I was jarred from a fitful sleep by the sound of carriage wheels and horses. Rolling over, I pulled the blanket over my head to muffle the sounds from the street, unwillingly realizing that now was when everyone in the area would be returning from the second night of the masquerade ball. Andrew would have realized that I was gone by now and I could only hope that my warning about Ashley, pitiful as it was, had been enough. The Season was drawing towards its close and the debutantes were sure to be circling him like carrion birds now.

The thought alone was enough to make me throw the covers off in frustration, only to yank them back to keep the cold off my skin.

A loud pounding echoed through the house. Puzzled, I glanced towards the front window. The pounding resumed, a steady bang-bang-bang followed by a pause. I climbed out of bed, snatching up my robe and sliding into my slippers as I crossed to the window. My brows furrowed as I processed that there was a carriage parked outside the house.

I snatched up the lamp I'd left burning beside the bedroom door and made my way out onto the landing. I could see a light bobbing down the opposite end of hallway, illuminating Xavier as he clumsily tried to tie his night robe with one hand.

"What's going on?" he asked through a yawn. I shook my head.

"There's a carriage out front," I said, looking down the stairs. He cocked an eyebrow, descending in front of me.

"Stay here," he commanded from halfway down the stairs. I paused on the second step, sitting down instead of following him. He set the lantern on a side table and unlatched the door, pulling the great heavy thing open.

"Where is she? She can't have left!"

I nearly knocked my lamp over when I recognized the voice.

"Your Highness, I-" Xavier started, but Andrew had already entered the house. I jumped to my feet in surprise as his eyes found the only other light in the entry hall, looking up to where I was standing.

If my heart had been whole enough to break, it would have at how handsome he looked. He was still in costume, this time in a brilliant red formal jacket and shining black boots. He had no mask, but for the first time since I'd met him, he was wearing a thin circlet crown atop his head.

"Libby?" he asked. My resolve crumbled and I flew down the stairs as fast as my slippered feet could take me, heedless of the fact I was in a simple nightgown and robe. I sailed past my brother and threw myself into Andrew's arms. He caught me, crushing me to him. I breathed in the smell of him, relishing his beating heart beneath my ear.

Xavier cleared his throat a few moments later and Andrew released me from his arms. He kept his eyes on me, their green depths flooded with relief.

"How may we be of service, your Highness?" Xavier asked, shooting a significant look towards my attire. I crossed my arms over my robe, narrowing my eyes at him. I couldn't be brought to care about what I was wearing, not when Andrew was here.

"I had asked Libby to attend tonight," Andrew said, "When she went missing, I had to be sure she was all right,"

He turned eyes filled with so much hope towards me that I felt my heart begin to stitch itself back together.

"I wanted to tell you, I really did," I said, reaching for his hands, "But they packed me up and shipped me off before I could,"

Xavier cleared his throat again and I fixed him with a glare.

"Oh Vee will you just go upstairs already?" I said, "I know I'm in my nightdress and I know this is highly improper but will you please stop acting like a territorial older brother!"

Both men were taken by surprise by my outburst.

"Libby," they both said at the same time, glancing at one another. Xavier pressed on.

"I must say that I do not approve of this, but I will be upstairs," he said, giving me yet another pointed look before taking up a lamp and padding slowly up the stairs. I watched him go before I turned back to Andrew, who seemed to have been watching me as if in gleeful disbelief that I was actually standing before him.

"Why did you leave?" he asked, when Xavier's light had made it to the top of the stairs.

"Ella found the necklace and came to the most horrible conclusions about what I must have done to earn it," I said, shuddering at the memory. Andrew mistook my shudder for a shiver, whipping off his red formal jacket and throwing it around my shoulders. It was still so warm that I had to resist snuggling into it. Andrew's hands rested on my shoulders, remaining where they were after he'd draped the jacket around me.

"Clearly you have no regard for royal commands," he said, giving my shoulders a gentle squeeze as a hint of his trademark smile tugged at his lips.

"She offered me an ultimatum," I continued, "She wouldn't tell anyone about me sneaking around to see you if I left. I had no choice!"

"Of course you did," he said, "You could have come to the ball and I would have defended you to the ends of the Earth against whatever vile rumours Ella spread,"

I looked at him, chewing my lip as I debated whether or not to tell him about the family's ruin. Andrew took advantage of my silence, however, producing a thick cream envelope from inside his jacket.

"If you had attended tonight, you would have been the lucky recipient of one of these," he said, handing it to me. I held his gaze as I broke the seal and slid out the letter.

Miss Elizabeth Marks-Whelan,

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne requests your participation in her inaugural Winter Season. As a trusted friend of the princess, you have been granted one of several new debutante positions for this upcoming Season.

I looked up at Andrew in shock, who was now smiling down at me as my stomach twisted. Sponsoring a debutante during a Season cost an absolute fortune and my family was currently devoid of fortunes. As I fought from crumpling the paper in my hands, Andrew once again mistook my silence for shock and not despair.

"When I spoke to James about you, I mentioned that your family's debutante position would be vacant now that he's pursuing Ella. He told me that Ella's sister has always been next in line, which posed a problem in my quest to turn you into a debutante. You can thank my mother, however, because the winter Season was her idea. It seems that she has decided Thomas and Anne should be searching for spouses instead of climbing trees with unruly ladies-in-wai-"

"I can't," I blurted out, interrupting him. Andrew's eyebrows crashed together in a frown.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"Because we're broke, Andrew," I said, closing my eyes as I aired the family's most closely guarded secret to the crown prince, "There's no money to sponsor me as a debutante,"

His eyes left my face to look around the room for the first time, his brow furrowing as he took in the cavernous expanse of unfurnished hall.

"Well that is certainly inconvenient," he said. I barked a bitter laugh.

"Inconvenient? I'd lean more towards disastrous," I said, "Now that I've been kicked out of the palace, my choices are either to marry a rich old pervert or sail off with Xavier to be a governess in India,"

Andrew's eyes flew back to mine.

"No," he said flatly. I felt a prickle behind my eyes, but I stuck to my resolve to be strong about this.

"Andrew, the money's gone and I think I know what I'd prefer," I said, reaching up to touch his face one last time, "I'm not marrying anyone else, so I'm leaving,"

"You're not leaving," he said, taking my face between his hands, "I won't allow it,"

"Then I'll be a debutante in a pauper's dress," I said, closing my eyes to relish the feel of his skin against mine for what I thought would be the last time.

"My future bride would never be caught in a pauper's dress, not unless she was sneaking around a service corridor or climbing a tree," he said. My eyes popped open in shock and Andrew smiled at my response.

"I thought I'd made it abundantly clear last night," he said, "I intend to marry you and now that you'll be a debutante next Season, I can,"

Hope burst through my despair like a shining beacon of light cutting through a foggy night.

"How?" I asked. Seeing he was winning me over, he grinned that lopsided grin of his.

"The same way you attended the ball last night. I'll sponsor you," he said. I inhaled as my stomach took off in pirouettes. It was all too good to be true, that Andrew had somehow secured me a place in the next Season all while saving me from some dire fate as an unwilling bride or Indian governess.

"Can you do that?" I asked. He laughed.

"Of course I can," he said, leaning his forehead against mine, "I'm the crown prince,"

"But what will people think? Especially if Ella starts whispering about me? If it gets out that you've sponsored me, it will only feed the rumours," I said, my heartbeat racing at how close his face was to mine.

"Then no one else needs to know," he said, tucking a piece of my unruly nighttime hair behind my ear, "Say yes,"

I looked into his eyes as they patiently held mine.

"I will, but on one condition," I said, my eyes dropping to his lips.

"Anything," Andrew breathed.

"My brother comes too, as an inductee," I said. His lips quirked up and to the side in a smile.

"Consider it done," he said, pulling me towards him to kiss me.

I threw my arms around him, my heart fit to burst. I couldn't help but start to laugh as we kissed, Andrew pulling away to smile down at me.

"Which reminds me, there's one more thing I almost forgot," he said, fishing in another pocket.

I started to cry as he pulled the sapphire and diamond necklace from his pocket.

"How?" was all I managed through the haze of happy tears.

"James came to me when he learned that Ella had sent you away, terrified that I'd think he'd gone back on his word not to tell her about you. He told me how Ella had discovered the necklace, so I had one of my valets search her suite while we were all at the ball," he said, reaching around to secure the clasp around my neck. I touched it as I looked up at him, grinning like an idiot as I cried.

"Thank you," I breathed. He cupped my cheek in his hand.

"I can't have your cousin stealing the souvenir of our first kiss, can I?" he asked.

I leaned up to kiss him with a smile, wondering if the giddy feeling bubbling in my stomach was love.