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Minx Julia Quinn 16510K 2023-09-01

The poor girl was probably terrified And furious He glanced up at her ier she was reat deal, don't you?" he asked abruptly

Startled by his sudden willingness to actually converse with her, Henry coughed a bit before finally answering, "Yes Yes, of course Why do you ask?"

"No reason Just wondering One can see it in your face, you know"

"See what?" she asked hesitantly

"Your love for Stannage Park I atching you while you atching the sunrise"

"Y-you were?"

"M to say on the nored her completely

Henry worriedly chewed on her lower lip This was a bad sign Why would he care about how she felt unless he were soe, nothing could be so excruciatingly painful as being banished froe against her? He , but she'd given him no reason to hate her, had she? Of course not She was letting her iet the better of her

Dunford watched her surreptitiously over his eggs She orried Good She deserved it after hauling hi at a most uncivilized hour Not to mention her clever little sche situation-- he'd have adenuity if her manipulations had been directed at anyone but hiht she could push him around and eventually off of his own property, she was ood fun indeed

He continued to eat his breakfast with slow, deliberate bites, fully enjoying her distress Three tiht the better of it Twice she nibbled on her lower lip And once he even heard her ht it sounded rather like "damned fool," but he couldn't be certain

Finally, after deciding he'd h, he set his napkin down and stood up "Shall we?"

"By all means, my lord" She wasn't able to keep a trace of sarcasm out of her voice She'd been finished with hersome perverse satisfaction at her irritation "Tell enda?"

"Don't you reularly unpleasant feeling rolled around in his sto when I arrived" He didn't have to add, "When you sly at him over her shoulder and preceded him out the door

Dunford wasn't sure whether he was furious or a to lead him on a merry chase, he was sure of it Either that or work hiured he could outsmart her After all he knehat she was up to, and she didn't know he had figured it out

Or did she?

And if she did, did thatbarely seven in the , his brain refused to compute the ramifications of this

He followed Henry out past the stables to a structure he guessed was a barn His experience with country life had been limited to the aristocracy's ancestral seats,a working far was left to tenants, and the ton usually didn't want to see their tenants unless rents were due Hence his confusion

"This is a barn?" he queried

She looked stunned that he would even ask "Of course What did you think it was?"