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"I can’t agree to a convenient arrangement, my lord Your devotion to duty land’ simply isn’t for me"

His voice becaht wish, but I promise you this: When I take you to bed, you will not be thinking of England"

"Oh"

When he’d spoken of bedding last night, he’d left her speechless

This time, he left her breathless

She was not the ed to Diana Nevertheless, Charlotte knew herself to be pretty enough, in the standard English way She’d known the admiration of the opposite sex--even been kissed a time or two But those admirers were all boys, she now realized

Lord Granville was acoat, he would be all sculpted ht His body would be hard everywhere hers was soft He would have dark hair scattered in intriguing places

"Charlotte"

She jerked to attention "Yes?"

Good Lord She’d been picturing hiain

This room was unbearably war how childish she must sound "We didn’t commit any sins Why don’t you tell Sir Vernon the truth? That you went into his library to" She cocked her head, puzzled "What were you doing in his library, anyhow?"

"It doesn’t matter"

"I suppose not What matters is that some other couple had a scandalous tryst on the desk We shouldn’t be punished for it"

His gaze caught hers "If we don’t marry, only one of us will be punished And it won’t be ratulated men on their sexual exploits, but it was cruel indeed to women who dared behave the same He could walk away from this situation unscathed She would be ruined Friendless Loveless Grand Tour–less

Miserable

Lord Granvilleto do this for her The perfect gentleman

He reached forward and took her hand in his "Here is what I propose"

Please, don’t propose Not nohen ," he said

She peered at hi, I should say I’m lost"

"We will assure yourA private understanding, to be kept between us until the end of ht would only invite ht, howeverno one will question it"

She laughed aloud "Everyone will question it Have you forgotten my reputation? They will never believe you proposed to ly They will consider you fortunate to have preserved all your limbs"

Despite her objections, Charlotte knew this was the best outco" he suggestedit wasn’t a true solution, but at least it bought her soht to find another way out of this

And she ood of them both

Colin’s words came back to her I do believe you, pet But unless these mysterious lovers come forward to take the blame, no one else will

The mysterious lovers weren’t likely to come forward But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be found This was the country, not London The possibilities were limited If Charlotte could discover their identity and force them to confess

Then she and Lord Granville would be in the clear

Teeks That would surely be enough ti it is" She rose to her feet and gave him a brisk handshake