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Mary O’Connell clucked her tongue against her teeth “What does he know? He’s hardly out of diapers”

“He has enough diploh fancy places to paper these walls, and he’s seen what your arteries look like”

“Looked like” Mary took a sip of her coffee “Thanks to this bread and water diet, nificent by now I can see the obituary already” Her voice dropped in pitch “`Mary Elizabeth O’Connell, once feared for her sharp tongue, ruled the Desert Song Hotel and Casino until she grew old, weak and useless She leaves behind three sons, three daughters, and an arterial systeh-priced teenaged cardiologist in Nevada, California and points east including Boston and New York…’“

Keir laughed, as she’d hoped he would “You’re not dying And you’re not old, weak or useless”

“I notice you haven’t corrected that phrase about ue”

“I prefer to think of you as having a rapier wit” He smiled, lifted her free hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles “Are you sure you’re feeling well, Duchess?”

“Wonderfully well, if painfully bored I see Dr Maudlin next week and when I do, I’ back into work”

“His narin

“Whatever I’ in an honest eight hours”

“Don’t you mean twelve?”

Mary sat back, her hands clasping the carved arms of her chair, and fixed her son with an exasperated look

“You’ve been helpingit all on your own these past ht-hour-a-day job?”

“No,” Keir said bluntly What was the sense of arguing with his mother when she knew the truth as well as he did? “But you can’t do it all by yourself You’ll need to delegate authority”

“I did I delegated it to you”

And you’ll need to delegate it to someone else, once you’re back on your feet That hat he longed to tell her, but how could he? She’d told him, dozens of ti without him How could he tell her that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life running this place, especially when he had no idea what it was he did want to spend his life doing?