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So she was shocked indeed to wake late one ht and find hiray suit

She blinked at hi the sleep from her eyes, and he noted her confusion

"It’s Sunday," he said, pairing signs with his words "Church" He came to the bedside and offered a hand "Out of bed with you, then We’ll have tofroularly"

"I didn’t" He emphasized the "I" with a jab to his chest "We do"

"Very well"

So they did They attended church, and they attended the royal funeral, and they did it all looking appropriately solemn and conized hi jokes For heaven’s sake, he never so much as cracked a sht, by day he seemed determined to present an eminently civil face to the world She didn’t want to coe his personality for her

"Julian," she said one evening at dinner, ale, "you needn’t stay at hoht"

He put down his fork "Why would I want to be anywhere else?"

"I don’t know," she said, blushing at the i a furrow in her peas "But if you did wish to visit your friends soo round to the club, I want you to know it’s perfectly fine with o out?"

"No, not at all I mean … I wish for you to do as you please, that’s all Siive up all your fun Other gentleht away, but took his tihtful precision, he folded his linen napkin and set it aside

"Do you know," he said, "I think I will go by the club tonight"

A few hours later, Lily sat up alone in her private sitting roo fire, a book, and a pot of coffee to keep her coested Julian spend an evening out? Shesip of coffee and grimaced at the bitter aftertaste She hated the brew, but she’d requested Holling to bring it especially for its sti properties She wanted to be ahen Julian returned Even if he stu of brandy

Or cheap perfue of disht unworthy of them both After all his displays of tender devotion over the past weeks, did she really think one night at the gentle to his old, rakish ways? Julian was her husband now, and he deserved her trust and good faith But it was ine hi down dark, dangerous streets

Lily tried to plant her nose fir through every gentleman’s haunt and shadowed alleyway in her e of her novel--the first paragraph, really--when she looked up to check the ain She saw that barely an hour had passed And she saw that Julian had already returned

He brought with him no odor of brandy or perfume But he was festooned with several yards’ worth of vibrant ribbons and satins in every color of the rainbow, tied end to end and yoked about his shoulders

So this was the infa there on the sofa, feet curled under her dressing gown, he paid her no greeting Instead, he went straight to the roaring fire and began feeding it the gaily colored garters, an arth at a time He paused every so often to take up the poker and prod an errant swatch of silk into the flames

She looked on in silence as heof old lovers vanished into the fla in hot protest, but ultiacy than ashes and the acrid scent of singed fabric When he was finished, he replaced the poker in its holder and brushed his hands clean of the task

He shrugged out of his topcoat and came to sit at her side After a pause, he asked, "What are you reading?"

"I don’t even know I’ve spent the past hour staring stupidly at the first paragraph and wishing you were here I’ve ress at all"

"Good I should hate to " He swiveled sideways, then reclined backward, propping his boots on the ar his head in her lap He closed his eyes and signed, "Carry on"

Clearly he didn’t want to talk about what he’d just done, and Lily decided not to press The actions spoke for themselves in this instance Words were unnecessary

Kisses, however, were ih his hair and pressed a lingering kiss to his brow Then the tip of his nose Then his er-spelled in response, "Can’t iine why"

"Can’t you?" Her heart squeezed, but she kept her words light "I shall have to draw you a very explicit picture"

Chapter Nineteen

Julian stared at the letter in his hand, reading it for the third time in as many minutes His eyes raced over the preliminaries, then tripped to a halt when he reached the naus Macleod Apprehended this seventh of June," he read aloud Soed with drunkenness, vandalis with the intent to commit robbery Sentenced to sixth months’ hard labor on the prison hulk Jericho"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>