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"Your ot a little larger as she realized that the only thing he really gave a da with him Poppy knew perfectly well that her mother was a rather unpleasant person to live with

"I’ll speak toto do just that She would thank her for staying with Fletch

"Poppy!" he said, sounding urgent, for once

But Poppy was done He could go to hell, him and his black clothes and the pure beauty of hioodbye and walked to the door

"Poppy!"

She left

Chapter 18

Beau up the pieces, Beaumont opposite her "I’m happy to hear that Villiers is better"

"I wouldn’t describe it as better He’s still in the grip of a feverto a note I had froer, but he still has to beat the fever Shall we begin our second game of the aain"

"Why not? Siames played in tandem doesn’t mean that the others have to It was proximity that lent itself to the distasteful supposition that you were choosing between lanced at hi the black queen His eyelashes cast a shadow on his cheek "You challengedof my match with Villiers," she said "That parallel was in your mind, and thereafter in the ame nohile Villiers is incapacitated, it will quell the feverish interest in the next occupant of your bed"

It must be the politician in hi his wife’s bed Of course, his reputation was all important "Is there a chance that Villiers will not survive?" she asked, fiddling with a bishop

"The fever has a grip on him I would think him a lucky ht "Oh God…" she whispered

He still didn’t look at her "Will it break your heart, Jemma? Because if so, I’m truly sorry for it"

"Breakto be friends, though, and I enjoyed that I a"

"Perhaps more than friends," he said His voice ooden

"My heart is a singularly strong instru the way he was prying into her feelings "You broke it long ago, Elijah, and I’ve never given it away since"

He looked up "I?"

"Did you not think so?"

"No You--we shared little, I thought"

"That’s the worst of it, perhaps," she said sadly "We shared little and yet I built a castle out of it I suppose the word e has that nonsensical effect on women soize"

Jemma studied her husband from under her eyelashes He didn’t have that whip-thin exhausted look to night, the one where his eyes turned shadowed and his cheekbones stood out He looked a bit tired, but not sick to the bone "What’s happening in the House of Lords these days?" she ventured

"Scots and brandy"

"Scots?Oh, because of the Scottish representation in Lords?"

He raised an eyebrow "You’ve been reading about that tangle? I thought you weren’t interested in politics"