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"Three" He ht have bested One, assuredly But three proved to beI had on, including the pu to meet you for the first tily--unconscious I don’t know if our relationship will ever recover from the initial trauma"

She declined the bait "You didn’t know your attackers?"

Simon started to spread wide his arms, then winced and lowered them "On my honor Now, unless you consider red-heeled pumps to be an unbearable temptation to London robbers--in which case I was certainly asking for a drubbing going out in broad daylight wearing them--I think you will have to pardon me"

"And if I don’t?" So soft, the wind nearly bore the words away

Such a cautious flirt Yet even this little hint of laughter caused his loins to tighten "Then, lady, best call ht but a wisp, an exhalation I will expire and disappear utterly, were you to denounce me"

Silence Perhaps the exhalation bit was overdone

Then she laughed A loud, joyful sound thatin his breast leap in reply

"Do you feed the ladies in London this poppycock?" She was literally gasping for breath "If you do, I think they would all go about with gri"

He felt unaccountably put out "I’ll have you know, I am considered quite a wit in London society" Good Lord, he sounded like a poreat hostesses vie to have me on their invitation lists"

"Really?"

Imp!

"Yes, really" He couldn’t help it; the words caruntled Oh, that would impress her "A dinner party can be proclaimed a success when I attend Last year a duchess fainted dead ahen she heard I couldn’t make it"

"Poor, poor London ladies How sad they must be at the moment!"

He winced Touché "Actually--"

"And yet they survive without you" The laughter still lurked "Or perhaps not Perhaps your absence has caused a rash of hostess faintings"

"Oh, cruel angel"

"Why do you call ive el?"

"Yes" And suddenly he realized that she was closer than he’d thought Within reach, in fact

"No, only you" He touched a fingertip to her cheek Her skin arht air, and soft, so soft

Then she stepped away

"I don’t believe you"

Did she sound breathless? He grinned like a demon in the dark but didn’t answer God, he wished he could simply pull her into his arms, open her sweet lips beneath his, feel her breath in his el?" she asked "I’elic"

"Ah, there you are wrong Your eyebrows are most stern, your mouth curved like a Renaissance saint Your eyes are wondrous to look upon And your mind" He stood and ventured a step toward her, until they almost touched, and she had to turn her pale face up to his

"My ht he felt the wars beautiful, terrible, and true" His voice was husky, even to his own ears, and he knew he’d revealed too ed the scant inches between them and caressed his throat His cock ca the one in his heart

"I have no idea what that means," she whispered

"Perhaps that’s just as well"

She reached her hand out, hesitated, then touched his cheek lightly with one fingertip He felt the contact sizzle throughout his body down to his very toes

"Sometimes I think I know you," she murmured so low he almost didn’t catch the words "Sometimes I think that I’ve always known you, from the very first moment you opened your eyes, and that, deep inside your soul, you know me, too But then you make a joke, play the fool or the rake, and turn aside Why do you do that?"

He opened hiselse entirely, but the kitchen door opened, spilling an arc of light into the garden "Poppet?"

The guardian father

She turned so that her face was silhouetted against the light froht" She withdrew her hand, and it brushed across his lips as she retreated

He had to steady his voice before he could speak "Good night"

She walked toward the kitchen door, eht Her father took her elbow and searched the shadows of the garden over her head before closing the door behind her Si to stay in the dark rather than confront Captain Craddock-Hayes His shoulder ached, his head pounded, and his toes were frozen

And he played a game he could not possibly win

"I D-D-DON’T BELIEVE YOU" Quincy James paced to Sir Rupert’s studyand back, his strides quick and jerky "They t-t-toldfrom the head They stabbed hi cold, naked How c-c-could a man survive that?"