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"I assure you, Miss Whitmore They all enjoyed it"

He let the length of rope dangle from the beam, then made his way down it, hand over hand, until he dropped directly before her He was barefoot, dressed in gray trousers and an open-necked linen shirt His green eyes dared her to break with propriety in a dozen unthinkable ways

And that s quirk of his lips?

It said he already knew she wouldn't

"Breathe," he told her "You haven't walked in on a tragedy"

She took his suggestion Air flooded her lungs, and relief filled her everywhere else "But as I to think? You up there on the beaestured at the evidence "What else could you be doing?"

Wordlessly, he walked to the edge of the roo with a hook affixed at the top He walked back and hung the sack froht

"It's called training" He gave the bag a single, demonstrative punch "See?"

She saw And now she felt unbearably foolish In their youth, Rafe had always teased her, but of all the mischief he'd pulled over the years

"Sorry to ruin your fun," he said

"My fun?"

"It's a popular enough fe to savelook as he sauntered past

Clio blushed in response But that was the wrong word A "blush" was a whisper of color, and right now her cheeks o or so

Wretched, teasing man

Once, when Clio had been a se A ed a ued, shouteda scuffle broke out She'd never forgotten the way the ated in an instant Everyone in the vicinity felt it The air prickled with danger

She'd never witnessed another bout of fisticuffs But she felt the same prickle in the air whenever Rafe Brandon was near He sees with hi sticks Things like intensity Brute power, held in check--but only just That sense of danger led with anticipation And the prooverned society could be rendered less

Were his rakish exploits any mystery? Really, the corsets must unlace themselves

"I thought you'd given up prizefighting," she said

"Everyone thinks I've given up prizefighting Which is illAnd lucrative"

That followed a strange sort of logic, she supposed

"Now explain yourself" He crossed his ar ar? You should know better than to cohborhood like this alone"

"I do know better, and I didn't co outside" On a stupid inal"

One dark eyebrow lifted "A signal"

"Yes A signal" She forged on before he could inquire further "I would not have needed to co you I tried calling at the Harrington"

"I no longer have rooton"

"So they infor address" She followed hi quarters "Do you truly live here?"

"When I', I do No distractions"

Clio looked around She hadn't been in ined thes--dishes, linens, bodies

Lord Rafe's warehouse didn't s unpleasant Just sawdust, coffee, and the faint aroreen, perhaps? But the place was spartan in its furnishings In one corner, she glimpsed a simple cot, a cupboard and a few shelves, and a small table with two stools

He removed two tumblers from the cupboard and placed them on the table Into one, he poured a few inches of sherry Into the other, he e contents of a coffeepot, added a touch of pungent syrup from a mysterious brown bottle, then into it all he cracked three raw eggs

She watched with queasy fascination as he stirred the sli to--"

"Drink that?" He lifted the tulass to the tabletop "Three times a day"

"Oh"

He pushed the sherry toward her "That's yours You look like you could use it"

Clio stared at the glass as waves of nausea pitched her stomach to and fro "Thank you"

"It's the best I can do As you can see, I'm not set up to receive social calls"

"I won't take much of your time, I promise I only stopped by to--"

"Extend a wedding invitation I'll send rets"

"What? No I ather you've heard that Lord Granville is finally returning from Vienna"

"I heard And Piers has given you perned off on the accounts myself"

"Yes, well About those signatures" Clio twisted the papers rolled in her hand

He walked away fro time on chatter"

He stopped beneath a bar hanging parallel to the floor some three feet over his head In a burst of quickness, he juan to lift hi his arms

Again, then again

"Go on," he said, clearing the bar with his chin for the fourth time "I can talk while I do this"

Perhaps he could,

but Clio was finding it difficult She wasn't accusto on a conversation with a barely dressed ed in suchmuscular exercise Awareness hummed in her veins

She picked up the tumbler of sherry and took a cautious s

It helped

"I wouldn't expect you to have heard, but o" She waved off the condolences before he could offer the left me a bequest in his will A castle"

"A castle?" He grunted as he cleared the bar again Then he paused there,pile on the moors with a mountain of unpaid taxes, I suspect"

"No, actually It's situated in Kent and quite lovely It was one of his personal properties He was the Earl of Lynforth, if you recall"

Good heavens, she was babbling Pull yourself together, Clio

"Ideal for a wedding, then" His voice tightened with exertion

"I suppose it could be For someone But I'm on my way there today, and I stopped by to--"

"Inform me" Lift

"Yes, and also--"

"To ask for money" Lift "I just told you, you're free to spend asas you wish Send the bills to my brother's men of business"

Clio squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them "Lord Rafe, please Would you kindly stop--"

"Finishing your sentences?"

She suppressed a little growl

He paused "

She couldn't tell hi part

He went on, "As I saidI'" Each phrase was punctuated by another lift "It's what prizefighters do We concentrate" Lift "Anticipate" Lift "React If it bothers you, try being less predictable"

"I'e it all off"

He dropped to the floor

The air prickled around them

And his dark expression told Clio, in no uncertain terms, he hadn't predicted that

Rafe stared at her

This was not how hisHe'd holed himself away in this storehouse to train for his comeback When he est bout of his life and the largest purse ever offered in English history To prepare, he needed intensive physical conditioning, undisturbed sleep, nourishing food