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"Not at all," Georgiana answered "I htly tedious"

"You have been out a number of years, haven’t you?" Lady Althea asked Then she added with a charly flustered air, "I do hope that I haven’t eiana You look so young that one quite forgets how tilanced down at the pretty bundle of fe to his left ar behind in the ducal sweeps, and washer opposition out of the pack

"I did indeedat Althea as she sat down Quin handed Althea into a chair beside her iana didn’t seem to have turned a hair over Althea’s jab

"I have never thought that youth was a particularly good indicator of eability," Olivia remarked, as Justin ushered her into a seat to Quin’s left "There are so many more important factors"

Having been schooled by his mother in the fine points of etiquette, Quin noted that Miss Lytton should not have intervened in a conversation to which she was not a part But obviously the rule was er was likewise unable to resist

"A lady’s virtues," she pronounced, "are her dearest possession" She then added, "I consider age to be a negligible consideration"

"I quite agree," Olivia agreed, "though I would add that it depends on the virtues in question All too often young ladies have all the virtues I most dislike, and none of the vices I rather admire"

"No one could dislike virtue!" Althea exclaiather that you believe inexperience is a virtue, at least on the e market?"

"I suppose," Althea said, rather uncertainly She had lost control of the exchange, and she knew it

"And yet it can be so crushingly boring" With a brilliant srouse season was like around Littlebourne Manor

Althea opened her iana said, "I rees I’m sure ould all like to know about your prowess in that area I think that such skill is quite ie, as I am sure you will"

It took a lish--of her skills in Italian, Geriana Apparently she had not "taken," whatever that ht off any nueline’s father got wind of a duke, the other suitors hadn’t a prayer

He’d always thought that her success on the lohen she was happy

What a suitor could not knoas that Evangeline did not glohen unhappy, which was a good deal of the tiiana was not the type to glow She had very fair skin, almost as clear and pale as her sister’s Her nose was quite lovely too, though again, he would probably give the advantage to Olivia, by just a shade

The only possibly unattractive note about her was that she was rather thin, own had a décolleté neckline, but it could only do so much to accentuate the diminutive features that lay beneath

Not that it mattered, he told himself quickly A duchess is far ht to his knees by a twist of violet silk and a pair of luscious breasts

"I find it very interesting that you occupy yourself with the study ofto hies wound down She was to his right, and Olivia on his left, since Althea had been placed beside hernot to look too often in Olivia’s direction