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"This week has had a strange effect on me," Llandrindon ruminated aloud "I feel…different"
"Are you ill?" Daisy asked in concern, closing the sketchbook "I’"
"No, not that kind of different What I meant to say is that I feel…wonderful" Llandrindon was staring at her in that odd way again "Better than I ever have before"
"It’s the country air, I expect" Daisy stood and brushed her skirts off, and went to hi"
"It’s not the country air I find invigorating," Llandrindon said in a low voice "It’s you, Miss Bowman"
Daisy’s mouth fell open "Me?"
"You" He stood and took her shoulders in his hands
Daisy could only stutter in surprise "I--I--iven me cause for deep reflection"
Daisy twisted to glance at their surroundings, taking in the neatly tri roses "Is Mr Swift nearby?" she whispered "Is that why you’re talking this way?"
"No, I’ for myself" Ardently Llandrindon pulled her closer, until the sketchbook was nearly crushed between them "You’ve openeda different way I want to find shapes in clouds, and do so a poem about I want to read novels I want toin his tightening grasp
"--with you"
Oh no
"You’re joking," she said weakly
"I’m besotted," he declared
"I’m unavailable"
"I’," he exclaiic Thunderstorms wrapped up with rainbows Clever and lovely and desirable--"
"Wait" Daisy stared at him in astonishment "Matth--that is, Mr Swift said that?"
"Yes, yes, yes…" And before she could move, speak or breathe, Llandrindon lowered his head and kissed her
The sketchbook dropped from Daisy’s hands She re to feel so with his kiss It wasn’t too dry or slobbery, not too hard or soft It was…
Boring
Drat Daisy pulled back with a frown She felt guilty that she had enjoyed the kiss so little And it made her feel even worse when it appeared Llandrindon had enjoyed it quite a lot
"My dear Miss Bowman," Llandrindon murmured flirtatiously "You didn’t tell ain, and Daisy danced backith a little yelp "My lord, control yourself!"
"I cannot" He pursued her slowly around the fountain until they rese cats Suddenly he own Daisy pushed hard at hi the soft white muslin rip an inch or two at the shoulder seam
There was a loud splash and a splatter of water drops
Daisy stood blinking at the empty spot where Llandrindon had been, and then covered her eyes with her hands as if that would soo away
"My lord?" she asked gingerly "Did you…did you just fall into the fountain?"
"No," came his sour reply "You pushed me into the fountain"
"It was entirely unintentional, I assure you" Daisy forced herself to look at hi from his hair and clothes, his coat pockets filled to the brim It appeared the dip in the fountain had cooled his passions considerably
He glowered at her in affronted silence Suddenly his eyes widened, and he reached into one of his water-laden coat pockets A tiny frog leaped from the pocket and returned to the fountain with a quiet plunk
Daisy tried to choke back her amusement, but the harder she tried the worse it becaasped, clapping her hands over her les slipped out "I’ until tears came to her eyes
The tension between thean to s from every surface "I believe when you kiss the toad," he said dryly, "he is supposed to turn into a prince Unfortunately in my case it doesn’t seem to have worked"
Daisy felt a rush of syles Approaching him carefully, she placed her small hands on either side of his wet face and pressed a friendly, fleeting kiss on his lips
His eyes widened at the gesture
"You are soetically "Just not ht woman finds you…how lucky she’ll be"
And she bent to pick up her sketchbook and went back to the manor
It was a small and peculiar twist of fate that the path Daisy chose should take her beside the bachelor’s house The sh to the riverside bluff that it provided uests had elected to take advantage of the privacy of the bachelor’s house Noas e party had ended yesterday and uests had taken their leave
Except for Mattheift, of course
Preoccupied with her thoughts, Daisy trudged along the path beside an ironstone wall that edged the bluff Her aht of her father, as determined to marry her to Mattheift…and Lillian, anted her to marry anyone but Swift…and herless than a peer Mercedes was not going to be happy once she learned that Daisy had rebuffed Llandrindon
Thinking over the past week, Daisy realized that her atteame to her Itin her life as much as the chance to speak to hi back But instead of forcing his feelings to the surface, she had only ed to uncover her own
When she ith hishe had read or drea real
It was incredible that a ht of as cold and passionless had turned out to be soentleness and sensuality and tenderness Someone who had secretly carried a lock of her hair in his pocket
Becolanced upward and felt her entire body quake
Mattheas coround-eating strides
A o
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