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Loretta smiled up at him "I’ve never met him" She liked Swinnerton, who never leered at her He never leered at any woht the better of him for that

"Keep yourself away from the swells," he told her "Those royal dukes have done us actors a great disservice They all think to dally in the sheets with an actress is a rare treat"

Bluett hissed at Loretta but Swinnerton waved him silent "The nobility’s a queer lot," he added, "with a touching ability to think that they are of erotic interest Which, invariably, they are not"

Loretta grinned at that and scae entrance

A second later they linked hands and pranced onto the stage, bobbing their curls and showing a touch of ankle "I went to an alehouse and what did I see …" they sang

Fro curls, and di hard about the nobility No duke would want to ht ant to sleep with her

She wasn’t going to do it Mr Spenser had been rather enticing, with his deep voice and beautiful cheekbones It was probably the shock of the accident thathe was even handsomer than Swinnerton But look how that had ended: with her losing a part and a good five race of God she had ended up without lines on her stoht She had to stay away from the occupants of Holbrook Court She had no wish to find a duke between her sheets

Nor yet to fall backwards into those sheets just to make herself a duchess

Chapter 15

In Me a gaainst Rafe and Gillian The pairing was rather obvious, to Iot to reen roo up from his cards "Once we choose a play, we can asse his aren cared, but didn’t Rafe notice? Perhaps he did notice, and it pleased hi on a chair next to Gillian’s e cases of theatrical costue properties, and face paints that had arrived from London that afternoon "I have read all the various plays," she said, "and I have to admit that I couldn’t make head nor tail of The School for Scandal It seemed rather ill spirited But The Man of Mode was quite humorous I suppose that Rafe would play Dori at Rafe

"But that usted

Ierous spark in his eye that dared her to say so to taunt a pickled Rafe about the working of his pump handle It was quite another now There were a thousand changes to him… his skin had a healthy flush to it, and he looked eue-tied

"Dori Rafe "After all, there are three females in his life: Mrs Loveit is a friend, Belinda is another, and finally there is Harriet, who has just arrived in London and is quite unaffected She is Dorimant’s new love interest"

"Look at this splendidthat looked like a bunch of black chicken feathers "There’s a wig here too…" She dug back into the box

"Which part will Miss Hawes play?" Rafe inquired of Gabe

"I would expect that Miss Haill prefer to play Mrs Loveit, as there is more room for passion in the role She strikes ic role, and Mrs Loveit indulges in a certain arief when Dorie a true tragedy," Gillian said "You need good actors to play a tragedy I’ve noted it again and again"

"I doubt I aood actor," Rafe said He raised his heavy-lidded eyes "And I is that I do I presu forward to it," I down a card "Trump called"