WHEN DIANA AWAKENED AGAIN, SOMEONE HAD OPENED THE heavy draperies, letting filtered sunlight into the room through the filmy sheers, and a telephone was ringing somewhere in the suite.

For several moments, she lay perfectly still, her eyes closed, taking cautious mental inventory of her body's condition, afraid to move lest her nerves begin to jangle and her head pound as it had earlier. She still felt shaky and her head still ached, but her skull no longer felt as if it were going to split in half.

Having dealt with the physical side of her situation, she reluctantly allowed herself to contemplate the outcome of her first true bout with inebriation.

She had married Cole Harrison.

Her heart began to hammer as the reality of that reckless, irrational act clamored in her brain. She was married to a stranger! He was a heartless opportunist who'd taken advantage of her state of mind last night and convinced her that marrying him would also benefit her, not just him.

She was clearly insane. So was he.

She was a fool. He was a monster.

She needed to be locked up in an asylum.

He needed to be shot!

Somehow, Diana forced herself to break off her unjustified mental tirade and block out the guilt and panic that were causing it.

She had not been completely irrational last night, and Cole had not coerced or forced her into marriage. As calmly as she could, Diana reviewed everything she could remember about his reasoning and her reactions.

In the bright light of day, without the lulling effects of champagne, it was obvious that Cole had amazing powers of persuasion. It was equally obvious that she'd let emotion and sentimentality drive her to do something that was incredibly impulsive. But the more she thought about it, the more Diana realized that the logic behind their agreement was still sound.

Last night, Cole had been the pawn of a well-meaning old man named Calvin, who was jeopardizing the business empire Cole had built. This morning, Cole was victor, not victim, and the uncle he loved was going to be a very happy man.

Last night, the credibility and the financial future of Foster Enterprises had been in jeopardy, and Diana had been the object of scorn and pity—the discarded fiancée of a wealthy Houston socialite. This morning, Foster Enterprises was secure and Diana was the "cherished wife" of a handsome billionaire tycoon.

Diana felt vastly better, though she was not looking forward to trying to convince her family that Cole wasn't some sort of manipulative monster and that she hadn't lost her senses.

To escape thinking of that scene, she tried to remember more about what had happened after Cole's plane took off from Las Vegas, but her memory was fuzzy. She remembered being impressed when she first saw the interior of his plane, and she remembered asking Cole if they could go to Las Vegas instead of Lake Tahoe, because she'd already been to Lake Tahoe. From then on, things began to blur and meld with her dreams. She wasn't certain whether her disjointed memories were real or only part of the vivid dreams that had pursued her while she slept, and she wasn't up to thinking hard enough to solve the mystery.

Rolling over, she shoved back the sheets and was surprised to discover that she was naked. Considering how inebriated she'd been last night, it was amazing that she'd managed to unfasten her gown and get undressed herself. It occurred to her that Cole might have had to undress her, but that mortifying possibility was more than she could bear to contemplate at the moment. It was then that Diana realized she had nothing to wear except the purple silk gown she'd worn last night. The dining room at the Grand Balmoral was a favorite for Sunday afternoon dinner, and the prospect of walking through the hotel lobby in that gown, added to everything else that lay ahead, was enough to make her lie back for a moment in exhausted dread. She couldn't phone her family and ask them to bring clothes to the hotel, because she didn't want to explain about this whole escapade while she was in Cole's suite. With a sigh of resignation, Diana climbed out of bed.