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"You don't think it would be too feminine?" Miranda asked "Turner uses this room quite a bit, too"

"Hmmm That is a proble her fists until her nails bit into her palms Funny how even the mention of his name could set her off "On the other hand," she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously "I've always liked dusty rose Let's do it"

"Are you sure?" Now Olivia was doubtful "Turner- "

"Hang Turner," Miranda cut in with just enough vehemence to make Olivia raise her eyebrows "If he wanted a say in the decor, he shouldn't have gone off to London"

"You shouldn't get snappy," Olivia said placatingly "I'm certain he ht ofhiht, after four intere, that he would be able to rehts when he reached London and all its distractions

But he rong

Their last conversation played out in his ain, but every tie his lines, to pretend that he had said so else to say, the whole thing disappeared The , and brown, and flat with pain

It was an unfarabbed hier was clean It was precise And it was never about him

It had been about Leticia It had been about her many men But it had never had to be about hi else And there was no way he could live like this They could be happy again, couldn't they? He had certainly been happy before She had been, too She s, but he knew that she had been happy

And she would be again, he vowed Once Miranda accepted that he cared for her in every way he kne, they could go back to the coe She would have the baby They would be a family He would make love to her with his hands and with his lips, with everything but words

He had won her once before He could do it again

Teeks later, Miranda was sitting in her new rose salon, trying to read a book but spending farout theTurner had sent word that he would be arriving within the next few days, and she couldn't stop her heart fro every ti up the drive

The sun had slipped down below the horizon before she realized that she hadn't yet turned a single page in her book A concerned servant brought in the supper she had forgotten to request, and Miranda had barely finished her bowl of soup before she fell asleep on the sofa