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"Can you i dressed head to foot in gold lace?" Eleanor said lanced at him for a split second, but he felt it like a caress "Your father takes so long to get dressed that the sun would be going down by the tiht thing Villiers watched Tobias’s grin get bigger He was a fool to hope that it was the words your father that made the boy crack a sainst the balustrade again and deliberately crossed his arer and he had the feeling that Eleanor liked muscles Thank God, there was no way that Tobias could see the tent in his towel fros apart a bit, just in case she wanted to take another look Obviously nothing would shock the woman

"Am I to understand that you think I couldn’t be ready in less time than you?" he demanded

She didn’t look at him "Where’s Lisette?" she called down to Tobias

Villiers e of the balcony He didn’t ently bred lady, with a kind of innocence that made her eyes shine with a deep-down purity

Eleanor was leaning over the balustrade now, bantering with Tobias Her bottom was very round under her thick robe She was the antithesis of innocent She h so they could step out on the balcony with the first dawn light--

He wrenched hispainful It was rather fascinating to iiven that her ether wedded to convention

Whereas Lisette, who see more or less without a chaperone, was clearly untouched by the baser passions of the body

"Women take muchthat he ought to give her one more chance to look him over before he returned to his chamber

"You’re not most men," she said flatly She did turn to face hi lower There was just a tinge of rosy color in her cheeks Good

He widened his stance again, daring her to look down "You’re right I’hter "Because your sense of consequence is bigger"

"And the rest ofif he’d lost his mind The Duke of Villiers never traded bawdy quips on a balcony He never--ever--flirted

"That rerin The Duke of Villiers didn’t s He squinted at the sky "What time is it, anyway?"

"Don’t look so afraid I assure you that the sun isn’t reen cheese," she said to hiht!" He shuddered

"Leopold!" came a clear voice from the lawn "Would you like to join us on an excursion?"

Villiers looked cautiously over the balcony, trying to keep his body out of sight Lisette was the very picture of an English lady Curls crested on her head like a frothy wave; her eyes shone brightly; she earing an enchanting riding habit

"Hello!" she called, waving her hand at him "Time to rise and shine, Leopold!"

"Yes, Leopold," Eleanor said in a low,voice "Do start to shine, please I think I saw the rising, but I definitely reat deal oftheir verbal jousting

Even though he never engaged in anything as déclassé as a flirtation

"I’ his voice as he replied to Lisette

She pouted "No! Why on earth not?"