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Unfortunately, the first thing that came to mind was…

“It’s Newton’s Third Law Upon collision, the apple exerts a force on the pavement, and so the pavement must exert an equal and opposite force on the apple The structure of the apple is inelastic and so the apple bruises The orange, by contrast…” She sed, realized that she was babbling, and shut her hnessy I don’t think that’s what you meant to ask, was it?”

He straightened Oh, he was dreadfully handsome He put a casual care into his appearance, and it showed He was clean-shaven, even though it was three in the afternoon His cravat looked as crisp as if it had been pressed just now, not at six in the ested that he was a degenerate of the first order Nothing, that was, except his line of work and the persistent gossip in the papers

“You don’t need to let et distracted that way,” she told him “Everyone else stops me In these parts, it’s considered polite to interrupt Miss Sweetly when she’s on a tear”

“Nonsense,” Mr Shaughnessy said He took a step toward her, and then another Her chest constricted—he was standing so dreadfully, deliciously close—and then he held out the oranges he’d gathered

For one moment, as she took theloves: she, because she couldn’t have found her keys while wearing them; he because…well, the heavens alone knew, and she was not about to ask His fingers arainst hers

“I would never interrupt you,” he told her “I love it when you talk Sweetly to me”

She yanked her hand away “You ht overhear and ”

His eyes ined a spark in them—as if some imp inside him whispered that anyone who heard what he’d said would understand it perfectly He’d intended to flirt, and he knew precisely how he’d flustered her

But he didn’t say that He sied “We wouldn’t want anyone to misunderstand”

If there had been an ounce of sarcasht then and there But there wasn’t

“So let me say it better If I didn’t want to hear you talk about your opposite and equal reactions, I wouldn’t ask about your star charts What are you co this time?”

“Oh, it’s not star charts, not today It won’t be star charts for months It’s the Great Comet now, and it’ll be the transit of Venus after that”

His eyebrows rose “There’s a great comet?”

“Do you not read any scientific papers? It htest coainst the sun itself”

He glanced upward at the sun overhead, unobscured by any cometary tail “If you can see it with the naked eye, how is it that I’ve never caught a glimpse of it?”

She huffed “Because London is not in the Southern hemisphere The visibility here is not as it is in Melbourne, for instance”