“Sophie,” she breathed reverently. “I can’t believe you actually grew up here. I feel like a princess just standing in front of it.”

Sophie smiled. “I suppose one gets used to the things one grows up around. But you must see the rest. The back courtyards are really quite lovely.”

“I had hoped Alex might show her the rest.” Sophie, Emma, and Belle turned around to see Eugenia walking up to them. Several yards away, Henry was helping his wife down from their carriage, and Alex was being mauled by Charlie.

“Oh, I would love to see more,” Emma exclaimed. “I do so love to get out into the country, and the weather is truly perfect.” Sure enough, the gods had been smiling on England that day. The sky was cerulean blue, lightly dotted with fluffy clouds, and the sun shone warmly on Emma’s face.

“Alex!” Eugenia called out. “If you can manage to unwrap Charlie from around your neck, I would like you to show Emma a bit of the area.”

Emma turned to Belle as Alex tried to loosen Charlie’s viselike grip. “Why don’t you join us, Belle?”

“Oh no,” Belle answered, a little too quickly. “I really couldn’t. I accidentally took two copies of King Henry IV, Part II from our library this morning.” She held up two volumes, both bound in crimson leather, which she had brought into the carriage in case Sophie and Emma had decided to take naps. “I really need to get a copy of King Henry IV, Part I right away, and Sophie has promised me that I may borrow it from the library here. I don’t know why we have two copies of the second part at home…” Her words trailed off.

“I can’t imagine,” Emma said, well aware that just about everybody had been planning for this moment.

“I can’t very well read Part II before Part I,” Belle added. “That would be like reading the last few pages of a novel before you started it.”

“Not to mention how disruptive that would be to your alphabetic order,” Emma put in, not without a small close of sarcasm.

“I hadn’t even thought of that,” Belle exclaimed. “Now it is even more imperative that I get my hands on that play.”

“Do not question providence,” Alex advised as he took Emma’s arm, Charlie loping along behind him. “Why don’t you get changed into your riding habit, and I’ll give you a tour. We’ll do the fields now while the sun is out, and I’ll show you ’round the house this evening.”

Charlie immediately wedged his way between the couple and started jumping up and down. “Can I come, too? Please, please may I come?” he chirped.

“Not this time, dear,” Sophie hastily interjected. “I think you should check on Cleopatra. Mrs. Goode tells me she’s due to have kittens very soon. Perhaps even this weekend.”

The possibility of kittens proved to be far more exciting than a ride through the nearby fields with Alex and Emma, and Charlie quickly yelped, “Brilliant!” and tore off toward the kitchens, where the black and gold cat made her home right next to one of the ovens.

Within twenty minutes, Emma had settled into her spacious room in the west wing, changed into a fashionable midnight-blue riding habit, and hurried back to the front of the house, where Alex was already waiting for her. He was standing on the front steps, staring at some far off grassy hill when Emma arrived. She silently studied his finely chiseled profile, thinking that she had never seen him look as handsome as he did right at that moment in his expertly cut bottle-green jacket and buff-colored breeches. Her emotions had been in a jumble since their passionate kiss a few nights earlier, and the mere sight of him staring so resolutely into the distance set them churning anew. Emma sighed softly, wondering if she would ever regain her internal balance around this complex man. At the sound of her sigh, Alex turned abruptly to face her, his expression still so serious that Emma suddenly felt terribly self-conscious. Smiling shyly, she smoothed down the blue skirts of her dress with her hands. She parted her lips to speak but couldn’t think of anything to say. For the past few months, she and Alex had settled into a comfortable, friendly relationship, constantly bantering with one another as if they had been friends since childhood. But Alex was right. The kiss in the Lindworthys’ garden had altered their friendship, and she felt almost as awkward as she had when they had first met.

“I trust your room is suitable?” Alex inquired suddenly.

Emma quickly looked up into his face. The highly charged silence had been broken, and while she missed the sense of intimacy she’d found in his intense stare, she welcomed the return of her wits. “Of course. Your home is lovely. Although,” she said laughingly, “I swear I’ll never get used to the size of your foyer. I could fit my entire Boston townhouse in it. It would be a close fit in height, however. I might crush your chandeliers.” Emma looked up at the crystal chandeliers that dangled from the ceiling, some forty or fifty feet above her. “However does one clean those?”

Alex smiled as he took her arm. “Very carefully, I imagine.” He motioned toward the stables, and the two of them descended the steps and strolled in that direction. “I thought I might show you some of Westonbirt on horseback,” Alex said, “because it’s really a bit too large to do on foot.”

Emma smiled in anticipation. “I haven’t ridden in ages,” she breathed.

Alex looked down at her with disbelief. “Really, Emma, I see you in Hyde Park all the time on that cozy little white mare of your cousin’s.”