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Ja He felt aliddy "Do you know hihtly so that they could converse at a more comfortable distance "Oh, I suppose I should call him Lord Danbury now, shouldn't I?"

He lifted his shoulder in a lopsided shrug "You can call him whatever you like in my coer at hihty streak to you, Mr Siddons And you're trying to coax ret"

He s soly

He shrugged "Forgive me"

"As it happens, I do know the new Lord Danbury," she said, dipping her chin as she looked at hied "Not very well, of course He's a bit older than I aether as children But he does come back to visit his mother from time to time, so our paths do occasionally cross"

It occurred to James that should Cedric decide to visit his uise would be coed to warn him of the situation ahead of time, Cedric absolutely could not be trusted to keep his mouth shut The man had no notion of discretion and even less of cooodness stupidity didn't run in the fa Why?"

"You shook your head"

"Did I?"

She nodded "I probably wasn't being gentle enough I'ht her in a hungry gaze "Angels could not have beento their hands James waited for her to object, but she did not, and so he let his thu your pardon," he murmured "I don't knohat caht," she stammered "You've had quite a shock It's not every day one finds oneself pushed into a rosebush"

He said nothing, just turned his face as she ministered to a scratch near his ear

"Here, hold still," she said in a soft voice "I need to apply this on the deepest scratch"

He closed his mouth, and Elizabeth held her breath as she leaned in close The cut was to the left and below hisinto the hollow under his lower lip "There's a bit of dirt here," she murmured "I-- Oh, hold still another mos so that she was right on level with his face She put her fingers to his lip and gently stretched it upward so that the small scratch was exposed "Here you are," she whispered as she cleaned the wound, a of her heart She'd never stood so close to a s to her She had the ers drift over the sculpted planes of his face, and then sant arch of his dark eyebrows

She forced herself to exhale and then looked down at his face He was staring at her with an odd expression, half aers were still on his lips, and soerous than the actual touch

With a little gasp she pulled her hand away

"Are you done?" he asked

She nodded "I--I hope that didn't hurt you too rew dark "I didn't feel the cut at all"

Elizabeth felt herself smile self-consciously, and she took another step back--anything to regain her equilibrium "You're a very different patient thanto turn the conversation to tamer topics