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Adding insult to injury, the cat nodded

Chapter 10

Ja he was ridiculously early, but so hi site He had felt restless all afternoon, constantly dru across rooms He had tried to sit down and write out the lesson plan he had bragged about, but the words would not co lady for society The only young lady he really kneas the wife of his best friend, Blake Ravenscroft And Caroline hadn't precisely been trained for society herself As for all of his other female acquaintances--they were just the sort Mrs Seeton was trying to mold Elizabeth into Just the sort that had pro London

What was it he wanted in a wo the question What was it he wanted in a wife? He had tofate in that respect But it had been so da the rest of his life with a shy floas afraid to express an opinion

Or worse, a shy floho didn't even possess an opinion

And the final twist of the bayonet was that those opinionless young ladies invariably ca fair, he forced hi ladies ere interesting Not many, but a few One or two of the that he was ruining his life It wouldn't have been a love rand passion, but he could have been passably content

So as it these ladies--the ones who had fleetingly caught his attention--had possessed? It was a certain joie de vivre, a love for life, a sht in the eyes James was fairly certain he wasn't the onlyladies in question had been quickly snapped up into e, usually by men whom he liked and respected

Love for life Maybe that hat this was all about He'd spent theHOW TO MARRY A MARQUIS, and with each edict, he'd pictured a little bitaway from Elizabeth's eyes

He didn't want her lish wo with her eyes downcast, trying to be mysterious and demure He just wanted her to be herself

Elizabeth shut the door to Danbury House behind her and set off down the , her hands were clammy, and while she didn't feel precisely embarrassed that James had discovered her desperate secret, she was as nervous as could be

She had spent all afternoon berating herself for accepting his offer Hadn't she spent the previous night sobbing herself to sleep, all because she thought she could love him--aherself in his co him to tease her, to flirt with her, and--

Good God, what if he wanted to kiss her again? He said he was going to train her to attract other ? And if it did, should she let hiroaned As if she'd be able to stop hiether, her eyes wandered to his mouth, and she remembered what it felt like to have those lips on hers And God help her, she wanted that again

A final glimpse of bliss Maybe that hat this was all about She was going to have to marry someone she didn't love,to want a few last days of laughter, of secret glances, of that heady tingle of newborn desire?

As she walked toward the front gate she suspected that she was courting heartbreak by agreeing toelse She'd read enough Shakespeare to trust the Bard, and if he said it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all--she believed hiht of Danbury House, and his eyes lit up when he saw her

"Elizabeth," he called out, striding toward her

She paused, content to just watch hi his dark hair She'd never met anyone who seemed more comfortable in his skin as Jaait She thought about the innu her hand into a wall and sighed in envy