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"There will be gossip," he added His es of hisit over and over

"I expect that’s the case," she said, realizing that the rooain

"I don’t care"

Eleanor blinked "You don’t?"

"I have cared too ht You never really understood why I married Ada, did you?"

"Likely not"

"But you nored or overturned my father’s will"

Eleanor took a deep breath It was absurd to think that she wasn’t interested in hearing his reasoning Of course she was interested She loved Gideon He was her true passion "I thought perhaps…" But she stopped He wasn’t the sort of , so she tried again "We abandoned propriety…"

"It wasn’t that, though I acted like a rakesha forward His eyes were the blue of the Aegean Sea "And even worse, when I turnedyour own life, Eleanor"

Eleanor coughed "Well, I--"

"It took er, to realize that a love like ours coain"

"You didn’t seem to feel as passionately as I did," Eleanor said bluntly "If I felt we shared the love of a lifetiree"

"That’s because I was a fool" He captured her hand and wove his fingers through hers "I had no idea what it meant--how much it meant--to have a woman’s desire To know that I mattered to you"

He stopped, so Eleanor said, al to me, Gideon" And he had been That fact didn’t explain why her heart didn’t catch noith that faht love like hers would last forever

Of course it would Shakespeare said that love didn’t alter with days or weeks And she truly loved Gideon Then

He didn’t seem to catch the silent but that followed her You were everything to ain "That’s why I breached every rule of society in order to coain for a year, of course I must honor Ada and mourn her properly But I can’t let you marry Villiers Not with the way you feel about me!"

"What about the way you feel about ers free She was conscious of a strangely bleak feeling around her heart

"I feel just the sae, after the first year or so, by re how you--how you trembled when I kissed you, Eleanor How you used to ask me for another kiss, and another How you…how you invited me to…"

"I understand" She folded her hands in her lap

"I shouldn’t even voice such e at her earnestly "Not a word shall pass ossip, but there will be no consequences"

He rose to his feet and held out his hand for her

Her fingers didn’t burn at his touch Her heart didn’t flutter in her chest

She felt as if a shadow Eleanor were in the roo, and crying, and throwing herself onto Gideon’s chest Who would have been unable to stop kissing hi hied for her to do

"Do you understand nohy I left you for Ada?" he said, scooping up her hands and putting the palainst his mouth