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She scowled lide when I walk, and I don’t kno to flirt, and the last time I tried to use a fan I poked someone in the eye" She crossed her arentle and better than me"

He chuckled "I’h is a lady"

"George!"

He drew back, surprised She was truly upset "Forgive me," he said, and he watched her carefully, warily even She looked hesitant, picking nervously at the folds of her skirt Her broas knit not into a frown but into a rueful wrinkle He had never seen her like this

He did not know this girl

"I don’t do well in polite coood at it"

George knew better than to make another joke, but he did not knohat sort of words she needed How did one co well and then did it all backwards for fun? "You do perfectly hen you dine at Crake," he said, even though he knew this wasn’t what she was talking about

"That doesn’t count," she said ie…"

"Really? You’re going to coers to a duchess? Besides, I’ve known the villagers all my life They know me"

He cleared his throat "Billie, you are the most confident, competent woman I know"

"I drive you h that ly different hue lately "But," he continued, trying to get his words in the proper order, "you are a Bridgerton The daughter of a viscount There is no reason why you cannot hold your head high in any room in the land"

She let out a dismissive snort "You don’t understand"

"Then reat surprise, he realized that he ht away She wasn’t even looking at hi on the table, and her eyes seelanced up, briefly, and it occurred to hi to detered, and then he wasn’t He wasn’t used to having his sincerity questioned, but then again, this was Billie They had a long history of needling one another, of searching for the perfect weak spot, tiny and undefended

But it was changing It had changed, just over this past week He didn’t knohy; neither of the Oh, he still thought she was beyond headstrong and reckless in the extreme, but underneath all that, her heart was true

He supposed he’d always known that He’d just been too busy being aggravated by her to notice

"Billie?" He spoke softly, his voice a gentle prod

She looked up, one corner of herh"

He made sure to keep any hint of impatience out of his voice when he asked, "Then what is the probleether, before saying, "Did you know that I was presented at court?"

"I thought you didn’t have a Season"

"I didn’t" – Billie cleared her throat – "after that"

He winced "What happened?"

She did not quite look at him when she said, "I may have set so "You set soerated patience, as if she’d been through this conversation before and knew exactly how long it was going to take to get through it