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"You told me to buy a dress I followed your instructions" She came around the car to stand before his, he decided "Coap between them and took her by the wrist "I will send for the doctor"

She didn’t move "I am not sick"

"Do the other nuns at the convent dress and behave like trollops?" He tried to pull her along

She ca up as she delivered a side kick to his knee and another to his shin that sent hi As Korvel lay there, stunned, she walked up to him and planted one shoe on his chest

"I am not a nun, and you are not o back to your women and leave me alone"

Simone had reached the end of the alley when Korvel jerked her around "Say that again"

"Leave me alone"

He shook his head "The first of it"

She moved faster this time, but Korvel felt the coil of her th to subdue her When she stopped resisting he put his face close to hers "Say it again"

"I am not a nun"

He released her andat the brick wall as he battled back his te the red silk to whisper against her skin

"I never told you that I was a nun, Captain" She stood close enough for her breath to warm his air

"You live in a convent," he told the wall "You wear nun’s garood works There is--was--a cross hanging about your neck" He felt steady enough to look directly at her, which he realized at once was a mistake "What the bloody hell was I supposed to think you were? An exotic dancer?"

"You’re not supposed to think about s pulsed as they stretched out in his er as if he had not fed in a week "Why do you live at the convent, Siirl the sisters were my teachers, and they became very fond of me When I left my father’s house they offered me a home and a purpose I wear a habit when I leave the convent because that is what is expected" She touched the place at her throat where her cross usually hung "I’ve never taken vows or joined the order I can’t I don’t believe in God"

"In your roohtened "Another pretense?"

Sied "Habit I do it because it pleases Flavia to believe I have faith It is easier than arguing with her"

"Why let me believe you were a nun?"

"You did not tell me what you believed" At last a flicker of shame passed over her features "Besides, if you had asked, I would have told you"

"I have been calling you ‘sister’ for days," he said, snarling the words "You knew precisely what I thought You wanted me to believe you had taken vows That you were an innocent"

The laugh she uttered had a tinge of self-mockery "I offered you sex, Captain You refused s," he countered "You knewof you, you oblivious ass" Her upper lip curled "Your precious honor didn’t stop you last night, did it?"

Siretted the taunt froht Korvel had not forced or coerced her; she had wanted it as much as he had If she had refused hier she had wanted him to feel as wretched about it as she did, but she had succeeded only in shaize, Captain" Unable to look at him another moment, she walked out of the alley

The few pedestrians Simone passed stared at her, as if they knehat a fool she hadto a narrow, shadowed lane that led between the gates and walls surrounding some private homes