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Walking far behind, Annabelle refused to take Si by herself He slanced at her set profile "I would have expected you to have made your way up to the front by now," he re to waste roup of feather-wits I’ll wait for a more opportune moment to make Kendall notice me"

"He’s already noticed you He’d have been blind not to The question is why you think that you’ll have any luck getting a proposal out of Kendall, when you haven’tanyone up to scratch in the two years that I’ve known you"

"Because I have a plan," she said crisply

"Which is?"

She gave hilance "As if I would tell you"

"I hope it’s soravely "You don’t seem to have much success with the ladylike approach"

"Only because I have no dowry," Annabelle retorted "If I had o"

"I have money," he said helpfully "How much do you want?"

Annabelle gave hi a fair idea of what you’d require in return, Mr Hunt, I can safely say that I don’t want a shilling fro about the company you keep" Hunt reached out to hold back a branch for her "Having heard a rulad it’s not true"

"Rumor?" Annabelle stopped in the middle of the path and whirled to face him "About me? What could anyone possibly say abouther perturbed face as she worked it out for herself

"Discri…" she murmured "About the company I keep?…Is that supposed to imply that I’ve had some inappropriate…" She stopped abruptly as the nasty, florid i into her brain Hunt had to notice the swift departure of color fro between her brows Giving hilance, Annabelle turned away, her footsteps e-padded path

Hunt kept pace with her, while Kendall’s distant voice drifted back to the his avid listeners on the plants they passed Rare orchids…celandines…several varieties of fungi The speech was punctuated every few seconds with crows of wonder from his enraptured audience "…these lower plants," Kendall was saying, having paused briefly to indicate a haze ofa hapless oak, "are classified as bryophytes, and require wet conditions to thrive Were they to be deprived of the woodland canopy, they would surely perish out in the open…"

"I’ve done nothing wrong," Annabelle said shortly, wondering why Hunt’s opinion h to wonder who had told him the rumor--and specifically, what it had been about Was it possible that soht? That was bad A reputation-destroying piece of gossip like that was irets"

"That’s a pity," Hunt said easily "Having regrets is the only sign that you’ve done anything interesting with your life"

"What are your regrets, then?"

"Oh, I don’t have regrets, either" A wicked glint appeared in his dark eyes "Not for the lack of trying, of course I keep doing unspeakable things in the hopes that I’ll be sorry for the"

In spite of her inner tur branch intersected the path, and she reached out to push it aside

"Allowto hold it back for her

"Thank you" She pushed by hi at Kendall and the others in the distance, and suddenly felt a stinging prickle at the inner side of her foot "Ouch!" Stopping on the path, she hitched the heate the source of the discomfort

"What is it?" Hunt was beside her i her elbow to secure her balance

"There is so scratchy into his haunches and taking hold of her ankle It was the first ti, and Annabelle went scarlet

"Don’t touchher balance as she jerked backward Hunt didn’t loosen his grip To keep fro over, Annabelle was forced to hold on to his shoulder "Mr Hunt--"

"I see the problem," hethat covered her leg "You’ve stepped in so up for her inspection--a sprig of pale, chafflike scales that had worked their way into the cotton weave over her instep

Flooding with burning color, Annabelle rasp on his shoulder The surface of his shoulder was astonishingly hard, the plane of bone and resilientin his coat Her stunnedthe fact that she was standing in the middle of the woods with Si her rinned suddenly "There areShall I rerieved tone, "before Kendall turns around and sees you with your hand up h Hunt bent to his task, deftly picking the last of the prickly scales fro While he worked, Annabelle stared at the place on the back of his neck where the obsidian locks of hair curled slightly against fir for the discarded slipper, Hunt placed it on her foot with a flourish "My rustic Cinderella," he said, and rose to his feet As his gaze passed over the bloo pink surface of her cheeks, friendly mockery flickered in his dark eyes "Why did you wear such ridiculous shoes for a walk in the woods? I would have thought you’d have the good sense to put on a pair of ankle boots"

"I don’t have any ankle boots," Annabelle said, annoyed by the implication that she was some feather-ho couldn’t select the appropriate footwear for a simple walk "My old ones fell to pieces, and I couldn’t afford a new pair"

Surprisingly, Hunt did not take advantage of the opportunity to mock her further His face became impassive as he studied her for a moment "Let’s join the others," he said eventually "They’ve probably discovered a variety of moss we haven’t yet seen Or God help us, a htness eased fro for some lichen, myself"