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"It’s only a ently

They continued the first hand of cards, which Pandora ended up winning, and played another, which she lost to Gabriel After congratulating hiood-naturedly, she asked, "Shall we stop now, and leave it a draw?"

His brows lifted "With no victor?"

"I’ to spare you the inevitable defeat"

Gabriel grinned "Now I insist on a third hand" He slid the deck of cards toward her "Your turn to deal" As Pandora shuffled the cards, he leaned back in his chair and regarded her speculatively "Shall wethe loser pay a forfeit?"

"What kind of forfeit?"

"The winner decides"

Pandora chewed her lower lip, rin "Are you truly bad at singing, as you said before?"

"My singing is an insult to the very air"

"Then if I win, your forfeit is to sing ‘God Save The Queen’ in the middle of the entrance hall"

"Where it will echo unlance of mock-alarm "Good God I had no idea you were so ruthless"

"Pirate," Pandora reathered up his cards "I was going to suggest a fairly easy forfeit for you, but now I see I’ll have to co more severe"

"Do your worst," Pandora said cheerfully "I’ you propose will bother me"

But as she should have expected, that turned out not to be true

Gabriel’s gaze lifted slowly froht in a way that caused the back of her neck to prickle "If I win," he said, his voice low, "you’ll ht Alone"

Unnerved, Pandora asked, "For what?"

"A ht rendezvous"

She looked at hiht like to experience one for yourself," he added