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Jairl, but she seerace and huured out the best way to deal with his aunt Indulge her and do what you liked--it had alorked for him

He held out his arm, prepared to charm her until she revealed all of her secrets "Will you accompany me back to the house? Provided, of course, that you have no further business outside?"

"No"

He raised his brows

"I mean no, I have no further business" She smiled weakly "And yes, I would be happy to accompany you"

"Excellent," he said smoothly "I cannot wait to further our acquaintance"

Elizabeth let out a long breath as she slid her arh his She had botched her last state fast to Mrs Seeton's rules with aded to h, which had to be in those edicts somewhere And if it wasn't, it should have been Surely men appreciated women who kne to form a witty turn of phrase

She wrinkled her brow Perhaps that fell under the bit about being unique

"You look rather serious," he said

Elizabeth started Drat She had to keep herin the book about giving gentle the five minutes before one cut off the conversation, of course

"Al a bit too hard on so"

Elizabeth al effortless She wasn't precisely certain how it applied to the present situation, but she was fairly sure that one was not supposed to actually appear as if one were following a guidebook

"Of course," Mr Siddons continued, clearly oblivious to her distress, "I have always found serious wo"

She could do this She knew she could She was a Hotchkiss, da she set her mind to She had to find a husband, but more importantly she first had to learn how to find a husband And as for Mr Siddons, well, he was right here, and maybe it was a little heartless to use him as some sort of test case, but a woman had to do what a woman had to do And she was one desperate wo a brilliant s to charm this man until--until--well, until he was char utterly witty and sophisticated, but before she could forerous, and said, "I find myself unbearably curious about that smile"

She blinked If she didn't know better, she'd think that he was trying to charht with a mental shake of her head That was iliest girl in all of Surrey, she was certainly no siren

"I do apologize, Mr Siddons," she said prettily "Like you, I ahts And I certainly did not mean to be rude"

He shook his head "You weren't rude"

"But, you see " What was that Susan had read to her from the book? Always invite a man to talk about himself Men were basically self-absorbed