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He skie "I’ives no e?" she asked hopefully
"I shall continue," he announced "The epidemic took her beloved father, butthe fallen were her paternal grandreat-aunts, two uncles, a sister, and a second cousin"
"You’re having fun with ain," she accused
"I’m not!" he insisted "I swear to you, it’s all here It was quite an epidemic there in Hampshire If you hadn’t chucked the book at me, you could see for yourself"
"No one writes that badly"
"Apparently someone does"
"I’ this drivel, or us, for reading it"
"I’reat fun," he declared And he was It was thean excruciatingly bad novel to Lady Olivia Bevelstoke, thelady of the ton But the breeze was lovely, and he’d been cooped up all day, and so Not at hih she did that, too No, the sh him were the ones on her face when she didn’t realize he was looking, when she was siht
She was not just pretty, she was beautiful, with the sort of face that made men weep: heart-shaped, with perfect porcelain skin And her eyes-wo cornflower blue
She was beautiful, and she knew it, but she did not wield her beauty like a weapon It was simply a part of who she was, as natural as two hands and feet, ten fingers and toes
She was beautiful, and he wanted her
Chapter Twelve
Sir Harry?" Olivia called out, co out past the darkness to his here he sat silhouetted against a flickering rectangle of light He had gone so still, and so suddenly, at that
He started at the sound of her voice, looking up at her , but not quite at her "Sorry," hethrough the words to find his place
"No, no, don’t be," she assured him He really did look a little odd, as if he’d just eaten soht?"
He looked up at her, and then-it was really quite impossible to describe, or even understand-what happened His eyes h it was dark, and she couldn’t see the color, that rich, warm chocolate-she still knew it And she felt it And then, quite simply, she lost her breath Just lost it Her balance, too She stumbled back into her chair, and sat there for a
All he’d done was look at her
And she’d…she’d…
She’d swooned