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Chapter 13

“I know I told you that I like to keep to country hours when I dine,” Isabella said greeting Tristan in the drawing room of the house in Brook Street, “but I did not expect to see you so soon It is only five o’clock”

“Forgive h his hair and brushed the dust froht-blue coat “In my haste to leave the house, I have not had a chance to wash or change my clothes”

It had been a e, yet her pulse raced upon seeing hiain

“Then I shall have to see what I have done with hten the id demeanour, she could see the tension in his shoulders, kneas trying so desperately to suppress his anger “Mrs Taylor has gone to fetch the tea tray, but you look as though you er” She waved to the settee “Come Sit down and tell me how you fared with your mother”

From the depth of his frown, she suspected the worst

“Before I do sit, I think I will accept your offer of so roo, to the pale yellowthe chair

“I iold before someone decided to position it near the ,” she said, feeling no embarrassment “T

he rent reflects the rather excessive wear to the furnishings”

“At the monastery we sat on wooden benches, dined at a battered oak table, slept in a roo more than a rickety metal bed It was one of the happiest tiht me that relationships with people are more important than relationships with objects”

She could not help but look at him with admiration “You were never one for frivolities It was one of the things I loved about you”

“Loved?” A smile touched the corners of his mouth “You do not appreciate that quality now?”

“You know I do”

She did not knohy she had used the past tense Perhaps it stemmed from a need for self-preservation He had not abandoned her There had not been anyone else But yet too much had happened for them to continue as they were before They were different people now, forever changed by circumstance

“I cannot wait to discover what other qualities of mine you admire,” he said in a rich drawl