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Once she had finished her sketch, he had reclasped the necklace about her throat himself As he had run his hand over her shoulders, a bolt of heat had run through hiain, at its creaold of the necklace, at the fullness of her bosom just visible underneath the froth of lace at her chest A body like that deserved more decoration than such humble jewelry

Ewen chided hi himself He had learned his lessons with Mairi He had an heir and did not need the co No enuine that wo

Chapter 18

"I’ve been wondering if you’d recovered " Lily came upon Robert on her way back fro a few horses, was always good to clear herto clear her ht A little too much veni vidi vino, as I recall "

Robert blushed "Yes, well … but what of you?" He quickly changed the subject

"Me? I wasn’t the one hitting the Bordeaux Inand dialing ’ I think you discovered its seventeenth-century evil twin, ‘drinking and discoursing ’"

"Dialing?"

"It’s a phone thing A phone, well a phone is …" Flustered, she said, "Oh never mind "

"I do knohat a telephone is, Lily"

She looked at him as if she had just discovered a plasma TV on the wall of her castle bedroo why you’ve never asked h the labyrinth "

"Yes, I, well … it see to ask about"

"Wouldn’t you say we ’re past that now?" Robert asked ue,

"I mean, you have seensuchIt was a sudden rush of her own time, a re of nostalgia for the htened her features She said, "But e spoke that first day, it didn ’t see those clothes "

"Ah, but you said the twenty -first century I ’, I confess, I enjoy walking about the keep feeling as if I were Copernicus occupied with hed, but then Robert’s smile faded He looked for aon a faraway place "No, I hail from a more modern era To be precise, 1916"

Lily stared at him, silently, expectantly, so he continued, "I told you that I was but fifteen when I found the maze"

"But where are you from?" Lily pressed "What of your fain? I lived with ist " A distant smile lit his face "And you think me a bookish soul If only you were acquainted with my father! "

"So, I take it we have him to blahed with uncharacteristic ease, "but I have spared youto dust it off and--"

"Just do continue, " Lily interrupted She ’d had a lifetime ’s worth of Latin aphorisms already--she didn’t need any Greek at the moment "Your father?" She prompted

"Ah yes, my father " He nodded "I didn’t have a mum, you see "

"Robert, everybody had aso freely, she couldn’t help but pry a bit

"You ’re a vexatious woman" He shot her a playfully annoyed look "You speak truly I did indeed have a"

Robert’s voice became suddenly serious "I have no recollection of her I once had a photograph …" His voice trailed, and his sret "I do wish I still had that " He shrugged "We had lavatories, newspapers, medicines But my pictures I had but a few, yet they are what I truly miss " His voice was distant as he mused, "I was told I have her hair But, you know, you can never really tell froraph, can you?"

"No " Lily paused "I suppose you couldn ’t tell with the old black and whites, could you?" Puzzled, he looked at her for aa different question

A sudden shouting interrupted the a lone tree with his wooden practice sword The dull clack of wood striking wood echoed through the glen as the boy feinted, thrusted, and whirled about like a young berserker, hollering unintelligible, but clearly dire threats

Lily laughed "He is his father’s son sometimes, isn’t he?"

"You speak truly," Robert replied "I feel a special tie to young John, you know"