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To become a doxy? that overly intuitive and obstinate piece of her brain asked Give thisbecause of priave into them to the very bottom of society?

Shut up! the other part of her shouted, but it was too late Her conscience wasmore sense However, Norma Rose wasn’t the one to break away from the kiss Ty did that

Air burned as she breathed in, and flaain as it went out Her chest heaved and her throat ached, yet she lifted her gaze, refusing to collapse in a heap of frustrated fury

He was breathing heavily, too, and staring at her as if he was just as le nod of his head and turned

Ty left, closing the door with nothing more than a soft click, which resounded so ht as well have slah to rattle the roof

What she’d recognized in his eyes, a reflection of her own, remained behind, and that’s whather desk as a crutch, Nored herself around the corner and fell onto her chair

Regret Pure undiluted regret It was easy to recognize and hard to forget After eight years she still knew exactly what it looked like How it burned inside a person with the intensity of a wildfire and left nothing but charred remains

Forrest Reynolds had looked at her like that Regrettably

Nore She hadn’t seen Forrest close enough to see as in his eyes for years Only once since his father had found theraduation party On the day Uncle Dave was teaching her how to drive, she’d ht into the ditch, crashing into the tree and breaking Dave’s arm

Forrest had had regret in his eyes that day, too It hadn’t cut her as deeply that day and it hadn’t hurt nearly as badly as she hurt right now Ty’s regret had gouged directly into her heart Other things were different tonight, too No one had found theed her all the way to the far little doxies at home

Galen Reynolds had done all that Andfroht she and Forrest had been having full-blown sex in the backseat of his car Soht that Claimed that’s why Forrest had left town shortly thereafter, returning only a few times until he’d taken over the Plantation, when his father ran off to California with his latest doxy A perforhtclub

Karen Reynolds had gone with her cheating husband to California Despite all the animosity she had toward Galen Reynolds, Nors toward Karen Perhaps it was because the woman attempted to dispute Galen’s lies Karen had been the one to come to the resort, which at that time had been little ize to Norma Rose and her father, but as her father had pointed out, the dae had already been done

Nor away froardless of all the rumors about Galen and his doxies That had stuck in her mind, the way the woman had been able to create a shield around herself that no one could penetrate Norma Rose had used that, copied the wo ossipers that it was her fault She’d perfected her own shield and used it continuously

Until tonight, when it shattered, as if made of crystal instead of stone

A knock sounded on the door, and Noro away Maybe she wished they’d just storm in, as usual Maybe that would re-erect her shield It was doubtful She was so empty, so tired, she barely had the ithal to open her eyes

She lifted her lids and let out a heavy sigh before saying, “Come in”

Josie peeked around the edge of the door “Are you all right?”

“Of course I’ up to shuffle a few papers about

“What are you doing?”

Thankfully that little part of herto hate, had never failed her “Looking forAl’s anniversary party and Palooka George’s birthday bash,” she said

Josie entered the room and closed the door “I truly don’t kno you do this every night, Norood ti on future parties” Standing near the edge of the desk, Josie ran a fingertip over the top of the snow globe “Aren’t you exhausted? You and Ty were unbelievable” Sighing, she added, “Oh, the things that ht”

Ignoring the chill that had the hair on her ar, Norma Rose asked, “What do you mean?”

“You,” Josie said with more than a hint of disbelief “I’ve only seen you dance maybe twice in ht How often do you do that?”

“Never,” Norain too drained to lift a pen

“Never?”