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She blinked "Turner?" Her voice was groggy

"Hello, puss" Hang her if she didn't want him to call her that If he wanted to use an endearment, he daiven up on you"

"I told you I'd arrive today"

"But the roads…"

"They weren't so bad" He smiled down at her Her sleepy mind hadn't yet remembered that it was mad at him, and he saw no reason to issue a reminder He touched her cheek "I ain "Did you?"

"Veryserved no purpose, she realized He already knew that she loved hiood time in London?" she asked politely

"I'd rather you had been with me," he replied, and he sounded too measured, as if his sentences had been carefully balanced so as not to offend

And then, in the saone?"

"Olivia came for a few days"

"Did she?"

Miranda nodded And then she said, "Other than that, however, I had a great deal of ti silence, and then: "I see"

She watched as he set his package down, stood, and walked over to where the solitary candle was burning "It's quite dark in here," he said, but there was so stilted about it, and she wished she could see his face as he picked up the candle and used it to light several ht," she told him, because…well, because there seereement between them to keep this all cordial and careful and civil and everything else thatreal

"Really?" he replied "It gets dark quite early now Youto carry an extra person around one's er"

"No, but I want this lastin the air She had not meant them innocently, and he did not misinterpret "What do you mean by that?" he asked, each word so soft and so precise that she could not miss his serious intent

"Iup with her hands on her hips, or with her ar but this utterly vulnerable position lying back on the sofa "It ht ere happy," he said cautiously

"We were I was I mean…but I wasn't"

"Either you were or you weren't, puss One or the other"

"Both," she said, hating the low tone of finality in his voice "Don't you understand?" And then she looked at him "No, I can see you do not"

"I don't knohat you want