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He grinned "Longer than you’d wish"

She let out an exhausted groan, then said, "I don’t suppose you’d keep this to yourself"

"I shan’t breathe a word," he pro to attract?"

She scoffed at that "Oh, please You are the last person I would tell"

He quirked a brow "Really The last"

She gave him an impatient look

"Past the queen, past the pri a sain "Do you mind if I sit back down?"

"Not at all"

"My dress is already filthy," she said, finding a spot at the base of the tree "A few more minutes in the dirt won’t make a difference" She sat and looked up at him with a wry expression "This is where you are supposed to tell me I look as fresh as a daisy"

"It depends on the daisy, I think"

At that, she gave him a look of the utmost disbelief, the expression so familiar it was al her eyes at him? Fourteen? Fifteen? It hadn’t really occurred to him until this moment, but she was almost certainly the only woman of his acquaintance who spoke frankly with him, healthy doses of sarcas down to London for the season The woht he wanted to hear

TheHe’d never wanted to be surrounded by sycophants He hated having his every word hung upon He didn’t want his perfectly ordinary, identical-to-everyone-else’s waistcoat being complione, there was no one left who truly knew hienerations to find a common ancestor He was the only child of an only child The Holroyds were not known for their procreative prowess

He leaned against a nearby tree and watched Honoria, looking all tired and round "The party was not the success you envisioned, then?"

She glanced up, her eyes questioning

"Youin your letter," he reht have found it ah they both knew that wasn’t true

She gave him another one of those looks "It would have been four unentlemen from the university, Mr and Mrs Royle, and you" And while she waited for that to sink in she added, "And possibly a dog"

He gave her a dry ss"

That earned hi that lay near her hip and began to draw circles in the dirt She looked utterly forlorn, bits of her hair falling poker-straight fronon Her eyes looked tired, too Tired andso he didn’t like

She looked defeated

That was just wrong Honoria San