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The clock struck one It felt verygauche, sitting there bolt upright, the sheets clutched under her chin Tess lay down She could try to relax, just close her eyes He wouldn’t be er, surely?

She woke to the sound of solass, soh weary, there were two thuds that she recognised as shoes being tossed aside Alex

Tess eased herself up against the pillows and found he was standing with his back to her He took off his coat, dropped it on a chair and began to untie his neckcloth one-handed while the other held a glass with a finger of dark liquid in it He set down the glass, took off his waistcoat and then started to unfasten his evening breeches

I should say so But her mouth was too dry The breeches dropped to the floor and, thank heavens for maidenly nerves, the heh, the sight of a pair of strong,I cannot sit here spying on him Tess cleared her throat

Alex spun round ‘What in Hades are you doing here?’

He sounded both angry and confused, but there had been one moment, one blink of an eye, when his face had lit up elcoe she needed to speak ‘I wanted to be with you I need to be with you, Alex’

Now she could not read his face at all Alex grabbed a robe froht ‘If anyone discovers you are here, even if I come no closer than this, then you are ruined, Tess’

‘Ruined for what, exactly? I a miss about to embark on her Season, someone whose virtue and purity is as important as her bloodlines and her dowry I a what it means to lie with a man make me any less able as a companion, any less competent as a teacher?’

‘No’ Alex picked up his glass again, stared at it, then slammed it down

‘I will not go froies,’ she said ‘I a to sell my body as a result I know you desire me I did not need you to tellI desire you, too, and you know that, also’

‘What if I get you with child?’

‘Then, you will provide for us, I irew ‘I would never make any further clai another woman, are you?’