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"I’m inquisitive but not foolish I suspected there was aso" She tried to soften her snippy tone before he picked up on her qual, "And of course, I’ve spent on, as you may recall"

The space was covered by a patchwork tent cobbled together of silks, skins, sheets, and distracting bits of costu between the poles underneath, the orbs glowing a war buzz Underneath the tent, areas for working or relaxing were set up with props and furniture in various states of disrepair

"Is this a portable attic?" She ran a hand along a velvet fainting couch It was , and it wobbled under her touch With a huff of annoyance, she dragged a wooden crate over to prop up the corner of the couch and pressed a hand against it, testing her fix Satisfied, she turned back to hier than a week outside a big city, we put up the tent" Hands in pockets, he rocked back on his heels "It was Lady Letitia’s idea Where she comes froe tent to contain both the performers and the audience So bit by bit, we built one, but only for ourselves Now the carnivalleros can practice their acts or gather out of the rain and away froet quite tetchy The Bludmen, I believe, especially appreciate it here No one trusts them in close quarters, and in bad weather, they start to feel a bit downtrodden And cagey"

"But all thisjunk?" She picked up an uled to put it back the right way, but the stubborn thing resisted

"It’s a bit like a freetheir broken and unwanted things to share One man’s trash is another ht that sentis discarded by ently "My work is to see theunderneath To fix what has been broken"

"What if the object in question isn’t broken at all?"

She kept her back to him, and she are of his closeness as he stepped under the tent and stood close enough to touch her But so held hiht hed and spun around to face him, bron "Perhaps you expect me to simper around the truth and trade dainty metaphors, but that is not my temperament I a up You woo me ords, sir, and you dance with true passion Why, then, do you turn away fro, and yet every tiether, you storm away Is it my naiveté, my lack of polish? The price on my head? Explain your behavior at once"

"I’?"

"Meaning I’m better with my hands than my words"

He wrapped his ar the back of her neck in a way that oggles, and hat in one motion and stared into her eyes with a fervor and passion that nearly made her knees collapse When she opened her ainst hihs, she swooned as if they still danced to the frantic ainst hers and soft, coainst hers, his tongue parting her lips and questing intimately within She answered as best she could, her scientific ripped his shoulders through the layers of his jacket, thrilling at the th and power of the man

Her limited experience had not prepared her for this hot fury, for Henry’s grasping hands and clai e sensation of his breath on her cheek, his hands tracing her jaw, his tongue probing with an ancient rhythm that she found she already understood They were like a closed circuit, thru with electricity

He pulled back to look at her, breathing hard and eyes wide "Damn the consequences," he muttered, and he shoved back her hat to let her hair tuh to rab for his jacket She fell backward onto the couch, and he ently He knelt beside her, stripping off his gloves and drawing long brown curls the color of cinnah them