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Page 227
"I love you," he said softly. "You know what I desire before I know it myself. I gave no thought to our meeting. I was too taken up with eagerness to think. Yet if it had not been thusperfectit would have cast a shadow."
"Perfect? That we should run into each other like two oafs or wild children. . . ." Her voice faded, and when she spoke again the jesting sharpness had gone out of it. "I did give thought to it."
"Then I am of import to you?"
Rhiannon left the bundle of mail and lifted her eyes. "You know that. I have never tried to deny it."
"You do not care for me asas a brother? A friend?"
"No, Simon. I desire you as a lover. This, too, you know. Why do you ask?"
"Do you dislike me, Rhiannon?"
She stared at him, utterly perplexed. "I am beginning to think you a little mad. Of course I do not dislike you. If I desire that you be my lover, how could I dislike you?"
"I have desired women that I disliked very much," Simon said. "The two things have little to do with each other."
"Not for me!" Rhiannon exclaimed distastefully.
"You must love where you desire?"
"It seems soyes," she admitted.
"Then you love me," Simon insisted.
"Yes, but . . ."
"But what?" he asked eagerly. "Rhiannon, tell me."
She dropped her eyes. "I cannot bear to hurt you."
Simon sighed and sat down on the ground, stretching his long legs to ease the pinch of the mail hosen.
"Let me take those off also," Rhiannon suggested.
She reached for the ties that held the hosen up, but Simon caught her hands. "It is ridiculous to say you cannot bear to hurt me and yet refuse to marry me. What can hurt me more than that? Perhaps if you tell me why"

 
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