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After several more minutes of silence, she dropped the pastie back into the wrapper "This is just silly"

He sht of that smile Triumphant as it was, there was a hint of the devil to it that made her pulse quicken

"Oh, and now you think you’ve won?" Annoyance swah her blood--perhapsfirst

His shrug only irritated her further

"After we finish lunch, will you return me to the fair?"

His smile faded and she knew that had not been his intention

"I was enjoying myself," she added, as if that would somehow make a difference to him

"This is the first time you’ve been out of bed since you woke," he said "You don’t want to overtax yourself"

"I’ve either been carried or in a cart I’ myself" At the arch of his eyebrow, she snapped, "I don’t require your permission, you know"

He nodded to the cart "Unless you plan to snap your fingers and make the cart move, you actually do"

"You’re not the only one capable of pushing a cart"

"No one else is at the camp Who will you prevail upon? I doubt Mirela and the others will return before evening"

She beat a fist against her lap "You are cruel If you don’t want to escort me, I don’t knohy you won’t per him from work? They depend on their efforts at fairs like this to keep them clothed and fed It’s rather inconsiderate to monopolize Luca"

At this, her shoulders slumped with deflation She hadn’t considered she was soe of Mirela’s hospitality "I see I did not realize" She wrapped her pastie back up in the paper "I’"

"I’ain your strength" His gaze ski away"

She stopped herself just short of throwing her wrapped-up pastie at hi me with your char away I had quite a bit of cushion on aze sharpened on her, and she realized her error

"I--yes, at least I feel that much is true"

He leaned closer "What else do you ‘feel’?"

She reached for her le anywhere but at him as her mind feverishly worked, desperate to co the leaze to him

He stared back expectantly, his handsoh "What else do you reaze, she felt co yet I’m certain I will I’ain and take herself away, she could claim a sudden full recovery ofhi her to her husband Annalise’s throat tightened at the prospect of coain Especially in her weakened condition

Squaring her shoulders, she held his gaze, coood as ad

"I look forward to it," hein his voice--skepticism perhaps--that she arched an eyebrow at him as he took a final bite of his lunch

She watched as he leaned back on his elbows and gazed up at the branches swaying above the some of her tension ease away as she enjoyed the afternoon He must have believed her He certainly wouldn’t relax beside her on a blanket if he believed her to be a liar

"You know," she began, "I don’t know anything about you, Mr Crawford Aside from the fact that you rescue drowned fe? What life is it that I’e to bombard him with these questions He certainly wouldn’t be so forthco Not as brusque as he was

"I grew up not far frohamshire I just left there"

"You don’t live there?"

"No I wasvisiting My parents are gone, but I have a brother left there And his wife"

There was so out Was it the loss of his parents? Grief for them?

"And where do you travel now?"

"I have a residence in London"