Alex was stunned by both her soft lecture and its discomforting accuracy. Her quiet words made him extremely uneasy. Didn’t she realize that her tender words could tear through his armor far more effectively than any sword? Suddenly uncomfortable, he decided to change the subject before she had another chance to unsettle him.

“You still haven’t told me why you were out and about dressed as a servant this afternoon,” he said abruptly.

Emma was startled by the sudden turn in the conversation, and the sharpness of his voice roused her ire once again. “Whyever would I explain my actions to you?”

“Because I insist that you do so.”

“What? You must be joking!” Emma spluttered. “You overbearing, arrogant, unscrupulous—”

“Once again” Alex cut in smoothly, “I find myself in admiration of your vast vocabulary.”

“There are quite a few more where those came from,” Emma said between clenched teeth.

“I don’t doubt it for an instant.”

“Why, you insufferable, odious—”

“Here we go again.”

“—PIG!” Emma clapped her hand to her face as she realized what she just said, and she started to shake silently with laughter. She simply couldn’t help herself. Sitting on her soft white quilt in a most unladylike manner, she hugged her bent legs to herself and bowed her head as she laughed. Her body rocked uncontrollably as she tried to contain her mirth. The complete ludicrousness of her situation had suddenly been brought home to her, and though she knew she ought to do something like swoon, she simply could not help but be utterly amused.

Alex regarded Emma’s laughter with surprise. That a woman could actually find humor in her compromising position—it was inconceivable! But he soon found that her mirth was infectious. His rich chuckle joined her silent laughter as he watched her pale, delicate shoulders rise and fall with each giggle.

Alex’s chuckles proved to be Emma’s undoing, and she exploded into loud, throaty laughter. Unable to keep a tight rein on her shaking body any longer, she acted just as she would have done if it had been Belle in the room instead of the Duke of Ashbourne, and she flopped out onto her back, legs hanging over the side of the bed.

Alex watched her with fascination. Spread out on the bed, with her flaming hair fanned out against the pale sheets, she seemed not to notice him. Lost in her laughter, she was primitive and without artifice, completely oblivious to his hungry gaze.

He thought she was magnificent.

How was he ever going to keep his hands off of her?

“Oh my,” Emma gasped, finally emerging from her fit of laughter. She fought for breath, trying desperately to contain herself. She placed one hand on her heaving chest as she regained control. “Whatever must you think of me?”

“I think,” Alex paused as he crossed the room in quick strides and perched himself at the foot of her bed, “that you are beautiful.”

Emma pulled her legs back onto the bed and shrank back against the headboard. His silken voice melted her limbs, and she was terrified by her reaction to him. She had to put as much room as possible between herself and the dangerously handsome man who had snuck into her bedroom. “Beauty is only skin deep,” she quipped, trying to relieve the tension that hung in the air.

“Very astute,” Alex said with a nod. “Allow me to rephrase myself. I think that you are splendid.”

Joy shot through Emma like ten thousand tiny flames, and her body tingled with strange, unfamiliar feelings. All she knew was that Alex’s presence affected her in ways she did not understand, and she was frightened.

Alex caught her timid gaze. “My dear Emma,” he began.

Emma suddenly felt the need to assert herself and regain some self-confidence, which he had washed away. She straightened her back with false bravado. “I am certainly not your dear Emma,” she said primly.

“Really? Then whose dear Emma are you?”

“What an absurd question.”

“Not at all. Because”—he caught her unshod foot and began to massage it—“if you don’t belong to anyone else yet, I think I might make you mine.”

Emma gasped as his hands continued to knead the muscles in her foot. She had never dreamed that a touch to her foot could send sensations up to her stomach, she thought frantically as she pulled her leg to escape his grasp. Her struggles only strengthened his resolve and his strong, tanned hands moved upward under the hem of her skirt to her calf. Emma unconsciously wet her lips as delicious spasms of pleasure shot up her leg.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Alex grinned.

“No, I don’t think I like it at all,” was her strangled reply.

“Oh?” Alex asked innocently. “Then I’ll just have to try harder.” His hands lazily moved upward until he was touching the soft flesh just above her knee. “Do you like that?” At her dazed expression, he continued. “No? Perhaps then a kiss.”

Before Emma had any chance to react, he tugged her feet and pulled her down so she that was lying on her back. He stretched out beside her, the hard length of his body pressing into her side. Cupping her chin with his strong hand, he pulled her face to his and his lips gently met hers.

“No,” Emma whispered weakly. She didn’t understand how this man came to be in her bedroom or how he came to be lying on her bed, but most of all, she didn’t understand why her body suddenly felt like it was about to go up in flames.

“Just one kiss,” Alex moaned against her mouth, his voice thick with desire. “If you say no after one kiss, I’ll stop. I promise.”