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just been in love forever and admitted that if they didn’t get married quite soon,they were simply so infatuated with one another that they’d be planning a very hasty wedding indeed!
    “Peter, apparently you are going to marry Elsie, and I wish you every happiness. Now let me pass.”
    “Alaina, you don’t understand.”
    “Marriage. A bonding of two people You will take Elsie, and no other. I understand the concept perfectly.”
    “Alaina, don’t be so flippant!” Peter cried, and she realized that
he
seemed to be losing
his
temper. She was the injured party here. “Alaina, I nearly died watching you tease and taunt those other men today. I wanted to stop you behaving like such a reckless hussy—”
    “Hussy! Peter, I will not be flippant. And I will not listen to you be crude. I will not be anything with you at all! I wish to pass by and be away from you. In truth, I tell you again, I wish you every happiness; now let me by, and do remember, what I do with any other men in the future is not your concern!”
    But when she tried to step past him, she felt a fleeting alarm. He took her by both shoulders and backed her to the wall, suddenly speaking very quickly. “Alaina, for the love of God, don’t torment me! We’ve no time here. God, can’t you tell how I want you? I’m a desperate man, Alaina, you have made me so. Come away with me, into the woods—-”
    “Into the woods!” she exclaimed. “Into the woods—with you?” Oh, God, she was going to start laughing, or crying. The woods! That had been exactly where she had been headed, but she had been going alone. Alone! She was desperate to be alone, desperate not to feel his touch, not to feel so betrayed, so
foolish!
    “Alaina, I love you, I have to have you. When I watched you today, I thought I would explode with jealousy. You must be mine. You don’t understand, you must listen to me, I adore you! God, I’m so sorry that it can’t be marriage, but we can make the best of what we have. I am rich, not just in my father’s land, but in my own right. My mother left me a trust fund. I can—”
    “Peter, stop! I can’t believe you are saying these things to me. I can’t believe that you would even begin to imagine that, now that you’re pledged elsewhere—”
    “Don’t be a fool, Alaina! Sweet Jesus, Alaina, see thetruth of it! No respectable young man will ever be allowed to ask for your hand in marriage.”
    “No respectable man would ask for my hand?” she repeated rigidly.
    He didn’t seem to comprehend the hardness that edged her tone, the sudden and complete dislike in it. He rushed on determinedly. “Oh, my dear, you must realize this! Your father is all but penniless. You’ve been raised in the absolute wild with the savages! But that needn’t upset you, because I truly adore you, Alaina, I will give you everything, absolutely everything that I can….”
    His words trailed away. She stared at him incredulously. His mouth came closer and before she realized his intent, he was kissing her, pressing her harder against the wall, his body plied against hers in a way that clearly defined what he expected of her, his tongue persistently forcing its way into her mouth.
    Amazement held her perfectly still for several seconds, then she felt his hand, fumbling at her bodice. Fury seared into her. She slammed upward with a knee, and the second he howled and stepped backward, she slapped his face with a vengeance. “Peter, take your despicable proposals and go to hell!”
    “Alaina!” he croaked. He was in agony, but whether it was because she refused his outrageous proposal or because she had kneed him with such force, she couldn’t tell. Nor did she care at that moment. She could endure no more of the rich and respectable Mr. Peter O’Neill. She took full advantage of his weakness and pushed him away from her, then fled swiftly out of the pantry and back out the double doors, across the lawn and into a grove of harboring