She turned her head to look up at him.

There was an expression in his eyes that made her heart beat even more violently than it was already.

“I am afraid since I have taken so long in finding you that it is somewhat out of date.”

The Earl drew something from the inside pocket of his closely fitting coat as he spoke.

It was a piece of paper and, as Thalia took it from him, she wondered what it could be.

It was difficult to think of anything except the Earl himself, but because he was waiting she opened the paper and then stared at it astounded.

It was a Marriage Certificate made out in the name of Vargus, Alexander Mark, fifth Earl of Hellington, bachelor, and Thalia Carver, spinster!

For a moment she could hardly believe what she saw and then an inexpressible joy swept over her.

He wanted to marry her!

He loved her enough to want her not as his mistress but as his wife, even though she had been nothing more than a shop assistant!

The Marriage Certificate trembled in her hand and she was aware that the Earl had drawn a little closer, so close that their bodies were almost touching as he said,

“Perhaps Miss Thalia Caversham feels different from Miss Thalia Carver, whom I very distinctly remember saying that she loved me.”

“I-I did not wish you to – feel that I was – trying to – catch you,” Thalia stammered.

“I was caught already,” the Earl replied, “caught, and completely hooked for all time.”

He took the Marriage Certificate from her and threw it onto the ground.

Then he pulled her into his arms, holding her so close against him that it was hard to breathe.

“Will you marry me, my darling, for I cannot live without you?”

He did not wait for her answer, but his lips sought hers.

As he kissed her, Thalia knew again that wonder and glory he had given her before when he had carried her up to the stars and they hung suspended there with all the problems of the world far away below them.

She felt as if the Earl made her his and they were indivisible and yet it was something that they had been since they first knew each other.

They belonged, they were one and she had never thought that what he felt for her could be the same as she felt for him.

Now she knew how much he wanted and needed her and she felt her whole mind and body respond in a manner that told her that they could never be divided.

Their love was greater than time or space or any manmade divisions of class or status.

“I love – you! I love – you!” she whispered as the Earl released her lips.

She was trembling with the ecstasy he had evoked in her and she sensed that he was trembling too.