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Josie looked at her, unconvinced "Are you setting up Rafe’s illegitimate brother as your cicisbeo? Like Mayne?"

"Absolutely not!" Inity "It’s an entirely different situation"

"What’s different about it?" Josie said, looking intently interested

Josie had such expressive eyes and lovely eyebrows; like a stroke of lightning, I unkind about your figure, didn’t they?"

Josie had been laughing, but the joy drained right out of her eyes "Certainly not!" But she said it too hastily

"I’ll travel to the Highlands and send whoever it was on a long carriage ride with Griselda"

Josieabout my return trip Miss Flecknoe’s sto tracts aloud for hours without turning the faintest shade of green"

"Tell en said

"I don’t want to"

"If you don’t, I’ll write a note to Tess and ask her to come for a visit And you know that Tess will have the truth in five minutes"

Tess was their eldest sister, and since she had practically raised them, she had perfected all kinds of examination techniques "I would be worried, if I didn’t know that Tess was traveling on the Continent with her husband," Josie pointed out But then she relented "It wasn’t so bad Really, it was almost a compliment"

"You disliked this compliment so en tightened her arms around her little sister "Humiliation is a universal condition My only consolation is that I will likely never again make such an ass of myself as I made over Draven"

"I’ll never have the chance to make a fool of myself over a man"

"Yes, you will"

"Men will never even considere trip with Griseldato me," Josie said wearily "It was people who live next to Ewan The Crogans"

"You mean the men who tried to feather Annabel? Why in heaven’s name would you pay any attention to what those fools said?"

"Because they were saying what everyone else thinks," Josie said "I didn’t mean to overhear them"

"Perhaps they meant you to overhear"

"No I was hidden behind an oak tree" Josie sniffed

Ien kissed her on the forehead

Then it all rushed out "The older one tried to get his brother to marry me Except he didn’t want to, because he said I was a prilet And then the older one said he’d love to snuffle around er one said that his brother could snuffle all he wanted, but when a girl is as fat as--as I a to turn into a proper sow A--a sow’t"

"They’re cruel drunkards," I that she had the Crogans within the sights of a hunting rifle "I think you’re right in that the older onea co was a compliment, but they do think that way"

"They spoke about , as if--as if I was incontinent or so That’s how they talked about it The older one said that at least I would never cuckold ain

"You could cuckold anyone you pleased," I her chin on Josie’s soft hair and stroking her shaking back, "although I hope you never do"

"He said I would never cuckold anyone because all h bacon and I’d be happy" She lost her voice for a few moments