Page 45 (1/2)

"Deserve it or not, she had it When I carried your sister up those stairs, I didn’t feel even a shadow of desire"

She frowned at hiure In fact, she’s perfect in every way"

"It felt as if I were carrying a child up the stairs, all long legs and hair"

"She’s elegant," Olivia stated "I would kill to have her figure"

"Really?"

"Of course I have alished to look precisely like her Though obviously, not enough to avoid food," she added

"That’sshe doesn’t"

Olivia opened hershe hasn’t"

She frowned at hihteen

Madness, in All Its Forms

Quin’s last tords--spoken with the reasoned calm that characterized him--shook Olivia to her core "What?" she whispered "What are you saying?"

"I’ly, I seeeline It"I don’t perceive any other signs of e this as a hu"

She shook her head, dazed

"It could be that I am merely the sort of man who is ruled by lust"

Olivia took a deep breath "I am honored by what you said I assure you that no wo told she is an object of desire But youhim while he is overseas, in battle More to the point, I will never betray arden with her for almost an hour You carried her up the stairs You courted her"

"I was nowo on a bench for al that with any of your other guests"

"Your sister is reent; we talked about science It is a pleasure to converse with her However, a forty-five-minute conversation does not require that Ielse, ityou And I will not, ever, stand in the way of her wish If the two of you do not marry, for whatever reason, so be it I will never have it be said that I stole her chosen husband"

She stood up "I must pin up e of power and speed "Don’t htly

"I won’t!" But he heard the catch in her voice

"Just don’t pretend that you don’t want to That there is nothing between us that is far beyond what I shared with Evangeline, you with Montsurrey, or even you with your sister"

Olivia’s heart pounded in her chest so loudly that she thought he must be able to hear it as well "I don’t think it matters"