away as she had every other man in her life. She just wasn't the type of woman who attracted men. She knew that. It had never mattered until now, and she had given it little thought in the past. She was regretting her carelessness now.
"Well, Pecos Martin was never much of a ladies' man." Humor tugged at his drawl as Daniel unfastened the last hook and stepped away. "I guess I'd better find another hero to emulate if I'm going to try this courting business."
Georgina held her bodice in place as she turned around to look at him. His cowlick had fallen in his face again despite all his attempts to keep it slicked back. She wanted to brush it back from his forehead, but something in the glitter of his eyes kept her from reaching out. They stood in the light of only one lamp, and the shadows between them were too great.
"I've been courted before," she murmured uncertainly. "When I was twelve, I went to a garden party with a boy and fell out of a tree and broke my arm while racing him to the top. Last year, in London, I attended a perfectly extravagant ball with a viscount. We ended up arguing over my mode of dress, and when I threw champagne at him, he poured wine on me. When I looked around, we had an audience laying wagers on the outcome. I won't bore you with all the other disasters in between those two episodes."
Daniel chuckled and pulled a pin from her hair, sending a carefully arranged curl tumbling to her shoulder. "The Incorrigible Miss Merry. Maybe we're made for each other. Did Evie tell you I once blew up the main street of town?"
"Really?" Laughter came easily with Daniel, and Georgina felt a surge of warmth as he continued taking down her hair. She wasn't certain if it was for his understanding or his closeness, and she didn't care.
"When this is all over, I want to take you down south to meet some of my friends. They'll like you." Daniel dropped the handful of hairpins on the stacked crates she used as a dressing table.
Georgina didn't want to know what "this" referred to. She prayed he meant the fight with Mulloney's and not what was between them. She didn't want what was between them to ever end. Daringly, she placed a hand on his chest and fiddled with his shirt stud. "How can I make you like me?" she asked softly, staring at his chest. She felt his soft intake of breath, but didn't dare look up.
"I've liked you since the first day we met, Georgina. To tell the truth, I more than like you." Daniel caught his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back until she met his eyes.
Georgina tried not to gulp at what she saw glittering there behind the gentle gray. His brows were a sharp brown line that pulled together with the intensity of his emotion, and his lean jaw set with a determination she recognized too well. Perhaps she was beginning to see deeper than a person's surface after all. It certainly wasn't the genial journalist she was seeing now.
"I want you, Georgina," he murmured, lowering his head until his lips brushed against her ear. "I don't want to frighten you again, but I don't want to sleep in the chair, either."
She didn't know what she was supposed to do. Should she turn her back and begin obediently undressing so he could assert his husbandly rights? Should she slide her arms around his neck as she longed to do and show him that she wasn't in the least frightened? Should she just wait and let him do as he would?
Taking a breath, she dared to do as she wanted. Let him think her a loose woman. She had never spent much time trying to be something she wasn't; why start now? Georgina lifted her arms and slid them around Daniel's neck and stood on her toes to reach his lips with hers.
He grabbed her waist with both arms, lifted her from the floor, and eagerly accepted everything she gave him. Georgina's joy shot through them both as she returned his kiss with a ferocity that nearly had them tumbling into bed before they could undress.
Georgina's bodice had fallen down with her impulsive gesture, but she scarcely noticed until she felt the skirt tapes give way beneath Daniel's quick fingers. Her gown lay in a puddle on the