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Anne’s reply had been his warning, clipped from his letter and pasted onto a new sheet of paper, followed by, in English: "That is hed, but he hadn’t stopped with the Russian And she must have taken the time to read and translate, because when she replied, she often had questions about the things he’d written

It was an entertaining correspondence; Harry always looked forward to her letters

She did not write to Edward She used to, but she’d stopped when she realized that he would never return the gesture

"The children are well," Harry continued Anne had five of them, all boys save the last Harry wondered what she looked like now He hadn’t seen her since he left for the ar For Edward to speak, tofor him to ask for an advance on his allowance, for surely that was the reason for his appearance But Edward said nothing, just stubbed his toe along the floor, catching the edge of the dark-hued carpet and flipping it over before kicking it back doith his heel

"Edward?"

"You’d best read the letter," Edward said gruffly as he moved to leave "They said it was important"

Harry waited for him to depart, then picked up the directive from the War Office It was unusual for them to contact him in this manner; they usually just sent over someone with docuer to break the seal, and then opened it

It was short, just two sentences long, but it was clear Harry was to report to the offices at Horse Guards in Whitehall i that required his actual presence could not be good The last time they’d hauled him in, it was to order him to play nurselued to her side for three weeks She’d co she hadn’t coht her own

She’d insisted on sharing, too Anyone who spoke Russian as well as Harry did could not drink British swill, she’d announced She actually rerandmother for that

But Harry did not drink, not even a drop, and he spent night after night duely, the plant had thrived Quite possibly, the finest nment hen the butler frowned down at the botanical wonder and said, "I didn’t think that made flowers"

Still, Harry had no desire to repeat the experience Unfortunately, he was rarely given the luxury of refusing Funny, that They needed hiround And yet he was expected to ju the page he orking on before departing, then decided against it Best to get it over with

And besides, the countess was back in St Petersburg, presulish gentlemen forced to wait on her hand and foot

Whatever it was they wanted of him, it couldn’t be as bad as that, could it?

Chapter Seven

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