The Adventures of Grace Quinlan and Lord William Hayden Along the Nile (Volume 1)

Excerpt: "Lord Hayden, I really must go. I need to do more research on the excavation site for my article, and that means starting out early in the morning for the next few days."
Lord Hayden wondered if she realized her voice trembled. Gently he replied, "All right. But we can work together. I need to visit the site again as well and plan to stay in Palermo at least for a month. No need to pay a taxi when I can drive you back and forth."
"That’s kind of you," Elizabeth said.
Again he noted that blush, that shy lowering of emerald eyes, that pursing of softly tinted lips. Again there was that fleeting sense of familiarity. Becharmed, he asked, "I’ll call for you at six. Is that early enough?"
She nodded, smiling. Lord Hayden escorted her to the door, reached for the doorknob, but never quite grasped it. There was something he wanted to do much more. His arm settled about her shoulders. "Grace Quinlan," he whispered into the top of her hair, a deep rich auburn in the lamplight. The strands felt like silk. He turned her slowly toward him. She kept her gaze lowered and he had to lift her chin to make her look into his eyes.
Elizabeth’s heart hammered. His eyes were a deep dark brown. She was lost in them. His kiss was light and sweet, sweeter than any of the few she had known. She suspected it would not remain so if she permitted him to continue.
Easier to climb to the surface from the bottom of the ocean than draw her mouth from his, but she must. I will not be just a pretty face, a temporary companion, someone with whom to share an adventure, a charming woman to pose with, and another newspaper clipping for my scrapbook. So much depended on her strength of purpose. She concentrated all that strength on the vision of the forgotten tomb, the opal, and the woman, wise and beautiful. How would she have reacted in this situation? Would she have dared what Elizabeth Eldridge had contrived? Elizabeth turned her face, and when Lord Hayden’s lips caressed her cheek, she backed away. "Lord Hayden, may I go now?"
Hayden frowned but did not protest.
She read the annoyance on his features, the deprivation, but foremost a gentleman, he released her and opened the door. "Six," he said simply.