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"Let's get soht here," he said "I don't need you to protect me fro, relasses, and slipped theht Now he could not read the expression in her eyes any better than she could read his

"I think I's clear," she said crisply "I have a vested interest incertain that you are not distracted by Mitchell and his uided atte that Upsall Do we understand each other?"

"Yeah, sure We understand each other" He paused a beat "Last night was no big deal, huh?"

She pursed her lips and tilted her head slightly Light glared on the lenses of her glasses "I lad to hear that"

"After due consideration, I've decided that last night was actually quite therapeutic for me"

Her deliberate, reflective, analytical tone sent a cold chill through hih, but this , when I woke up, I felt like the princess in the fairy tale, the one who'd been asleep for a hundred years Awake at last Okay, sobeen asleep for a couple of years, but you get the picture"

He relaxed a little but notI'htened "I was afraid of that"

"What I' in a different world for nearly two years I put a lot of things on hold while Aunt Claudia was ill, and I never went back to theh my life, as it were"

"A free spirit"

"That's how I described it, but it wasunanchored or untethered, if you see what I ured out for hiht "Sounds like a forers "But whatever the probleht?"

"The quality of the sex probably wasn't as much of a factor as the fact that I actually did the deed" She smiled coolly "It has been a while, you see My social life was one of the things I put on hold when Aunt Claudia got so ill I never really got back to it"

"Glad I could serve in a useful capacity"

"You were extrelasses up more fir this conversation, I should probably take the opportunity to apologize for that unfortunate little scene last night as you were running out the door Let's just chalk it up to two years' worth of celibacy, the storm, and the last remnants of my weird emotional condition"

"A nice tidy list of reasons" He shoved his fingers through his hair "And for the record, I was not running out the door It was late and I had to pick up Carson and get back to the cottage"

"Of course" She glanced at her watch "I'ot that settled You'll have to excuse ?"

Her ot a ate"

"Sure" He wished he could see her eyes behind those dalasses "Would you like to coht?"

She hesitated "Thanks, but I'"