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What was he doing? Why was he co, but she felt her body treh her body His eyes, faith, but his eyes were so blue And all at once, she knew—she wanted him to kiss her, hoped absurdly that he would kiss her Was she ant and all she wanted was for him to take her into his arms and kiss her

He evidently did not have any intention of doing so and she stood breathless as he continued to talk in the low husky seductive voice of his “Shall I call you Aain

“No, I prefer Mandy,” she ed to say and then waved her hand as she continued to explain, hoping to banish her ard thoughts “You see, Ary and he was angry with reat deal of the tirandpapa, and of course, Mandy is what Ned calls s, but you see, Mandy is who I am”

He eyed her and a brief set lost in his set lost in his smile

He spoke softly when he finally said, “Mandy it is, then”

She needed to say so for suddenly she couldn’t think Was that her feet that took her closer to hi toward him, could it? She felt a fool because she couldn’t stop herself as she looked up at his face

Her hand fluttered as his bright blues stared down at her and she saw so to kiss her

She had to say so She simply couldn’t just stand there like an idiot Her hts as she said, “I…I interrupted you earlier You were saying, so…”

“Was I?” he waved it off as his gaze drifted over her mouth, down her neck, back to her mouth and then met her eyes intently “I only want you to know, that I will see you and your brother though this tangle—I am determined”

His lingering survey of her features had left her with her toes literally curling in her boots How she wished her hair was brushed long around her shoulders, and that instead of the boy’s clothing covering her, she had so her body She turned partially away fro eyes and said, “Matters do look grave, Your Grace”

“Even so, we shall get out of this” He sighed heavily and then said encouragingly, “As I have already told you, I believe your twin innocent of the charges What I think is that I have a great deal to do, if I am to prove it so He was not the father of Miss Celia’s unborn child, of that I am certain He never meant her any harm, and could never have injured her let alone murdered her in cold blood That could only have been done by someone with little heart and no conscience, and your brother has both” He sighed and pulled a face before he continued, “However, I visited with your deplorable cousin Alfred earlier this h he and his father round if only to show the of ainst it”

“Marry Alfred?” Mandy suddenly was side-tracked frohtmare never occurred to me”

He was now so near, she could feel his breath as he towered over her, bent his head a bit and touched her cheek “Tell me lovely Mandy, how is it no one has applied to me for your hand in this past year?”

His nearness was al This is what it meant when Lucy had told her that her blacksmith left her unable to breathe This is what ‘desire’ felt like Lucy had tried to describe it, but nothing ca

She felt the heat swih her blood and burn her cheeks She felt the steam cloud the vision before her eyes, “Well as to that, other than a few school girl crushes I had while growing up, and I have never felt a decided partiality for anyone” She frowned and because she was incurably open, added, “Although more recently Sir Oell, then this happened and…”