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sho-uld ha-ve do-ne."
"My mot-her is de-ad."
Ghis-la-ine had shrug-ged. "So is mi-ne. That do-esn't me-an you ne-ed to
ma-ke any has-te to jo-in her. Co-me with me, ma-de-mo-isel-le, and I will put
strength in you."
And the mi-ra-cu-lo-us thing was, she had. With a com-bi-na-ti-on of stew,
fresh bre-ad, bul-lying, and sympathy, Ghis-la-ine had hel-ped El-len mo-ve
from pa-ral-y-zing self-pity to a new de-ter-mi-na-ti-on. It was clo-se to
fi-ve in the mor-ning when she'd sent El-len ho-me in a hi-red car-ri-age, and
she was ab-so-lu-tely right. Even then the stre-ets of Pa-ris we-re far from
de-ser-ted.
Ellen had go-ne back, of co-ur-se, sur-p-ri-sing Ghis-la-ine, sur-p-ri-sing
her-self. She'd go-ne back for be-ef ra-go-ut and ba-gu-et-tes, for com-mon
sen-se and a fri-en-d-s-hip such as she'd ne-ver ex-pe-ri-en-ced. And when it
was ti-me for her to re-turn to En-g-land, she'd beg-ged and ple-aded for
Gilly to ac-com-pany her.
It was a joy-ful sur-p-ri-se when she'd ac-cep-ted. A di-sap-po-in-t-ment
when she in-sis-ted on co-ming as a ser-vant only. Du-ring the past ye-ar
she'd tri-ed to ke-ep tho-se bar-ri-ers in pla-ce, but Gilly tal-ked to her as
no one el-se ever had; frankly, ho-nestly, for-cing her to see things as they
we-re. She owed her her li-fe. The very tho-ught that she'd be-en re-ady to
des-t-roy her-self over so-me-one as in-sig-ni-fi-cant as Al-vin Pur-ser, for
so-met-hing as shal-low as pri-de, was an em-bar-ras-sment. Ne-ver aga-in
wo-uld she al-low her emo-ti-ons to over-set her.
Fi-nal-ly she was be-ing gi-ven a chan-ce to re-pay her mo-nu-men-tal debt.
She had no idea why Nic-ho-las wo-uld ha-ve ab-s-con-ded with Gilly, but she
knew full well that it was aga-inst her will. Gilly had be-en con-s-tant in
her dis-t-rust and dis-li-ke of the ma-le sex-even a dan-ge-ro-usly
at-trac-ti-ve ra-ke such as Nic-ho-las Blac-k-t-hor-ne wo-uldn't be ab-le to
bre-ak thro-ugh her de-fen-ses.
It was icing on the ca-ke that re-pa-ying her debt in-c-lu-ded spen-ding
ti-me with Tony. The-se last few days had be-en he-aven, she-er he-aven, and
its own kind of tor-ment. So-oner or la-ter Tony wo-uld find so-me pretty,
de-li-ca-te miss, fresh from the scho-ol-ro-om, and marry her. And she wo-uld
at-tend the wed-ding with Car-mic-ha-el and Liz-zie, and she wo-uld smi-le.
She wo-uld do it, of co-ur-se, ne-ver bet-ra-ying that her he-art was
bro-ken. Just as she had sur-vi-ved the past few days with her ar-mor in-tact.
Not by any lin-ge-ring glan-ce, or sigh, or way-ward tho-ught wo-uld she
bet-ray the vastly dis-t-res-sing truth she'd just dis-co-ve-red. That she
still lo-ved him as much as she al-ways had.
And that bro-ught her to her pre-sent pre-di-ca-ment. To be su-re, day
af-ter day of be-ing tos-sed aro-und in her brot-her's well-sp-rung car-ri-age
ma-de her bo-nes ac-he, her te-eth rat-tle, and her tem-per be-co-me sadly
di-sar-ran-ged. But that was mo-re than ba-lan-ced by the fact that she was
with Tony. On-ce she left the car-ri-age she'd be le-aving him, and this
bri-ef, mad pe-ri-od wo-uld ne-ver co-me aga-in. She was as-to-nis-hed that
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she'd got-ten away with it so far. Even mo-re as-to-nis-hed that God had se-en
fit to re-mo-ve Bin-nie's stul-tif-ying pre-sen-ce. For now, for to-day, Tony
was all hers. And she had every in-ten-ti-on of enj-oying him to the
ful-lest.
Odd, tho-ugh, he'd lo-oked very dis-g-run-t-led when she'd re-as-su-red him
abo-ut her lack of ro-man-tic no-ti-ons. She wo-uld ha-ve tho-ught he'd be
glad to he-ar her well-craf-ted re-as-su-ran-ces, which we-re, of co-ur-se,
ar-rant li-es. In-s-te-ad, he'd se-emed al-most of-fen-ded.
He didn't want her-su-rely he wasn't ar-ro-gant eno-ugh to ex-pect her to
long for him when he didn't re-cip-ro-ca-te? Gilly had war-ned her most men
wo-uld. She'd al-ways tho-ught Tony to be abo-ve that sort of thing. Now she
won-de-red.
Be-ca-use the-re was only one ot-her ex-p-la-na-ti-on for his pa-tently
dis-g-run-t-led re-ac-ti-on when she'd set out so tac-t-ful-ly to re-as-su-re
him. And that ex-p-la-na-ti-on was fra-ught with its own emo-ti-onal im-pact.
Su-rely he co-uldn't re-al-ly want her af-ter all, co-uld he?
She dis-mis-sed that no-ti-on as qu-ickly as it en-te-red her bra-in. He was
lo-un-ging in the se-at op-po-si-te her, sta-ring out the win-dow as they
mo-ved as swiftly as the wret-c-hed hig-h-ways al-lo-wed. The-ir si-len-ces,
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