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Linda hugged him back instinctively. She could feel his arms tremble as he held her. "Of course, Peter. Of course I love you." |
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"Thank God for that. If I didn't have you. . ." He kissed her long and hard, then thrust her away to arm's length, swallowed, and laughed uncertainly. "That's enough of that, or I'll end up in your cabin for the wrong reasons." |
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But Linda, although stirred by the kiss, was not about to lose sight of the real problem. "Peter, it's because I love you that I can't accept your casual attitude about this." Again she spoke slowly and quietly, feeling as if she were reasoning with a retarded child. "I'd like some assurance that you'll still be around when we can get married." |
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"I'll be around," he said confidently. "Look, Linda, try to understand. This small family is all I have. Mom and Dad and I moved around so much that I never put down roots, never made any real friends. Then Mom died, then Dad, and then I got the news that Uncle Edhe and Aunt Em wrote and phoned all the timewas sick. So I came to England. But in England I didn't even have the casual acquaintances I had in America. My Aunt Em" His voice shook. "Never mind, but these are all the people I have. I may fight with Rose-Anne and Donald, butbut they're my cousins, and Aunt Harriet is my aunt. I never had relatives before." |
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He cut her off sharply. "There aren't any buts. I tell you, Linda, I wouldn't do anything to hurt |
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