email REALLY??? come on this day and age a man needs to look a woman in the face and say I need you and I want make you happy if you let me.
And if she says "no thanks"? Here is something I would do... I would not be upfront. Instead, I would actually spread a rumor that you secretly liked her. If you tell your friends and try to get the rumor spread around without people realizing you spread it, word would eventually get to her. That is what you will want. You will know if she is interested by the way she reacts to you from then on. If she shies away from you you know what that means.
Well, first time my husband said he loved me he did it via email... of course he was deployed at the time.