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for her to say something, but she did not speak. |
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"I saw that Simon was not happy," he continued. "How has he offended you, Rhiannon? Were his mother and sisters unkind?" |
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"No. I was welcomed most warmly." Her voice dropped. "They will be disappointed that we do not marry." |
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"I cannot." Rhiannon stared glassily at nothing. |
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"I guessed as much from Simon's face, although he would say nothing." Simon might tell only the truth, but Llewelyn was not in the least averse to a big thumping lie in a good cause. "It is not sufficient to say cannot,' Rhiannon. I ask again, how has Simon offended you?" |
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"Not at all," Rhiannon cried, grasping her hair and holding on as if it were a rope and she dangling from a cliff. "It is nothing to do with Simon." |
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"You have found him unlovable? He no longer attracts you?" |
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"No . . . Father . . . I love him too much." |
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Llewelyn reached out and drew Rhiannon to him and put his arm around her. She never called him Father. The word was a cry for help. For an instant Llewelyn's resolution wavered, then firmed even harder. Silly chit, it was the best thing for her, and she simply did not know it. She had come too late to desire and was frightened by itor thought it would restrict her freedom. So it would. And about time, too! |
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"That is unreasonable, Daughter," he said gravely. He was about to say that if she knew she could never learn to love the man, a woman might resist marriage, but the other way around was ridiculous. However, Rhiannon cut him off. |
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"It is not unreasonable," she rejoined hotly, pulling away, and forthwith described her terror and her pain, ending, "He will be hurt for a little time and then he will find another woman to assuage his pain andand |
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