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"I’m perfectly fun!" she said

"Really? You’re Sophie, the youngest of Talbot girls, aren’t you?"

"I am"

"The unfun one"

She rocked back at the description Was that what people said about her? She hated the little flare of sadness that caliht actually be correct "Unfun isn’t a word"

"Until five o, defenestration wasn’t one, either"

"Of course it was!" she announced

He rocked back on his heels "So you say"

"It’s a word," she declared ileam in his eye "Oh I see"

He spread his hands wide, as though proving his point "Unfun"

"I’m perfectly fun," she said, without conviction

"I don’t think so," he said smartly "Look at you Not a nod to the Orient to be found"

She scowled "It’s a ridiculous thee of and even less interest in the country of China"

He sht hear you"

She straightened her shoulders "As Lady Liverpool is dressed as a Japanese fish, I don’t iine she would care about my views"

His brows rose "Is that a jest, Lady Sophie?"

"It is an observation"

He tutted "So Unfun after all"

"Well, I think you are unpleasant Which is a word," she said

"You’d be the first woman to think that"

"Surely I cannot be the first woman of sound mind you’ve ever encountered"

He chuckled, the sound war A sound of approval

She pushed the thought away She didn’t care if he approved her She didn’t care what he thought of her Or what the rest of his silly, vapid, horrible world thought of her Honestly, if all of Society thought her unfun--she grimaced inwardly at the word--why should she care? He was ato the situation at hand She’d watched her father negotiate enough over her lifetiet a deal done "I assuht Eversley by surprise "As a matter of fact, I ale expression of shock "Ah No"

"Why not?"

"So many reasons, poppet Not the least of which is this--I’ve no intention of being saddled with one of the Soiled S’s"

She stiffened at the moniker Most people did not call the less from this horrible man "I do not intend to ensnare you, Lord Eversley I assure you, even if I had had such an idea, this interaction"--she waved a hand back and forth between them--"would have cured me of such an affliction" She took a deep breath "I require escape Surely you understand that As you seem to require the same"

He focused on her "What happened?"