The entire speech she had on the tip of her tongue died at the minute he took her hand in his. Gloved as it might have been, there was no mistaking the tenderness with which he took it. Every argument she had died as she attempted to respond. He wanted marriage. Her heart should have been fit to burst, but propriety had to control some amount of order here, and Diana was determined to maintain it. "But it wasn't supposed to happen this way!" She burst out, breaking their grasp and moving away from him. This was too much. He wanted marriage.

All her training being a debutante, all her schooling at Pendergast told her this was not the right order. "We're supposed to court first!" She said, whirling to face him again, her eyes wide as she paced towards him again. "And then you propose marriage, Will, that's how this is supposed to happen!" She could feel her heart rate climbing, despite the fact that the only thing she was doing was pacing a few feet back and forth between him and the door.

"And I cannot accept your proposal," she continued, her breath quickening as she gesticulated. "I accept it after you talk to my father, but it's not my place to even accept such a proposition!"