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He flipped over the book and peered down "Really?"

"You’re not very far into it," Honoria said, tugging the tea towel back in her direction "Her arded the book with newfound respect "Really?"

"It’s quite macabre"

"I cannot wait"

"Oh, please," she said, "you can’t possibly want to read this"

"Why not?"

"It’s so" She waved a hand through the air as she searched for the right word "Unserious"

"I can’t read so unserious?"

"Well, of course you can I just find it difficult to iine that you would choose to"

"And why is that?"

Her eyebrows rose "You’re sounding awfully defensive"

"I’ unserious?"

"I don’t know You’re you"

"Why does that sound like an insult?" Said with nothing but curiosity

"It’s not" She took another piece of treacle tart and nibbled at it And that hen the strangest thing happened His eyes fell to her lips, and as he watched, her tongue darted from her mouth to lick an errant crumb

It was the tiniestelectric shot through hiut-clenching desire

For Honoria

"Are you all right?" she asked

_No _"Yes, er, why?"

"I thought I s," she adies Truly, it wasn’t meant to be an insult You’re perfectly nice the way you are"

"Nice?" Such a bland word

"It’s better than not nice"

It was at this point that a different rabbed her and showed her precisely how "not nice" he could be, and Marcus was actually "not nice" enough to ireat detail But he was also still suffering the aftereffects of a near-deadly fever, to say nothing of the open door and her mother, as likely just down the hall So instead he said, "What else did you bring me to read?"

It was a much safer avenue of conversation, especially since he had spenther had had nothing to do with desire It had been a coht on by extreu shot to pieces Honoria had shifted her position so that she could reach the books without standing up, and this meant that she’d moved her bottom quite a bit closer towell, to his bottom, or really, his hip if one wanted to put a fine point on it There was a sheet and a blanket between thehtshirt and her dress and heaven knehat else she had under it, but dear God he had never been as aware of another huht that very moment