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one much lighter and more cheerful from the light of the huge windows on either end. The heat, however, was stifling.
    Finding an open door, Georgina allowed herself the luxury of dropping her satchels for just a minute, just so she could push her hair back and wipe her face off a little.
    The printing press came to a crashing silence at the same time as her satchels hit the floor. The sound echoed through the nearly empty building.
    Mr. Martin appeared instantly, his spectacles sliding down his sweat-coated nose, his hands rubbing a rag to remove the black ink. At the sight of Georgina, his arched eyebrows rose a fraction. At the sight of her equipment, he gaped openly, his gaze swinging back and forth between the hideously expensive camera and paraphernalia and back to her. And then he grinned and stashed his spectacles in his shirt pocket.
    "A fellow journalist is always welcome, Miss Hanover. Please come in."

 
     
     
    Chapter 5

     
    Heaven help him, but she was the loveliest thing he had ever seen in his life. Light from the vaulted hall windows glinted off hair that was almost white-gold in its beauty. Beneath the streaks of dirt her face blossomed into a beatific smile at his words, and Daniel felt ten miles tall. He wanted to take her round little curves into his arms and squeeze them with sheer happiness. That was when he knew he was in big trouble.
    She was engaged to his brother.
    That knowledge wedged like a dry bread crust in his throat, and Daniel had difficulty speaking. Instead of the words of delight he wished to offer, he said, "You shouldn't be here, Miss Hanover."
    The light immediately fled her eyes. "I didn't spend the morning dragging this equipment over here only to be sent away, Mr. Martin."
    He didn't know why she had spent the morning dragging that equipment over here, but his gaze rested longingly on the expensive camera. He was trying to keep to a budget, and a camera wasn't in it. A newssheet like his had no earthly use for photographs. For that, he needed a downtown office and a publishing company. The idea had appeal, but not on his budget.
    "You're looking to get me shot, aren't you?" Daniel kept his voice neutral as he picked up the heaviest satchel and carried it in, making room for her to step inside.
    She did so without hesitation, and Daniel was suddenly aware of the shabbiness of his surroundings next to her exquisite loveliness. Her blue silk shimmered in the motes of sunlight. The yards of ruching sweeping down her boned bodice and long skirt must have cost the moon and stars. The perky hat perched atop her bedraggled coiffure had a feather that swept the air as she glanced around. He was aware that all she could see was a splintering wooden floor, soiled walls, and a mattress thrown up against a floorboard. He hadn't seen the necessity of finding an apartment as long as he had rented the entire floor. It wasn't as if he needed an office or a newsroom or any other of the accouterments that went with a professional newspaper. Not yet, anyway.
    "Very nice." Her tone was too melodic for her sarcasm to have effect. She swung around and faced him. "Were you the journalist Peter threw out of Mulloney's the other day?"
    Daniel ran his hand through his hair, realizing it was in dire need of a trimming as he met her gaze. "And if I am?"
    "Then I've come to help you. Peter fired that poor woman you were interviewing. He said no one would listen to a woman. Did she have a family? Children?"
    Daniel was extremely wary of gods bearing gifts. He knew his mythology quite well. And what applied to gods applied to goddesses, too. Perhaps she wasn't quite a goddess. She was dirty and bedraggled, and her tone was a little too imperious at the moment. She really wasn't even pretty, not in the same way that Evie was. Of course, Evie was beautiful. Georgina was just... interesting. That was the word for it. Interesting. Her lively eyes kept him captivated until he nearly forgot her question.
    Her tapping