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He found the path that led to the beach and went down it swiftly Tiny pebbles scattered before hiot to the botto toward his destiny She did not take off her sunglasses It occurred to hi his, too Neither of the, he realized

"Are you all right?" he asked

"Yes"

"Gail orried about you She said you'd left the shop in a hurry"

"There's nothing to be concerned about I just wanted to get away for a while I need to think"

He sat down beside her on the broad, sun-warh to be intensely conscious of her nearness; not quite touching A curious kind of panic started to gnaw at his insides She really was upset He was not sure how to deal with it

"I'," he said "We were just teasing you"

"I know"

"I realize these past few days have been rough on you You're not accustoossip"

"It's not that"

"People were bound to talk after it got out that ere seeing each other," he said "But the gossip will fade when folks get used to the idea"

"I don't particularly care what people think of our relationship"

That did not sound good, he thought He turned his head to get a better look at her profile She relasses

"You don't care that everyone's discussing our relationship down at the beauty parlor and in the aisles at Fulton's?" he asked carefully

She unclasped her knees and braced her ar her pale to be the subject of so much local interest, but I've had plenty of opportunity to see how the Hartes and the Madisons handle that sort of situation I thought I was dealing with it very well"

"You are," he agreed i it beautifully"

"And, as you just said, the talk will fade in tiers "Eventually"

She said nothing else; just sat there, gazing thoughtfully out over the bay

"So," he said when he could no longer stand the suspense "If it's not the fact that everyone is chatting about how I spent the night at your place that's bothering you, what, exactly, is the probleht"

He exhaled slowly "I was afraid it ht be that Look, I'uys who'd been drinking soot carried away Not the first time it's happened at the Total Eclipse, and it sure as hell won't be the last"