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Susanna worried She’d agreed to keep her ladies apart fro the this far reossip

"I recognize that bright green topcoat That must be Mr Keane"

"You would think his sense of rhyth in church"

An elbow dug into her side "Lord Rycliff’s dis, look"

Susanna resolved not to look

"He’s taking the musket from one of them Perhaps he means to show them himself just how it’s done"

Susanna renewed her resolution not to look The blades of grass beneath her fingertips wereant

A fe at his heels? So?"

Drat it, now she had to look A broad smile stretched her cheeks "No That’s His Lordship’s pet la follows him around He’s named it Dinner"

All the ladies laughed, and Susanna laughed with the hoould vex Bra--how she felt so confident predicting his reactions For that esture that strongly recalled her mother, Charlotte pressed a hand to her heart "They’re re their coats"

"Not only their coats"

As the ladies all sat gawping in silence, the men halted their exercise and removed first their coats, then their waistcoats and cravats

"Why would they do that?" Charlotte asked

"They’re working hard," Diana replied "Perhaps it’s war warain surprised how easily she knew his mind "Their coats are all different colors Lord Rycliff wants the the sarabbed the spectacles from Minerva’s hand and lifted the"

"Goose," Minerva said, giving her little sister an affectionate shove "I’hted Those only help with objects up close And I don’t knohy you’resuch a fuss over a few men in shirtsleeves, anyhow From this distance, they’re just pale, fleshy blurs"

Except for Bra undefined about his torso Even from this distance, Susanna could clearly make out the linen-sheathed muscles of his shoulders and arms She recalled their solid heat beneath her touch

"We should be heading back to the village" She rose to her feet, brushing grass frole

Violet objected, "But Miss Finch, we haven’t yet reached--"

"Miss Highwood is winded," she clipped, in a tone that would brook no arguh for today"

The ladies rose in silence, retying bonnet ribbons and preparing to walk home

"What do you say, Miss Finch?" Kate s resumed "How many times do you suppose he’ll iven Kate a number, but she knew the answer just the saht," Thorne muttered "Bloody hopeless, all of them"

Bram swore under his breath For God’s sake, he’d spent all day yesterday just trying to teach these ht line When they , he’d decided to make the task even si in ti in time was easier with a druht see of Rufus’s ear-stabbing squawks on the fife

Despite all this, soround between Rycliff Castle and the steep cliffsthe other end of the cove

"Put thee to juststand there for a while, without falling on their arses"

Bra it, but he was the one who needed a rest He looked out across the cove Perched on the arm of land opposite, sat the castle So close, if oneht his horse

"So that’s the spindle, I take it?" Colin squinted at a colu the inlet The formation was tall and roundish, with a knobby sandstone top

"I suppose"