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"Nothing about you is humble"

"False humility is one of the seven deadly sins"

He snatched a kiss, the kind that made Eleanor realize just how much she loved kisses How much she wanted more Ho desperate she felt And if that wasn’t huain her co like this when Ada is just buried," she said

"I expect at least four wo the tiood at speaking in an utterly unemotional voice

"It’s not the saenuinely fond of Ada?"

That question was a ain of how critical she had been, thinking that she herself would have been a ain "If I wasn’t fond of her, it wasoff his lap rather clumsily She walked over to the blackand looked blindly out "She was a very kind person"

"Why do her virtuesfrom his chair

"It doesn’t seem respectful"

"Or do you think we shouldn’t kiss because Ada’s death leaves an opening for a new duchess?"

It took a moment for that to sink in, and then she spun about, took one step and slapped hiize," Villiers said finally "I should not have implied that you wept for any reason other than the obvious Ian ill-natured coreatest accomplishment," Eleanor said "She must have known…"

Villiers’s eyes didn’t even flicker "Must have knohat?"

She was tired of all the lies she had told her mother, all the lies she had told everyone "That Gideon and I were devoted friends," she said "Before"

"Devoted And yet--he married Ada"

"She had every accomplishment," Eleanor pointed out "And as I told you, his father’s will dictated his choice"

"She had every acco people love her," Villiers stated

"Of course people loved her" But she knehat he was saying Ada was so acquiescent and sweet that one easily turned a shoulder to her, walked away, forgot she was in the roo it emphasis

"Perhaps," Villiers said, without a smile "More to the point, now that she has passed away, I believe that you have two dukes to consider as potential husbands"

"Of course not!"

"He may be a fool, but not that much of a fool I saw the way he looked at you" Villiers pulled her into his arain, which was just what she wanted him to do "It was damnably close to the way I look at you," he whispered His mouth silenced her before she could utter her deepest fear: that Gideon had chosen sweet Ada because she was so sweet

She had loved Gideon, but she also wanted him, and her desire disturbed Gideon It made him uneasy That certainly wasn’t the case for Villiers

Villiers kissed her with the sort of passion that demanded that she respond, forced her to respond Even now his breathing was ragged, and yet his hands were shaping her, teasing her, caressing her--trying to htened Gideon about her pleased Villiers Though she really ought to call hi her closest…friend If not quite devoted, yet

As if he read her mind, he broke away and said, "Say ainst him so hard that she could feel every button in his coat, and below that, lower still…

He was hard, and he was big, and he made sure she knew it

"Leonard," she whispered

He nipped her lip