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"You needn’t have dragged me away like that," she said "You were rude to Willialance "No doubt later, upon reflection, I’ll feel terrible about that"

"There were sos I still wanted to ask him"

"Yes, I’m sure there was quite a lot iveconversation I should have let the two of you reood old ti on a public street"

"William was the dearest boy," Catherine said quietly "He deserved a better lot in life He had to work fro heavy buckets of water up and down the stairs … he had no family, no education Have you no sympathy at all for those in unfortunate circumstances?"

"The streets are filled with such children I do what I can for theive to charity Yes, I have sympathy for them But at the moment I’m more interested in your unfortunate circumstances than anyone else’s And I have a few questions for you, starting with this: What happened at intermission?"

When Catherine didn’t reply, he took her jaw in a gentle but secure grasp, and forced her to look at hilance "Lord Lati from her chin "While you were in the theater box?"

"Yes Harry and Poppy didn’t see Latih the curtain at the back of the box seating"

Leo was filled with explosive rage For a o back and slaughter the bastard "What did he say?" he asked roughly

"That I was a prostitute And a fraud"

Leo wasn’t aware that his grip had tightened until she winced His hand loosened instantly "I’ed to say "I shouldn’t have left you I didn’t think he would dare approach you after the warning I gave him"

"I think he wanted to make it clear that he’s not intimidated by you" She drew an unsteady breath "And I think it hurt his pride all those years ago, to have paid for soive hiht be enough to make him leave me alone To keep quiet about ed blackmail And Latimer would never keep quiet Listen to e the problem Suffice it to say that in a few days, Latimer will find himself in a position in which he’ll either end up in prison or be forced to flee England"

"For what cri list to choose fro And I’d rather not tell you the specific offense, because it’s not appropriate for a lady’s ears"

"You can land? Truly?"

"Truly"

He felt her relax a little, her shoulders slu "That would be a relief," she said "However…"

"Yes?"

Catherine angled her face away froaze "It doesn’t really matter Because what he said was no less than the truth I a tripe You were a fraud as an aspiring prostitute As a proper and well-mannered lady who holds an irresistible attraction for ferrets, you’re coer"

"Proof of his excellent taste"

"Don’t try to be char than so to make one feel better when one wants to "

Leo bit back a grin "I’m sorry," he said contritely "Go on andYou were doing so well at it until I interrupted"

"Thank you" She heaved a sigh and waited a moers crept further into his, and he smoothed his thumb over the backs of her knuckles "I want to correct so prostitute"

"What did you aspire to?"

"To live somewhere peaceful, and be safe"

"That’s all?"

"Yes, that’s all And I haven’t h … the past few years have been the closest I’ve ever gotten"

"Marry me," Leo told her, "and you can have both You’ll be safe, and you’ll live in Ha on the cake"

A reluctant laugh escaped her "Ratheras too , Marks"

"My lord, I don’t believe that you sincerely want to marry me as much as you want to have your way"

"I want you to marry me so that I don’t have my way all the tiood for ed And you tell ave a huff of wry ah lately"

"Then let’s practice in your hotel suite I’ll try to have my ith you, and you can try to refuseyour skills already"

Leo directed the driver to take them to the alley that bordered the mews behind the hotel It was a far h the lobby They went up the back stairs and along the hallway that led to Catherine’s suite The hotel was extraordinarily quiet at that hour, everyone either out for their evening pursuits, or sleeping soundly

When they reached Catherine’s door, Leo waited as Catherine searched for the key in the little knitted silk bag she had looped around one wrist

"Allowit from her, he unlocked the door

"Thank you" Catherine took back the key and turned to face him at the threshold

Leo stared down into her fine-boned face, reading the e "Invite o It’s not see What will you do in there, alone?"

"Sleep"

"No, you won’t You’ll stay awake as long as possible, worrying about night that he had scored a point, Leo pressed his advantage "Let me in"