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"It must have been very recently, or I would have purchased it when I was last in London"

"My father brought it back from his most recent trip You can read it when I’m done if you wish"

"Oh, no, I’m sure I’ll need a copy ofnod

"This ht be the dullest conversation I have ever beheld," Andrew said fronored hi at the Prescott book He’d always thought ladies preferred slim volumes of poetry or plays by Shakespeare and Marlowe It hat his sister and

"Of course," she replied, scowling as if he’d insulted her with the very question

"Billie helps her father with the landfun of them He pushed himself to his feet and wandered over to the wall of shelves, selecting a book seees, frowned, and put it back

"Yes, you e said He looked at Billie "Very singular of you"

Her eyes narrowed

"That was not ot in before she could open her rash little mouth, "just an observation"

She did not look convinced

"You will concede," he said s ladies do not assist their fathers in such a e," Andrew said, glancing up froive your co to kill hie muttered

"You’ll have to form a line," Billie remarked But then she lowered her voice "It’s a little bit true, though"

He drew back "I beg your pardon?"

"You did sound a little…" She waved her hand in the air as a substitute for actually finishing her sentence

"Like an ass?" George supplied

"No!" She said this with enough speed and conviction for him to believe her "Just a little bit…"

He waited

"Are you talking aboutback in his chair with a book in his hand

"No," they said in unison

"I don’t nored hi Two sainst each other like an hourglass, and her lips tightened into a curious pucker, al a kiss

He’d never watched her think, he realized

Then he realized what a staggeringly odd observation that was