more dazed by the moment at everything he said and did. One moment, he was offering her marriage as coolly as he'd offer to hold the door open for a stranger, and the next, he was yielding a point to her with a distinct warmth in his eyes. Trying to shake off the heady effect of the alcohol and his silvery gaze, she said, "You said there were two other concessions—"

"The second concession is that you agree to accompany me to my uncle's ranch sometime during the next week or two and spend a few days there, allaying any suspicions or fears he may have about our sudden marriage."

"I probably have some meetings." She frowned, a troubled goddess with the summer breeze blowing her hair and ruffling her gown. "I always have meetings. I suppose I could rearrange my schedule and either visit your uncle next week or the week after."

"That settles it then," Cole said briskly.

She was so nervous, her voice actually shook. "I— Shouldn't I have terms?"

"Tell me what they are as you think of them. I've already promised to do everything I reasonably can to cooperate." Convinced that the moment was now exactly right to stop talking and put the plan into action, Cole walked into the suite, phoned his pilots at their motel, and then ordered his limo to be brought to the front of the hotel. After that he dialed his secretary's number in Dallas and gave the sleepy but stalwart woman a set of instructions that snapped her awake and made her stammer.

"Everything is arranged," he said as he walked back out on the balcony. He lifted the bottle of champagne out of its icy nest and refilled both glasses. "The limo is waiting downstairs, and my plane is being refueled. This definitely calls for a toast," he added, holding a glass toward her.

Diana looked at the glass in his hand and her faltering courage collapsed. "I can't!" she cried, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. She'd spent the time while he made phone calls trying desperately to decide whether her misgivings were based on good judgment or whether her panic was the result of the same cowardly, conservative streak within her that she hated and that frequently paralyzed her and caused her to pass up unique business opportunities.

Wordlessly, he put both glasses on the table with an ominous little clink, then took a step toward her. "What do you mean, you 'can't'?" he demanded.

Diana jumped backward out of his reach. "I can't! Not tonight." Her voice was shaking so hard that she scarcely recognized it, and she bumped into the railing in her desperation to escape from what she perceived to be a threat. "I need time!"

He was blocking the path into the suite, and Diana started to sidle behind one of the balcony's chairs, but the urgency and regret in his deep voice checked her in midstep and made her fear of him absurd. "Time is the only thing I can't afford to give you, Diana."

Diana heard all sorts of confusing signals in that sentence—from a desperate attempt at bribery, to an effort to salvage his pride by impressing her with his wealth. "With everything you have to offer," she assured him as she reached behind her neck and unclasped the heavy necklace he'd bought earlier, "you'll find lots of women who will jump at your suggestion in the hope it might lead to permanence—including some in the ballroom downstairs."

"I imagine you're right," he said, his voice suddenly flat. "Possibly I was reaching far above myself, but I would have liked the wife in this scheme to be a woman I'm proud to have share my name, which happens to limit my choices to one—you."

He said it so coolly that it took a moment for Diana to hear the meaning behind the words. "Why me?"

"A variety of reasons," he said with a shrug. "Not the least of which is that despite your lofty social status, you also knew me when I was paid to muck out horse stalls, and you don't seem to find that repellent."

His blunt reference to his lack of social status, combined with his earlier attempt to bribe her, made Diana's chest ache. Tears stung her eyes as she gazed at the powerful, dynamic man before her who, for some reason, was oblivious to his own worth. His face was almost too rugged to be handsome, and yet it was one of the most attractive faces she'd ever seen. Masculine pride and granite determination were sculpted into every hard angle and plane on his face. Cynicism had etched lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth, but in the strength of his features, Diana saw the mark of battles fought and won, of lessons learned the hard way. And there was no overlooking the sensuality in the mold of his mouth, not even when it had a sardonic twist, as it did now. If he hadn't had money, women would still have thrown themselves at him—and yet, for some unfathomable reason he was willing to settle for an empty marriage and a life without children.

She herself had been little more than a child when she first started visiting him at the Haywards', and he'd seemed to enjoy her company very much. He'd even gotten her a stuffed toy kitten for her sixteenth birthday, she suddenly remembered, and while she'd been melting with joy, he'd leapt to the conclusion that it wasn't good enough. "You've probably had dozens of really exotic stuffed animals."

Cole had been her friend, her fantasy lover, her mentor. Tonight he had been her knight in shining armor.

How foolish she was being now, to mistrust him and turn down an opportunity that was heaven-sent.

Guilt swelled in her chest and she wondered when she had become jaded and cynical. "Cole," she whispered, and watched his expression soften at the sound of her voice. "I'm sorry—" She held out her hand in a gesture of conciliation, but his gaze riveted on the forgotten necklace in her palm, and his expression turned to stone.

"Keep it!" he said shortly. "I bought it for you."

"No—" she began awkwardly; then she wished she'd had that other glass of champagne for courage when she saw the ominous expression in his eyes. "What I mean is, could you possibly repeat all those excellent reasons you gave me earlier?"

Cole saw the yielding softness in her eyes, and somewhere deep within him, he felt the faint stirrings of an emotion so long dead, or so foreign to him, that he didn't recognize it. And even so, it made him smile.

It made him reach out and lay his palm against the side of her cheek and tenderly smooth a lock of gleaming russet hair off her warm cheek.

"I can't decide," she told him a little shakily.

"Diana," he whispered, "you've already decided."

Diana's senses were beginning to reel with the shock of her decision and the touch of his hand. She tried to make a joke of it. "I have? What did I decide?"

His eyes gleamed with laughter, but his tone remained solemn. "You decided you'll marry me in Nevada tonight."

"I will?"

"You will."