SHE DANCED ALONE IN THE EMPTY BALLROOM AFTER MIDNIGHT-UNAWARE THE DUKE WAS WATCHING

reading, and listening as if her answers mattered. They did, because he was making a decision and she was making a decision, and both of them were doing lines slowly and carefully without any hurry.

Once, in the third month, she asked him if he ever regretted refusing Petra. He looked at her for a long moment and said, “Vivien, I did not refuse a woman continue reading …