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whole tie once and for all"

She sighed and sank back in her chair, inordinately pleased with herself Really, this thinking business was not so very difficult

There was a buzz of iven life Even nature felt it; the sea was a crashing wall of white, hurling itself against the shadowy barrier of distant stone Overhead, the sky was endless and e caressed the ocean and slipped through the blackened forest There was no reality anyround, no stars, no moon Just an ethereal haze that curled around the house, lifted it above the earth like soical Camelot in the woods

Selena's heart was pounding so fast, she felt lightheaded Anticipation was a thru presence in her blood

What should she do first? How did she go about this testing of her virginity?

She'd tried to find a gliht that lay ahead, the task she'd set for herself, but such infor book in Ian's study-the dictionary It told her nothing at all, gave no hint or reference Then she'd asked people, everyone she saw Johann refused to answer her questions; Andrew's face had turned the color of geraniums and he'd bolted from the room; Lara hadn't understood the question any better than Selena herself; and Maeve had only smiled softly and told her to clean up her room

She was on her own, that much was obvious

She stared at her face in theface, in a pale, quiet kind of way Idly she brought her hand up and began weaving the long mass of her hair into a braid, then tied it with a pink ribbon A dozen flyaway strands curled along her fore-

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head and cheeks, but she didn't waste ti to pin them back-they'd only pop free in a moment or two

Slowly she walked to her arany door open Maeve had filled the closet with dozens of colorful gowns Silks, satins, velvets

Selena frowned None of the dresses felt right And all of them required that torture device of a corset She drew back, thinking If she didn't wear girl clothes, that left only two choices: the breeches she'd seized frohtdress

She turned back Her nightdress lay across her bed, a filmy concoction of white silk and French lace that buttoned from the throat to the hem

It was the own she owned, and now, in the darkened rooht and ic

S, she slipped out of her chehtdress The soft folds of silk caressed her bare breasts and legs